Skyler’s Four-Six Months Update

So … I blinked and we have a six-month-old baby boy!

(I also started typing this post up over a month ago. I’m the worst.)

You guys. I cannot understand how time is going so fast right now. Not only has Skyler changed into a little man overnight, but I also didn’t even get around to typing up a four-month or five-month update. Since the last update, I went back to work close to full-time and we had a few travels in the mix, too! Weeks are passing by faster than ever, and before I know it I’m going to be typing up his six-nine month update(s). Holy moly.

Since I’m combining Sky’s last three months of life into one long post, and I’ll try my best to consolidate the roughly 1,483,405 photos I have of him into a somewhat reasonable amount. (I seriously can’t get enough of his chunky cheeks and thighs!)

Thanks so much for reading!

 

Skyler’s Four Month Update

Skyler has become the biggest ham! His gummy smiles kill me, and it’s the best thing to wake up to them when I walk into his room to get him out of his crib.

He started telling “stories” at three to four months old. That’s when he also became obsessed with his hands and rolled over to his belly! It took him a while to figure out how to roll back over, and this month was tricky with a lot of wake-ups in the middle of the night — thanks to the rolling. (More on that below under the Sleep category.)

At four months old, Skyler starting gripping anything he could — including my hair or his daddy’s face. We’re currently trying to teach him to stop grabbing towards the pets and petting them gently instead. It’s a work in progress. He loves grabbing toys and pulling anything he sees up to his face.

He started responding to his image in the mirror (this is the cutest!) and also used his standing activity center for the first time.

I went back to work when he was about 3.5 months old, and that has been the hardest transition of all. I absolutely loved being at home with him during maternity leave, but I know that he is in good hands with his dad during my workdays.

 

Skyler’s Five Month Update

Sky’s three-month update noted that he instantly transformed from a newborn into an infant. Now, it almost feels like that infant is a pre-toddler because his personality started coming out LOUD at five months!

He doesn’t quite form baby words, but he enjoys making noises that have been getting longer and louder at each effort.

His stories have turned into songs, and his obsession with his hands has turned into constantly grabbing his feet and putting his toes in his mouth. It’s a good thing that he’s loving baths to keep him clean every night!

While we hadn’t seen any teeth, his drooling was off the charts this month and he always wanted something in his mouth. His toy collection inherited a good amount of chew toys and teethers, and I was in a constant cycle of washing everything every day (and still am).

After encouragement from our pediatrician, we introduced Sky to solids at about 4.5 months, and he couldn’t get enough sweet potatoes (just like his mama!), apple and banana purées, mashed peas, and avocado.

He started rolling back over to his stomach at the end of five months, which was very helpful in keeping him asleep at night. I like to call him my little rollie pollie because if you look away for even just a second, he’ll roll!

 

Skyler’s Six Month Update

Just when I thought his personality was growing rapidly, it ROARED right before the sixth-month mark. Skyler is wild like his daddy when he is around, and he saves the more mellow moods for me. (That could also have to do with the time of day that we each usually spend with him.)

He finally started giggling between five and six months, and it’s the best sound in the entire world. Some of my favorite moments lately have been when he cracks up over us making funny faces at him or talking to him in our “doo doo doo doo doo” language. (He totally gets us.)

We try to video chat with friends and family back home as much as we can, and he’s starting to recognize the people we talk to frequently! He tries to grab at the phone and pull them close if we let him take it.

His sounds have evolved into full-on screaming at times, and that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s upset. He loves to babble and randomly started blowing raspberries at us. It’s so cute!

He loves rolling around on his blankets on the floor and assumes the happy baby position whenever possible.

He seems to love his walks in the stroller more each month but wasn’t a fan of car rides on our latest trip to Florida.

Skyler’s personality has morphed into being chill in the mornings and very active in the afternoons and nights. He has a blast playing as long as he’s awake, and we’ve learned that he does best on a schedule that structures when to feed him milk, solids, and put him down for naps. We’re just starting to get into the groove and it’s working great!

 

Travels

Looking back at photos makes it very time consuming to remember exactly how old he was when we traveled to different places, so I’m grouping it all together into its own category. Skyler has become an expert traveler with four trips out-of-state, and a total of eight plane rides! He’s certainly earned his wings.

So far we have made a trip to Michigan to attend a wedding and visit friends followed by a trip home to Florida for him to be able to meet my side of the family.

Shortly after that, we flew to Arkansas/Missouri for him to spend time with Scott’s parents as well as his aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Our trips home come to a close too soon, and it was harder than ever to leave them now that Skyler is with us, too. While I do enjoy living where we do, I don’t know if I will ever get used to being far away from family.

Lucky for us, quality time with any of them is just a plane ride away!

 

Likes & Dislikes

Sky really started enjoying baths at four months old. We went from baths every other day in the kitchen sink to every night in the bathtub as the start to our bedtime routine.

We really liked the Blooming Baby Blooming Bath Lotus over the first few months with him, but I found it easier to just put him in the tub without clogging the drain for a “big boy” bath instead. This way, the water continuously runs and entertains him, and it doesn’t get more than an inch or two high.

He started using his Skip Hop Explore and More Activity Center around this time, too. I love that it assists him in standing, and he becomes more and more alert with everything it can do.

Sky loves being held and playing games like airplane or slide in our arms. He gets the biggest kick out of peek-a-boo and knows who we are from across the room now. He enjoys being on-the-go and cries when he’s bored … quickly.

He started gripping toys, fingers, waving them around, and sucking on anything that we will let him.

He absolutely loves when we take him for walks in the baby carrier and stroller, and he can’t get enough of being outside and looking at everything the world has for him. He’s our city explorer sidekick!

Sky has always had a case of FOMO (fear of missing out) – which has made naptime a real struggle during the last two months. Daytime naps are anything but predictable, but we’ll get into more of that below.

In general, Sky does best on his schedule but also likes being out and about. He gets cabin fever (just like his dad) if we are cooped up too long.

His favorite things are being held, eating (ha), reading books, playing, and singing/dancing with us. His least favorite things are being in one spot for too long, being up past his bedtime, and sleeping in his crib at naptime.

 

Eating/Breastfeeding

Ahhh breastfeeding. The bond I have with my baby through breastfeeding is amazing, but it’s also been an incredibly hard and emotional journey. I wrote an entire post on my experience so far, and we’re in about the same spot since I published that, except with the addition of solids.

(I exclusively breastfed until my supply dropped around four months. This was shortly after I went back to work, so I did my best to keep him on just breastmilk until I needed to supplement with formula. I still bottle up mostly pumped breastmilk with 1-2 ounces of Earth’s Best organic infant formula added per bottle when I’m at work.)

With encouragement from our pediatrician, we introduced his very first solid food to him around 4.5 months. It was avocado, and he was a mess! He seemed to really like it mashed, so we continued to introduce more foods to him in the form of purées. We started on Stage 1 fruits and vegetables from Earth’s Best and moved on to Stage 2 that blended more foods together at 6 months.

So far he hasn’t met a food he didn’t care for, except for baby rice cereal. I asked my pediatrician about it, and she said that I shouldn’t even worry about giving it to him, as the real foods and purées will be plenty and add more nutritional value outside of breastmilk.

(This was our early set up before we got the high chair!)

After much debate and researching online, we finally decided to purchase the Ikea Antilop High Chair for the bargain price of $22! I was worried about the quality for the price, but it’s been one of our best purchases thus far, and I would highly recommend it. Now, I’ll even buckle him in it with a few toys while I do work in the kitchen like put away dishes or organize. It’s a total gamechanger.

 

Sleeping

Skyler slept great until about four months old. This is commonly referred to as the four-month sleep regression, and it’s a real thing, y’all. He went from sleeping through the night to waking up every few hours, and there were a few nights where we reverted back into a middle night feeding for about a week. Luckily, we got out of this phase a few weeks later and back to our regularly scheduled sleeping by five months.

He doesn’t like chest naps as much as he used to, however, and he’ll normally push himself up and wiggle around until we move positions. This makes me extremely sad, but I’ve accepted it and will gladly take any snuggles that I can get!

Skyler still does best on a schedule and gets very sleepy and ready to start his bedtime routine around 6:30 p.m. We first start with a walk with Roadie outside between 6-6:30 p.m. and come right home to feed him dinner (what we’re eating cut up extremely small or a jar of purée) after that. He’s usually a complete mess, so I’ll give him a bath directly after that, cuddle him in his towel for a bit, then get him dressed in his pajamas and pick out a few books to read in bed before I nurse him — lights out — in his room until I rock him to sleep.

Once he started rolling to his belly, we transitioned him into a swaddle that allows his arms to roam free, and he was a big fan of the Love To Dream Swaddle UP 50/50.

He will still occasionally wake up once or twice after I put him down, but is almost always sleeping soundly by 7:45/8 p.m.

Daytime naps have been tricky, and sometimes they are a quick 30-minute snooze. Some days he takes to them and others he fights nap after nap. I started using the Huckleberry App to track his sleep because it also analyzes his sleep patterns and gives you the insight of when his “sweet spot” of putting him down for his next nap would be. It’s been pretty accurate!

 

Postpartum Recovery

I started feeling more like myself around three months postpartum, but I have to say that I finally feel back to my old fitness-loving self at six months. I still have some work to do, but I’ve come a really long way in my workouts and runs since the last update. You can read more about my journey here and here.

On a good week, I will get in 2-3 Orangetheory Fitness workouts, a barre workout, and a run outside.

My postpartum fitness journey has never really been about the scale, but I’m very happy to report that I’m just a few pounds away from my pre-pregnancy self. More important than that, however, I can fit into most of my old clothes and I feel great!

I’m not sharing this to brag, but simply want to thank exercise for helping me stay sane and fit throughout it all. I always listen to my body and skip planned workout days when I feel like it needs rest, but I have also been pretty good about staying on somewhat of a schedule that includes a workout every other day or so. As hard as it is as a new and working mom to get to a workout, I feel my best when I make it a priority and know I am a better mom, spouse, employee, friend, and family member because of that.

 

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We ended Skyler’s sixth month with a trip to the pediatrician’s office. At three months old he weighed in at 15 pounds 6 oz, is 26.18 inches long, and is right in the middle with percentiles all around.

I love putting these updates together because it is a great way for me to take a look back and see just how quickly our baby boy changes in just a few weeks time.

It’s insane.

It’s been so great checking in, and I’ll try my best to create more posts soon. I have so much to say! Talk to you all soon!

 

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In case you missed it … here are more LIL baby related posts:

Welcome To The World, Skyler King!

Skyler’s Birth Story – Part One

Skyler’s Birth Story – Part Two

Life With a Newborn, Recovery, and Q&As (Two Week Update)

Skyler’s Six Week Update

Skyler’s Two Month Update

Skyler’s Three Month Update

Thoughts On Postpartum Progression & Staying Motivated

Skyler’s Florida Baby Shower

Thoughts On Raising a Baby in New York City