5 months old!

Do I really have a 5 month old? That is what I am always thinking when people ask me about Grant and how old he is. It is truly amazing how fast time flies once you become a mom. I can't believe how much Grant has changed in 5 short months! He weights a little over 17 lbs now and is wearing mostly 6 and 6-9 month clothes. He is eating 6 ozs 6 times a day and until this week has been doing good sleeping through the night (although he doesn't nap very much during the day). This week he has had his first true cold and has been sneezing, coughing and had a runny nose all week :( We took him to the doctor and he is taking some medicine to help his symptoms and to help him breathe better and that has been helping. I absolutely hate having a sick baby so I am hoping he will be feeling better soon!

The other eventful thing that has happened this week is that Grant got a DOC band to help his head round out more in the back. We have always felt that Grant's head wasn't as round as it could be. He had to sleep in the swing a lot when he was little because of his nasal congestion causing him to not breath well and I also had to have a vacuum-assisted delivery when he was born. I think these two things contributed to a little flatness on the back of his head, although we have always done tummy time with him. We have been debating if we were going to get one for him so we took him for an evaluation and they told us that he would probably only have to wear it for 8 weeks since he is so young and doesn't have significant issues with his head shape. I always thought it was purely cosmetic when I have seen other babies with bands, but they told us that an asymmetrical head shape can actually lead to jaw problems and sinus problems in the future. Once we heard that, we decided to go ahead and get him one especially since he will only have to wear it for such a short amount of time.

He has done pretty well with it this week so far, but he has been a little fussy in general because of the cold. He has had a little reddening of his skin so we have taken it off this weekend until that clears up. He basically has to wear it 23 hours a day and we have to go for follow up appointments weekly for them to make adjustments. I posted some pictures of him wearing it. We are calling him our "little football player" and are planning on decorating it this weekend with either a Superman or baseball theme. Stay tuned...

Some other significant things to note at 5 months: Grant drools constantly! The doctor said babies usually don't start teething until around 6 months, so I'm not sure if that is what is causing the drooling or not, but he drools all the time :) He also recently started enjoying sticking out his tongue and blowing raspberries. He still needs support to sit up, but is getting closer to sitting unsupported. He puts weight through his legs when you hold him up to stand and he absolutely loves his ExerSaucer. His other favorite thing is being outside and swinging on the front porch...he loves it (and so does Mom and Dad)! He is also making a lot more noises and different sounds. He has a really strong grip and loves grabbing and holding onto things. He helps hold his bottle when he eats and he has started passing rattles back and forth from one hand to another (I love seeing his fine motor control and bilateral hand coordination develop!). He is becoming more interested in books especially if they make sounds or play music. Like I said before, our little man is growing and changing daily and there is nothing better than watching every minute of it!