Five months old and folic acid

Well Brynn turned five months old, and although my husband and I were pretty excited for her, as you can see - she spent most of the day sleeping! In fact she fell asleep with her pacifier half hanging out of her mouth, and when she was sucking it in her sleep it was popping in and out - like Maggie from the Simpsons does with her pacifier. I know every mom says that their kid grows up so fast, but she really has even from week to week.

As I said before, Brynn broke the 11 pounds mark this month - almost tripling her birth weight. These days I hate to curse things....but she sleeps through the night almost all the time. She might wake up here and there with a short cry, but it's usually just brief and she falls back asleep. Her typical days when I'm home have fallen a bit into something that resembles a schedule. Although - I say that loosely, but still I know how lucky we are to have any sense of a schedule.

When I'm off from work it's usually:
7AM I wake up and pump
8AM-9AM Brynn wakes up and either bottle or breastfeed with her Zantac
9:30 - 11AM play or other stuff (like being carried - still not fond of the swing)
11-1 or so hopefully nap, I pump again
12 or 1 wake up and bottle or breastfeed
1 - 3 awake and play, bath, etc., I pump again, Zantac
3:30 - 5 nap hopefully
4:30/ 5ish - bottle or breastfeed
5- 7PM Brynn awake, I pump once the hubby gets home and takes over baby duty
7-8:30 PM Brynn sleeps on the hubby in the recliner
9:00PM last night time bottle (usually formula) plus Zantac, I pump for the last time
10:30 - 11PM settles down for bed and goes to sleep.

When I work Brynn's days starts a bit earlier around 5AM at my parent's house when I drop her off, but it usually just includes an additional bottle and 2 hour nap between 5 and 9AM or so. I need to finally make a decision on a high chair (thank you for your imput to those of you I've asked!) because I'd like to start some cereal over the next few weeks with Brynn. Although I know I won't need one right away - I'm sure it'll be no time before it'll come in handy.

Brynn's reflux is doing a ton better these days with the feeding routine we use, I thankfully can say. I also love those Playtex DropIn bottles and liners. They make feedings so easy! She has spent the last few days and nights getting used to sleeping in her crib as well.
Although she still fits easily in her bassinet, by the time she's 6 months I know she'll have outgrown it.
Part of it makes me sad because she'll no longer be our very little girl, but part of me is so excited with how far she's come. I have to admit the transition from bassinet to crib is going way easier than I though it would. (Don't worry - I took all the stuff animals out before we put Brynn down to sleep.) Neela now sleeps at the bottom of the crib on the floor in Brynn's nursery or on the chair nearby to watch over her little sister as she sleeps. As soon as Brynn stirs, Neela runs to wake us up. Neela is way better than any baby monitor, video or otherwise, LOL!

Brynn's still not too fond of tummy time, but my husband is pretty good with getting her to roll over a few times at night from tummy to back. Just over the last couple of weeks has she gotten to be better at this. Some nights she doesn't do it at all, and other times it's a bunch. She loves things that light up and play music, sucking on both thumbs now and her burp cloths, and she is just beginning to discover her toes. Although I usually play this Little Piggy goes to Market with her...the first time she grab her toes with her own hands a light went on in her head. Like "Wow, those are my toes!" She still doesn't have any teeth yet, but that's OK with me since it makes breast feeding easier. Oh yeah...she is loving breast feeding! Weird since it took her the last two months to decide that she loved it, since the first three she wouldn't touch the boobies. I had no idea kids did that, but my little weirdo has.

She also has loved forward facing in her Baby Bjorn. Until they're 8-9 lbs you have to leave them rear facing, and Brynn is totally loving looking forward when the hubby carries her around the house. She also loves looking at her reflection in the mirror. My dad (her grandpa) is famous for this one and will spend a half hour making silly faces with her in the mirror. She shrieks with delight. And yes..the verbal changes. She makes so many new noises and pitches over the last few weeks. She will make noises and pause waiting for you to make sounds or words back like you're having a conversation. She also will try to talk (shriek or coo?) to the characters on the TV. It's enough to make your heart melt!

And last but certainly not least is changes in poo. What post from a nurse mommy wouldn't be complete without poo talk. Brynn has completely changed her poo schedule from pooing 5 times a day to once every 6 days. That is a huge difference! And yes, watch out. When the poo does let loose, you better be wearing goggles, LOL! At first this greatly alarmed me....But hey, we're flexible right?

I also starting taking my folic acid and multivitamin more religiously. I'm not sure what our meeting with our RE will bring in just 8 short weeks. If their suggestion is to do a fresh IVF cycle versus using our frozen embryos come September, then it'll only be about 4 months or so before I start on our medication schedule. I know how important it is to have decent levels of your folic acid up to 3 months ahead of time so I figure it's a good time to get my butt in gear just in case. I also need to start looking more closely at the other things we need to do to get our surrogacy journey in check. This is all so exciting, overwhelming and crazy it's enough to make my head spin!

Thank you again for always following along with us - I give you all a big bloggy hug!