Violet is now 5 months old and I thought it would be nice to give a small update on life with her at this time. She is definitely a good baby but as with any age in motherhood there are good days and bad days and I am pretty exhausted 99% of the time! Luckily her cheeky smile keeps me going and we are all pretty besotted with her, I'm scared at how quickly she is changing and growing, slow down please!!
Sleep
She has 3 naps a day - morning (1.5hrs), lunchtime (1 hr) and afternoon (30 mins). Ok so it varies most days, for example this morning she woke after half an hour which was frustrating as she was knackered and needed more but what can you do? I do find she normally sleeps much better and longer at home in her cot, not great for when you need to have a life though! She is the classic buggy stops moving baby wakes up kind of baby when we are out and about which is annoying. I do try to structure my day around her and when her awake time will be where possible. It makes life as bit easier, nothing worse than being out spending your time trying to get her to sleep I find. She is normally in bed and asleep by 7pm and luckily sleeps through the night (although we all know that this can change so won't get too excited by this!) however the down side is the last few weeks she has taken to waking at 5am, an absolute killer. It's starting to take its toll on us. Maybe it's teething? Maybe it's the noisy birds outside her window? We try to leave her and not enter her room unless she is really crying badly and the rule is to try and not get up with her until 6.15am at the earliest. No one wants to start their day at 5am, I used to do this with Finn and literally by 10am you feel like it should be 5pm. This has resulted in an even earlier bedtime for me to cope with it at 9pm. The problem I have is once I've been woken up, that's it, I can't get back to sleep (grrrr to my husband who just rolls over and does).
She is still sleeping in her Sleepyhead in the Snuzpod but is definitely getting too big for the Sleepyhead and it's trying to make a decision on what we do next...get another Sleepyhead in the bigger size or sack it off and get her used to sleeping with more space around her like a big girl...hmmmm?
Relationship with her brother, Finn (3 yrs old)
This has massively improved since we last wrote about it (see here). There is a lot of soppy 'Aw I love her so much' from Finn and cuddles and head stroking. I'm happy to leave them in the room together and not worry about pushing or eye poking from him (which I've heard is really common). However Finn does suffer from OCD and cannot deal with her slobbering (literally like a dog) over his toys, he is very possessive (and quite rightly so) of his stuff, so hands off Violet! A torn ninja magazine has never been forgiven, of course it's always the things babies can't have that they are drawn like magpies to... Also if she's sick he is repulsed by it and is not dealing well with the messy purees all over her face as we start to wean her. Their favourite thing is getting into our bed together after the bath and watching Lego Ninjago on the TV (great parenting right?!).
Play
Chewing still seems to be her favourite thing at the moment. We still haven't made it to any kind of baby music or sensory (ugh) class but she has finally had a couple of playdates with other babies, older, and younger, and seemed to love the interaction. Need to work on getting better at making it to some playgroups.
She is sitting up well, picking things up, reaching and grabbing. Super strong on her feet we all do feel like she is much more physical than Finn (who hated crawling and didn't walk until 15 months) and will be up and about much quicker (classic second child syndrome). The Jumparoo is out and she loves it, as well as the door bouncer. Anything that allows her to be upright and feeling all grown up. She is happy to entertain herself and again, second child syndrome. is fairly used to being ignored when Finn is around and making his toddler demands. A bit of a water baby, we go to baby swimming every Tuesday morning which she loves along with her nightly bath with her brother who she enjoys splashing.
Mllk and Food
She is still having 5 bottles a day but I have started to give her tastes of smooth food - avocado being the least favourite and apple puree the most popular so far, along with sucking juice out of strawberries. I'm determined to get organised and get fruit and veg blitzed and into the freezer before I get into an Ellas rut. She is sitting in a Stokke high chair with the baby set attachment (and occasionally in the bumbu) and seems pretty excited by food and mealtimes.
Teething
Still no teeth but we do seem to be in teething hell at the moment, constant dribbling and finger sucking, everything goes straight in the mouth. We are using some teething gels but not much is seeming to help. Tips welcome pretty please!
Other milestones
She had her first visit to Scotland and met her Great Grandparents who she loved and responded really well to. There's nothing like a generational meet up to make you feel totally sentimental and emo :)
She has also perfected the art of the daddy cuddle and is turning into a bit of a daddies girl...
Violet Rae you bring joy and exhaustion into our lives! I know I am biased and have probably bored you all to pieces with this article but we are smitten and it's nice to have this documented somewhere. My baby brain and memory are shocking at the moment and remembering what happens on a daily basis is a struggle!
Lets see what 6 months brings...
x