“Who, me? 5 months old already?” HA!
No seriously, it’s unbelievable that Lincoln is already 5 months old. It’s too close to 6 months, which is practically a year. WHAT?! Here’s what’s on my mommy mind this month!
This has hands down been the best month so far. I feel like a switch went off in Lincoln’s brain as he seems to really “get it” now. Jokes, games, his name, expectations, etc. He’s gone from observing to participating and it’s so cool. I can see his personality coming out more and more everyday.
It was so fun starting holiday traditions this year like visiting Santa which, ok, was more for us, but still. No tears for the jolly old elf, just mild contempt. BaHA!
I’ve started panicking about fine lines on my face that don’t go away when I stop smiling…which is probably because I never do! It feels like everyday Lincoln’s learned a new and hilarious trick – from panting while running in place like he’s running a race, to sucking on his big toe like it’s his thumb (so gross,) and blowing raspberries every chance he gets. I think he’s the bees knees (and have the wrinkles to prove it!)
WE’RE FINALLY SLEEPING!!! Lincoln was using a pacifier to go to sleep up until 4 months and a week or so. After a particularly horrendous night of getting up almost every 30 minutes from 1-6am when he spit the dang thing out and woke up, Ben and I agreed we could no longer be slaves to a stupid rubber object and got rid of it the next day (we also unswaddled one arm at the same time so he could suck on his fingers to soothe himself.)
After fussing for 20 minutes, 2 naps in a row, I swear he forgot the thing ever existed. Now he goes down fully awake in his crib and puts himself to sleep within 3 minutes. Every time. Naps have lengthened from 35-40 minutes, to 75-90 minutes (sometimes longer!) and he’s sleeping much, much better at night. Usually from 7pm (dreamfeed at 9:30pm) to 6am then back down until 7:30am, though sometimes he still needs to eat around 3am. Of course it’d be nice if he was consistently sleeping through the night, but the fact that I can feed him then put him right back down to fall asleep on his own is enough of a miracle for now!
Did I mention how much he cracks us up?! Such a sweet and curious little boy. : )
Lincoln loves his Daddy. Like, LOVES. He gives me some pretty good giggles and grins, but saves the biggest laughs for goofing around with Ben. It annoyed me until I heard Jenna Dewan Tatum said the same thing re: her daughter and husband Channing on E! News one night, which made me feel much better. Besides, I get the best snuggles. ; )
One of my favorite parts of the day is cooking dinner with Lincoln. I’ll put the Beatles station on Pandora then plop him in his high chair with Sophie. I chop – he gnaws. I’m excited to start making him food though! We gave him rice cereal in the middle of 4 months which he LOVED (took the spoon out of my hand and started feeding himself!) but it upset his stomach. Think we’ll try again with real foods like sweet potatoes, squash, and applesauce this month (which his Dr okay’d). Cannot wait!
Thank you, as always, for following along on my adventures in Motherhood!
I rarely comment on other people’s babies, since I have two gorgeous kids of my own, but I do believe Lincoln is the most outrageously good looking baby (that’s not mine!)I have ever seen. He is absolutely stunning. And that giggly, gurgly stage is super cute – fun times
I would have to agree…he is amazingly gorgeous! That picture with Santa is to die for.
I second that! I don’t really consider myself a “baby person” but I cannot HANDLE how cute Lincoln is!
He is sooo cute! I love the faces he makes that you are able to capture.
He is so adorable. When I was driving through Iowa last weekend, I thought about you guys. Lincoln is adorable!
He’s so cute! And glad you are finally sleeping :)
OMG, you have the most adorable baby boy ever! And seriously, the picture with Santa…stop it! :) On a side note, it’s not surprising that he didn’t tolerate the rice cereal, as I’ve now learned it’s not the best first food option…we gave it to my daughter around 4 months and now I wonder if that contributed to stomach issues that she had. I’ve since stumbled across this…thought you might find it interesting. I plan on skipping it for number two and waiting until 5 or 6 months for starting veggies.
http://www.foodrenegade.com/why-ditch-infant-cereals/
So sweet. Completely adorable!
He is beyond adorable! So glad to hear mommyhood is going great!
He is absolutely the cutest!!!!!!!
Gosh he is just the cutest! Those eyes, my goodness, it’s amazing you get anything done. Almost makes me wish I had one to snuggle… almost. ;)
I love these updates and it makes me so excited! I’m 12 weeks pregnant so imagining having a 5 month old is crazy. It all looks so FUN!
So happy he is putting himself to sleep. This is the hardest thing for a new parent to figure out. He is adorable, enjoy every moment as a stay at home mommy.
Aw! That picture of his eyes wide open looking at the toy is too funny. Love it when you do these updates-my nephew Lincoln is six months and their timelines match up perfectly. He will be moving before you know it!
Oh my gosh, he is a really cute baby.
He is absolutely adorable! I am so glad to hear that he reserves his biggest laughs for his dad. My 4.5 month old daughter does the same! I get smiles and some laughs, but not like she gives her daddy. :)
He is just adorable…and you are a beautiful mom! :)
Love these updates! My daughter is a week older than Lincoln so it’s nice to see what other babies her age are doing. I’m definitely jealous that he sleeps through the night, we have yet to master that feat!
Trust me – it’s definitely not consistent. I fed him last night at 2am and 5:30 – luckily he went back down until 7:45!
We’re still struggling with the four month sleep regression though it has definitely improved. Also still working on breaking the swaddle. Why is one arm so much easier!?
I couldn’t agree more that this is such a fun age (Lucy is two weeks younger than Lincoln). She is so much more interactive!
I don’t know – it’s baffling (and so frustrating!!)
I have a son who will be 4 months old next week. I read a book about the 9-10 week range called 12 hours sleep by 12 weeks old. It was a fast easy ready (only 136 pages) It worked great for us and for my friend who recommended it. My son has been sleeping through the night for over a month now. He does sometimes fuss a bit in his sleep but goes right back to sleep or we may have to get up and put his paci in his mouth and pat his back for a minute. I highly recommend reading the book. It has to do with sleep training which helps throughout your childs life.
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I can’t stand the cuteness!! The picture with Santa kills me. He is so precious!!
Gah! he is so adorable! Making food for them is the best! I’m eager to see your posts re: baby food & toddler food.
What kind of photo lense do you use for every day pictures? Love them!
It’s a Nikkor 35mm lens!
Wow! Five months old already! I can’t believe it, so I know you’re thinking the same thing.
Try oatmeal instead of rice cereal, that worked much better on my little guy’s tummy.
That’s what I’ve been reading too – I’ll definitely give it a go along with the veggies!
He is adorable. I was so proud of myself to make my childs food. You can start now and have some frozen foods to make meals easier during the day. I did have one box of cereal for him so I used a small amount with pureed foods. FYI – avocados are a great first food and easy to puree and freeze.
I was a big fan of the dream feed too! I will say that it was the hardest feeding to drop because I was always scared our son would stop sleeping through the night… but that’s a problem for another day
When did you start skipping yours? Like you, I’m terrified, but I suppose he is only 5 months so I have a while to go!
I think it was around month 6 1/2 or so. Really, I got tired of going to bed so late every night. Our son was well onto solid foods at that point, so we decided to try it out. VERY SCARY. I think we worked to just space out all of his feedings just a bit so it seemed less of a shock when we did give up the dream feed.
i cannot get over his eyes! they are just so huge and expressive and adorable! i am sucking up your experiences for when i have my own too btw…
I try not to give unsolicited parenting advice, but let me just say that making my own baby food was by far the best thing I could have done for Milo at that age! Get a good blender and once spring comes, hit the farmers market with a vengeance. Pureed baby food freezes in ice trays beautifully… if you don’t want them stained, just invest in a silicone ones. Seriously cheap, seriously healthy. :)
Our Ped said the same for our twins that are the same age as Lincoln…no cereals because they are empty carbs and as much pureed fruits and veggies as they like. So far we’ve had good success with apple, banana, prune (small amts to keep everything moving!), squash, carrot, cauliflower, sweet potato, peas, and chayote (we live in Mexico so I don’t know if you can get this easily in DSM.)We also introduced pureed salmon in the last week so they start getting omega-3s.
Thank you, Kristin, for these updates – I look forward to them every month! You’re boy is beautiful, just like his mommy. And um, what wrinkles?! You’re out of your mind, woman!
haha, the photo with santa – love it! his eyes, they crack me up :) adorable.
He’s getting so big!! You must be so happy he’s finally sleeping more. I can’t wait until one day I can be a loving, happy mom like you! You and Ben seem like you’re doing a great job!! Thanks for the updates :)
What a cutie! I love when their personalities start to show and they start becoming their own little person!
He’s so cute! My little guy LOVES his daddy too…and looks just like him. How was it that I did all that work to make him and deliver him, yet the hubby gets all the love? :)
I get some smiles and giggles but my 5 month old (on Thursday, don’t want to rush the days) also saves his big smiles and laughs for his daddy. I felt like chop liver for a while, so it is good to hear that I am not the only one.
Do you have any travel tips for traveling with and infant? We avoided going up to MN to see my husband’s family for the holidays. I had anxiety about taking him that far with all the stops and what if he is awake the whole time etc. We have only taken him on a 2 hour car ride and he slept for an hour of it, this would be 5 without any stops. I have heard to plan for 2 extra hours.
I totally hear you! I usually sit in the back with Lincoln during long car rides to entertain him if he gets fussy. Just guessing that he’s eating every three hours? I would stop every three hours somewhere for 30 minutes to feed him and let him stretch out then get back on the road. The ride should be over before you know it, and who knows, he may do way better than you think. I thought our first plane trip would be a NIGHTMARE, but he did way better than either of us thought!
He is absolutely beautiful!! Enjoy these months they are THE BEST and they fly by! I am a long time reader- first time commenting. Love your blog!
What fun! And that Santa picture is PRICELESS! Hang on to that one.
Lincoln looks SO much like Finn (when he was younger) in the bottom picture!! So cute! :)
He’s looking more and more like him everyday – so crazy!
He is SO adorable! I love all his little faces he makes!! :)
I love your Mommy updates! When you first announced you were pregnant I was a little worried my very favorite food blog would turn into a Mommy blog–but it turns out I really look forward to your family updates!!! Plus your little one is absolutely adorable!
Wow amazing he’s such a great sleep already. My son still wakes up once a night a few days a week at 15 months old. He has no sleep crutches. I’m hoping he grows out of it soon!
All of the wrinkles are worth it for that adorable face! He is just too much.
That’s interesting to know about the pacifier. My twin nieces were never given one and one of them developed a thumb sucking problem but the other is fine.
I have to second (or third or twentieth…) everyone else’s gushings about Lincoln! He is precious. And that’s not a word I just throw around willy-nilly. We’re having our first child, also a boy, in March, and reading these posts and seeing these pictures gets me all excited!
Re: the rice cereal upsetting Lincoln’s tummy – My daughter had the same issue. We gave up and did oatmeal cereal with her at 6 months when we introduced other baby foods and she did absolutely fine. I also found that she couldn’t tolerate those little puffs because they have a lot of rice in them too. Good luck!
Lincoln is ADORABLE. That Santa photo is top notch!
Happy New Year!
Lincoln is growing up so quickly! He is such a doll. I know that he’s the sunshine in your and Ben’s day.
Do you have the Fitbit? I have the fit it One and love it. You would be shocked at the sleep feature that it has. Especially if you have to tend to wee ones during the night!
Ben might enjoy the Fitbit Force. It’s the band that you wear on your wrist. I had that but returned it because I didn’t like wearing the band 24/7
Check it out!
So freaking adorable!
Oh my sweetness, he is too cute for words! That photo of him looking at his toy cracks me up, he looks so excited!
What a little cutie! Love the one where his eyes look crossed. :) Don’t you feel like a rockstar now that he’s sleeping better? It’s amazing the difference it makes! And yes, both of my girls give their best smiles to their dad… the 10 month old crawls as fast as she can to the door when he comes home, and pulls at him to pick her up, even if I’m holding her. They know who the fun parent is! ;)
I am sure you will probably make your own food, but if you are in a bind, the organic pouches of fruit/veggie (stage 2) mixes are a dream. My daughter loves them, and this way I don’t worry about when she’s had veggies and/or fruit. Easy to tote along while out and about too.
I almost never comment, but I just had to say that he is SO sweet and adorable… I’m only 22 but reading your blog makes me look forward to this whole parenting thing. :)
I love your Lincoln updates! He is growing up, and so very adorable. I loved the 5 months to year age, they are the sweetest! I think you’ve done an awesome balance on here with your regular updates and family updates. I love the family ones, but I understand you are catering to a large audience, plus we still get mini family ones with your regular posts :) You’ve managed to have a good balance for everyone, and I look forward to reading your blog for a long time! :)