Yet another month has come and gone and I clearly cannot keep up (hence the late post)!
Dempsey has had quite the exciting month for such a little man! He is looking really big but has only gained about one pound since his 4 month appointment, but he fits in 9 month pajamas! He is still able to wear a lot of his 3 month clothes but also fits into 6 month ones. He has long legs which is why he needs to wear such a large size in pjs!
He went on his first vacation/road trip to Durango. For anyone that doesn't know, that's where Finn and I went to college and lived for five years. It was really nice to go back, but soooo different being "grown ups" with a child, rather than young college kids. We went and saw our old house and went to all of our favorite restaurants plus hung out with awesome friends and stayed with one of my best friends and her super cool husband (thank you Jess and Cody!!). It was a nice trip but definitely hard to mess with the little man's routine. Napping and sleeping were a bit rough on all of us and Dempsey had his first true diaper blowout and boy was it a mess!
He went to his first (and second) wedding which brought with it his first (and second) bow tie and suspenders wearing experience.The first wedding was in Durango which was the reason for our road trip/vacation. It was great to see our good friends Josh and Sarah (finally) get married! We have known them for nearly 8 years, which is how long they have been dating! The second wedding was in Estes Park and it was a beautiful day even with the rain delay. Luckily Dempsey is so cute that he even makes me and Finn look good in pictures! ;)
We have successfully weaned him from his swaddle. He rolls all over the place at night and during naps and we often hear him hitting his head/knees/elbows on the sides of his crib. He doesn't roll over as much during the day and often acts as if he is unable to roll from his tummy to his back, yet I know that he does it during his naps and throughout the night so I'm sure it is only a matter of time before he starts rolling, or crawling I suppose! Since he is no longer swaddled that also means that he is napping in his CRIB! This is a huge deal for us since he used to do all of his napping in his swing and sometimes also needed a little help from his favorite Pandora station to fall asleep. He now only has one swinging session a day, first thing in the morning while I pump and then takes his morning nap in there. I also turn the swing off as soon as he falls asleep so that he is not in "moving sleep." We have him on more of a schedule for naps and bedtime, which includes a pretty early bedtime - between 6:30 and 7:00.
His nighttime sleep habits still have Finn and I scratching our heads. Most nights he wakes every 2-3 hours (I know, it's exhausting). But, on the plus side, he typically just eats and then falls right back asleep. Occasionally he will not go back to sleep and will do a lot of screaming and crying and nothing seems to help. Luckily we have only had a few of those evenings, but man are they tough. Then there are the nights that we really cherish; those are the ones where he sleeps for 6-7 hour stretches at a time (like he did before he was 3 months old). I hope that those nights increase because I think everyone is much happier when he does sleep for those long stretches of time!
One of the reasons why we think he doesn't always sleep so great is that he is definitely teething. He not only likes to put everything in his mouth and drool a lot, but he likes to rub his gums on just about anything he can and he spends more than 90% of the time he is awake with his hands/fingers/toes shoved into his mouth. He likes all of his teething toys which is good and we give him some homeopathic chamomile drops to help him with any discomfort.
He has discovered that he has a lot of new voices - including an ear piercing, but adorable, squeal. He also likes to bow bubbles at us - although he is quickly outgrowing that activity (way too old and advanced for that!). He likes to practice this, particularly on days when he is not teething as much.
He likes his dogs, a lot. He will reach out to them when they walk near him and he likes to grab their faces or fur to say "hello." He also enjoys smiling and laughing at Oakleigh, especially when we are playing ball with her. He also still enjoys watching the chickens walk around. He continues to love being outside and is definitely a nature lover!
Until next month...when he will be a half a year old! Oh my word!!
