Leander Roxas // Five Month Update

I’m still technically on a “blogging break”, but since this is where I’m keeping record of Leander’s monthly updates, I’m taking a “break” from my “break”. Hey, I’m the boss, I can do whatever I want, right? After this post, I’ll be back on “break” for a few more weeks – taking this break has been so good for my brain! I’m excited for new & fresh ideas – you’ll just have to wait & see!

• Every month, I start out with the same “update” & I honestly was thinking that this month might be the month that I started out with a different intro! But then, last week happened & I realized that once again, I would have the same opening line: “Leander is growing out of his current clothes size & moving on up to the next one!” While he is still pretty squarely fitting into most 9 month clothes, I just started noticing that a lot of his “onesie” shirts were starting to get a bit small. So, last week, I pulled out all of the size 12 month clothes I have & washed them up so we could start wearing them. My 5 month old baby is wearing size 12 months – that is absolutely crazy!
• This past month has been a big month for Leander! He’s not only grown by leaps & bounds physically (we found out at his check-up last month that he weighs a whopping 21 pounds!), but mentally you can see the wheels turning as he learns to do more & more.
• Leander has officially mastered so many new things this month! Even though he started to discover his hands last month, he really mastered them this month! He now loves to hold toys, blankets, rattles – anything he can get his hands on! He reaches for things (watch your phone & dinner plate!) and will quickly grab anything that catches his eye – and of course, everything goes straight into his mouth. He’s also discovered his feet this month – he loves to grab his chubby little toes!
• From there, Leander also (finally) rolled over – from his back to his tummy! I say “finally” because, he was so close to rolling over, for so long! It seemed to take forever for him to master that one, but just last week (a few days before he officially turned 5 months old) he did it! And once he did it once, he quickly became a pro. It’s so fun to put him on the floor & watch him roll all over the place (combining the skill he learned last month of rolling from tummy to back with this month’s skill of back to tummy!)
• I really thought that Leander was going to be a thumb-sucker (and I guess it’s still possible) but so far, it just hasn’t happened. He figured out how to specifically get his thumb into his mouth last month, so I was just waiting for the day that he would start sucking it to soothe himself on a regular basis, but nope. He still sometimes sucks his fingers (with no rhyme or reason as to which ones) but, it’s nothing consistent.
• Speaking of Leander’s hands – he loves to pull hair. I mean, I think every baby loves to pull hair, but he seems exceptionally good at it. I don’t wear my hair down very often as it is, but now it’s almost never down. He’s gotten pretty quick to grab Braelynn’s hair as well (and pulled out several large chunks – oops!)
• Leander went to the Lake House for the first time this month! On Easter weekend, we traveled to Deep Creek Lake, MD for the very first time this year & unfortunately, it wasn’t exactly the best weekend. I had all these fun plans for our first weekend at the Lake and pretty much none of them happened.
• Just a few days before traveling down to the Lake House, Braelynn came down with a cold. And then the first night we were at the Lake, Leander came down with it – thanks so much big sister. It made for a sadly miserable weekend away. I was so worried about him getting another ear infection & having to go on another round of antibiotics, that we decided to do our best to get out in front of it this time. When we got home, we took him to the chiropractor. Thankfully, that seemed to do the trick! His nose ran and ran, but his ears never bothered him & he got over the cold fairly quickly.
• Speaking of Easter, on Palm Sunday weekend, we put Leander’s car-riding skills to the test as we spent over 13 hours in the car that weekend!! We drove up to visit Papa & Nana on Friday, and then went to visit Uncle Jim & Aunt Dot (and their family) on Saturday (Leander’s first Easter egg hunt!), and then back home on Sunday. He was amazing – he hardly cried – we were so thankful!!
• Leander took another big step in being a “big boy” this month, when he spent the most time away from Mommy that he’s ever spent! Derrick & I went to see the new Avenger’s movie & Leander (and Braelynn) spent the evening with Grandma & Grandpa. He took a bottle for them (twice) and everything! It was a good practice round as in just a few weeks, I have my first full-day wedding!
• We took Leander to Kennywood for the first time this month! Two weekends ago was “Season Passholder Preview” weekend, and even though it was freezing (temps barely hitting 50º) we still had a wonderful time! We simply all bundled up, brought lots of blankets to “nest” Leander in the stroller in, and had a fabulous time. We had season passes at Kennywood last year, but since I was pregnant all summer, I didn’t really get to ride anything. Needless to say, when we got to the park, we ran straight back to Phantom & “parent swapped” so that I could ride my first coaster in 18 months – it was good. While we were there, Leander got to ride his first ride: the carousel! There aren’t very many things he can ride quite yet, but once he was “cocooned” in the stroller, we really didn’t want to take him out. We had to ride the carousel altogether though! I’m so excited to go back in warmer weather – we’re going to have a lot of fun at Kennywood this year!
• Leander had the absolute biggest diaper blowout in history this month! He was in his exersaucer (still one of his very favorite places to be!) and when I took him out, poop had exploded out of his diaper, down his leg & into his sock. I still can’t quite figure out how it happened – needless to say, he went straight into the bathtub for a midday bath that day!
• At Leander’s 4-month check-up, our doctor told us that we could go ahead and begin to introduce him to some food. I know he’s a really big dude, but I really didn’t think he was ready. I wasn’t ready either. So, we waited a few weeks. After watching him mature & develop all month though, we decided that it was time. So, just 2 days before he officially turned 5 months old, we attempted to feed him some rice cereal. It was a miserable failure. He cried & arched his back & simply refused (the complete opposite reaction of the first time we fed Braelynn food). We figured it was just an adjustment that needed to be made, so we continued to try over the next few days. Every time was the same – he refused to open his mouth, he’d turn his head away, and cry – he just really did not want it. I finally decided that my intuition about him not being ready is still correct & so, we’re giving it a break. We’ll try again in a few weeks!
• Probably the biggest news of the month was that Leander is now the proud owner of two teeth!! I couldn’t believe how fast they popped thru! I could tell that his two bottom teeth were coming in, but just assumed that it would be another month or two until they actually popped through (I remember Braelynn’s teeth taking forever to finally break through! And she didn’t get her first teeth until she was 6 months old!) But then, just like that – one day the one popped to the surface & 24 hours later, the next one had popped through! They’re so cute, but super sharp! He’s bit me while nursing really good several times & if he has your finger in his hand, he will definitely attempt to chomp it (it hurts so bad!) You can see his little teeth in some of his 5 month pictures – I’m just not sure how I feel about them! I love how adorable they are (and am so thankful how quickly they broke thru) but I can’t believe my little dude has teeth already!!

Here are his Five Month photos! It blows my mind how much he’s changed & looks so much older from his One Month photos & Two Month photos & Three Month photos & Four Month photos already! Time can slow down anytime now!

And since big sister isn’t getting very much “blog time” anymore, she’s sneaking in at the end of this post!

If you’d like to follow along with what our little guy is up to on a more weekly basis – I’m taking weekly photos of him (just like I did with Braelynn) too! I post those updates every Monday on my personal Facebook page, as well as my Instagram account!