Life as A New Mom – 5 Month Update

It’s been three months since the last update and what a difference! She’s a whole new person now. (As I am, because I’m getting plenty of sleep thank you very much.) She’s absolutely charming, she’s so aware, and she’s so funny. I think we have reached a great stage.

Naja turned 5 months old on the 24th. She continues to make me smile and laugh multiple times a day. And she started sleeping 10-12 hours a night since 4 months old. We didn’t do any sleep training let alone any letting her CIO (cry it out). I tend to her needs almost instantly; she’s not a crier because I don’t let her. At this stage, there’s no such thing as spoiling a baby. If anything, being so attentive makes them more confident later on in life.

I did put some effort in daily life to try to teach her to self-soothe and be able to fall asleep on her own. I think it was helpful, but I also think maybe we got lucky and got a good sleeper, which is no surprise as mom and dad both love and need their sleep.

She’s a talker. She’s been “talking” since 3 months old. With noises, using her vowels, often. And you can tell she’s truly trying to communicate. She’s a very happy baby. She smiles all the time, even when she’s fussy or hangry she’ll throw in a smile and continue her cry/whine.

She becomes more quiet and serious when there are other people around. So we’re noticing it takes her a while to warm up to people. Like me.

So, even though everyone comments how much she looks like daddy, she’s showing a lot of personality traits that match me.

We’ve taken her out to different restaurants and she’s always great. Of course, she turns heads everywhere she goes.

Sometimes I do feel like I’m stuck on groundhog day, going through the same every day, waking up, caring for her, cooking, and cleaning, repeat… So when Josh is home all day on the weekends, we always try to go out somewhere.

3 months

At around three months old she started sleeping about 8 hours. Which was great. She also had her very first full-on laugh during bathtime. Both Josh and I were present when it happened, and it was such an amazing moment. It’s probably her favourite time of day. She loves the water. Like her dad, a Navy man.

Grandma (my mom) came to visit from Mexico City for two weeks and Naja loved her company. She would smile constantly with her. It was also good that she visited so that we can start showing her a second language. Spanish is my native language, but I now speak English more naturally because it’s what I speak all the time living in the US with an American husband.

Dear little Naja:

We’ll never forget your first laugh during bathtime.

You love playing with abuelita.

You can kick really hard.

You don’t like putting on your clothes after bathtime. Mostly because bathtime makes you quite hungry for some reason and you grow impatient when I’m putting on your pj’s.

4 months

She’s still a petite baby. We had her 4-month pediatrician appointment where he said she’s healthy and growing but she’s still on the petite, shorter than average, percentile. Like me.

When she turned 4 months old, we moved her bassinet from our room to her room, the nursery. And she slept on her own for the first time. She was perfectly content and slept through the night. That night though, when I put her to sleep, I was very sad and shed some tears. It’s crazy how attached moms get to their babies. A couple days later I was over it. I was surprised when Josh admitted a day later that he also felt sad and missed her when she didn’t sleep in our room for the first time.

Dear little Naja:

You love your elephant sock puppet toy. You’ll squeeze, stare, and bite it for a long time and be upset if I accidentally take it away.

You can roll from tummy to belly!

You don’t like new places/people. Well, more like it takes you a little while to warm up to them. When we took you to daddy’s workplace for the first time (because you are very popular there and people wanted to meet you), you started crying when we arrived and when someone else tried to hold you. After a little while, you were happy, comfortable, and allowed other people to hold you. The exact same thing happened when we went to a friend’s house for a pre-Christmas dinner.

5 months

Her eye colour continues to change. Currently, it looks more like deep green, like grandmas (my mom). Which of course, she’s thrilled about.

Little Naja recently discovered her feet and it’s the cutest and funnest thing to see her grab them every chance she gets. Such as when I’m changing her diaper or during bathtime, which she still enjoys very much.

Dear little Naja: 

I miss being able to nap with you. But whenever I try you may fall asleep but wake up a couple minutes later and you find me too much of a distraction to sleep, so I have to put you down in your room on your own. I guess you enjoy playing with mommy. 🙂 No one has ever found me as hilaroius as you do.

We did have a sleepover one night this month, because for some unknown reason you were up crying every hour that night. So after three of those incidents, I grabbed some bedding from the closet and moved into your room and slept on the floor by your side. Around 6 am you made it there too, and we slept together for 3 hours. Weirdly it wasn’t that rough of a night and I enjoyed your sleepy company.

Also, this month right before your 5-month-old birthday, your new crib arrived and you slept in it for the first time. No problems there. You have plenty of space to do your acrobatics.

You love going out for walks with mommy. And your elephant sock puppet is still your favourite.

You can grab your feet and put your toes in your mouth.

You don’t like putting on clothes over your head.

Can’t wait to keep seeing you grow and become your own little person!