Our baby brother turned 5 months old on March 21 and in the midst of getting him ready for his first plane ride and hot family vacation, I did not get this posted on time and I am definitely feeling guilty about it!

5 months was fairly consistent to 4 months and there aren’t too many changes to report. He is currently average for weight and is still above average for height. The biggest adjustment this past month was working on Everton’s sleep schedule at bedtime. I was quickly realizing that my “dream feed” at 10 pm was really interrupting his night time sleep. I found that when I would wake him around that time, he seemed to be in such a deep sleep that he was quite angry and out of it. Although the dream feed had worked previously for us, it seemed like he was waking more in the night than he had been at 4 months old. I decided to follow his lead and feed him when he appeared ready for bed which was earlier than 10 pm and usually by around 8:30-8:45 pm. After that feed I would put him down to sleep as early as 9:15 pm for the night. Once I moved up this bedtime feed to match his fussiness (rather than putting him down for an hour or two and then waking him to feed him before I went to bed) he seemed to sleep much better throughout the night and was no longer waking up as often. And when he did wake up, he was better able to settle himself and fall back asleep without me getting him. After I solved this bedtime problem, the next issue that arose with sleep was early morning wakings. Initially Everton was sleeping until 9 am when he was first born, but then he quickly moved his wake time to 8 am. At around 3 months he moved up his wake time to 7 am, which was okay by me, however, during this past month he started to wake up at 6 am which was waaaaay too early for this momma! His sister sleeps until about 7:45-8:00 am and I really wanted them to be on a somewhat matched schedule (after all I need my sleep to function for both of them!) so I started to work on this early morning waking. All I did was not take him out of his playard/not feed him until 7 am and within a couple days he was sleeping soundly until 7 am. His sister was a great sleeper and always slept through the night from a very early age, and never woke early in the morning so this whole experience has been new to me!

His naps are still all over the place. Sometimes he naps in the morning for an hour-hour and a half as well as the afternoon for about the same, whereas some days he sleeps a longer nap in the afternoon for about three hours. Other days he’ll do a morning nap and a supper snooze for a shorter period (half an hour or so). He’s typically always happy no matter when he sleeps so I am okay with this random pattern for now!

During this past month, Ever finally rolled onto his stomach from his back but has only done it once. I don’t think he realized what he had done and seems to still prefer to lay on his side while playing. The play gym is still a favourite toy but he is definitely enjoying the Skip Hop table and Jumperoo even more. I am embarrassed to say we have yet to try the Jolly Jumper as we were busy getting ready for our vacation this past month. We will DEFINITELY be doing it before his 6 month update! He is incredibly strong on his legs and is constantly standing up. Although this is a great skill and will likely help him in the Jolly Jumper, it can be super frustrating when I attempt to burp him and he pushes onto his legs to stand instead of sitting on my lap. Once he stands, he becomes the same height as me, making it very difficult for me to burp him properly!

Everton still loves hanging out in the bath and has really always loved it from the beginning. He now enjoys sucking on a cloth and has always loved watching his sister happily play next to him. One of the best parts with having two at home is seeing how happy she makes him. He is always smiling at people, looking to make eye contact or will turn his head very awkwardly to continue to watch someone in the room. I thought Miss Lace was social but he’s taking engaging with people to a whole new level! He’s still a very content baby and really isn’t often fussy. He continues to drool a lot but no teeth have appeared just yet. The odd time he appears unhappy it really seems to be related to teething, as he munches on his hands more and the drool increases.

Laughter has hit a whole new level and he’ll happily giggle when being tickled on his stomach or when you rotate between looking away from him and making faces at him quickly. He also seems to enjoy listening to the alphabet like his sister did and will study my lips as they move to form each letter.

One thing that is unique to baby brother that big sis never did is scratch his head when he’s excited or tired. If you look at the third picture below you can see him doing it! Sometimes he scratches it so hard that he makes little marks on his head. Big sis is quick to introduce her brother to others and always includes this random fact in her speech right after telling them his name. This little man has brought us and especially his sister so much joy this past month and we can’t wait until he’s able to sit up on his own and “play”.

Happy 5 months Ever!