Man oh man. MONTH No° 5.

How did I let a month go by without blogging? I’ll tell ya how. I’ve had the decision a few weeks ago to put my phone down when my baby boy is awake and needing me. I usually write myself a blog post in an email to myself, send it and edit/post it when baby sleeps.

I don’t want him thinking that a phone is more important than him. I don’t want him thinking it’s an addictive device….which it is. Which is why I’ve conciously put the phone down after my mindless scrolling on Instagram. My vice.

Anyway! He’s sleeping when I write this so we’re golden again. Plus it takes the entire month to piece together all the news, information, and changes about him.

Well, our little boy…. he’s still measuring off the charts for his height, which is no surprise. Such a long baby. Many more exciting events have happened to our baby this month:

• First hair cut! I gave him a haircut about a week ago.
• Swim classes – he smiles the entire time, and naps for ages afterwards. Awesome.
• Dada’s first Father’s day
• First Canada day
• First independence day
• First time solo parenting for a week – read how that was on my instagram post!
• Decided he loves sleeping on his belly when my husband was away that week. You bet I didn’t sleep a wink the first two nights, checking on his breathing.
• Visit and first time meeting one of his aunt’s
• A first trip to two different farmers markets
• He even met my friend Lauren for the first time this month too.
• We go to a story time class at a local library each week – I love it! It’s for babies 12 months and under. The first week we went, we read his favourite book (I had to tell the librarians.. I’m sure they cared haha!)
• He definitely found his voice this month too. And loves squealing and being loud in quiet public places. I love it, I’m not sure if everyone is as enthusiastic about it as I am.

Here are some of our favourite things from the month:

Swim class! It’s equal parts exciting and terrifying for me (thanks to my pal for the rash guard, he wasn’t a slippery baby!)

Munch Mitt: I can’t get this thing on his hand fast enough. My old coworkers and boss back in Ontario Canada sent down a care package for my baby when he was first born, and this was in it. I’ve recommended it to so many people so far!

Rylee and Cru pants: I like these since they’re quite lightweight for the summer. I have another pair too (these little beach ball ones, I love the colour!) If baby is in the carrier, I don’t want him to have bare legs in direct sunlight when walking with him, so these are great to keep him cool, and covered up.

Lille Embossed carrier: this is the carrier we use and love (see me wearing it on Instagram). Again, so many people have commented at Mom’s group that they think it’s a nice one. I love that it can grow with the child, and eventually I can wear bucko strapped to my back with this thing!

Zara baby: I love their clothes! A lot of stores have limited stock for “boy” clothes. Zara is great for it though. His entire outfit here (minus the onesie/top) is from Zara. They have adorable stuff. The little orange/red baby hoodie is to die for.

UPPABaby Vista stroller (the bassinet specifically): lengthwise he’s outgrown the bassinet but he hasn’t hit the weight limit yet (20lbs). Plus, we ended up bringing this stroller to California’s Great America (an amusement park for those who aren’t local), and I changed baby’s bum while in this stroller – so easy, since he’s not buckled in.

California Baby Everywhere Spritzer: this thing gets used multiple times a day. I have the calming scent (lavender) and I love it for spraying in the nursery room. It absolutely gets rid of the diaper smell haha!

Hand-me-downs from Nicole: What would I do without her? She was my neighbour for a few years, but I’ll always refer to her as my neighbour. She has two boys and the clothes she’s given me for my baby is unreal. I literally haven’t had to buy a stitch of clothing since he was born. She’s so awesome.

Jolly Jumper: I bought him a jolly jumper off Amazon and it’s the best thing, seeing him explore, and “stand” up in it. He loves it too!

Voice to text when using my cell phone, either emailing people texting or writing myself messages and notes and reminders cuz it’s so handy since my mind is pretty much mush half the time.

To-do lists! if I don’t have it written down it doesn’t get done. not because I don’t want it done it’s just because I forget that it has to be done.

In order for the next day to go smoothly, I need the night before all orderly before I go to bed. That means making sure that diaper bag is stocked (ie just a muslin cloth, diapers, and a toy really), selecting my outfit for the morning … just one less thing to think about on my task list when waking up in the morning.

We literally live for mom’s group and the other meetups outside of group, when we all get together and hang. Baby is starting or really recognize his pals, and smiles to greet their moms (he kinda ignores the babies but smiles at the momma’s) to get their attention. He’s such a happy baby, and strangers keep commenting on how happy he is. I love it.

He doesn’t test my patience, because he’s simply a baby and doesn’t know “any better” (for lack of words lol). Some days he’s so independent, other days he needs me to cuddle and talk, read, sing to him all day long. Is it tiring? Of course! But it’s so so rewarding. I get to teach him so many cool things. I get to see him learn the things we take for granted everyday. Like picking up and object and bringing it to his mouth, or hearing that sweet raspy giggle of his.

And I’ll keep saying it. It’s not just the months that are flying by it’s the days too. Some days I put him in his crib for every nap, but occasionally he’ll want that extra bit of comforts and cuddles and I’m happy enough to give that to him and rock him to sleep on my arms and squeeze him tight. I know he’ll be grown before very long. Even this time next year he may not want those sweet cuddles. He’s only little, for such a little amount of time…so I’m okay with “spoiling” (aka simply loving) him.

Gosh, these posts keep getting longer and longer, don’t they? Oh well! Pass on this one if you’re not into babies lol.

Baby’s third month was a complete turnaround for the other few months of his life. I think we’ve finally gotten into our groove. I now understand that my baby cannot be awake for more than 90 (or so) minutes at a time. Who knew babies needed to be put down for a nap before they give obvious cues?! Also, I know which cry is which (for the most part), and have somewhat of a routine down pat. Not only that, the whole Mom Group thing is going so well! We have a few hangout’s a week with a bunch of our new friends, and keeping baby socialized is great! On certain days we have plans, but I refuse to make any plans on Monday’s since that’s when I try and get the majority of housework done. It’s “easier” because I can eat leftovers from what I cooked over the weekend, so I have one less thing to worry about there. Plus, the rest of the days I try and only do one household chore a day so it’s not overwhelming.

I’ve had two people ask me how I “have my sh*t together”. Trust me, I don’t. There’s definitely days (like yesterday, and last Thursday for instance) where all I did was comfort and care for baby. He was having a off-days, and that’s totally okay – and normal! Like I said before, I’ll plan to only do one thing per day, because in the end, there will always be chores to do. And I’m gonna do them all over again next week, right? If I do a few loads of laundry one day, I probably won’t mop the floors on the same day (that is, unless I have like 4 coffees…which will never happen because I don’t want my baby to be over caffeinated, obviously).

For the past 3 months however, he hasn’t been sleeping great. But something turned around in the last week and a half. Perhaps it’s because he’s now fully transitioned into his crib in his own nursery now (I don’t want to talk about it – it’s so sad! LOL), but I now know what time he “needs” to go to bed in order to get sufficient slumber.

Baby tends to nap the longest in the morning, so that’s when I try and get my nap in too. He was waking up every 1-2 hours during the night, up until last week, so I’ve been, like ya would, super tired. It was tough. Mid morning I’ll put him in his little chair and he’ll watch me do house-related-stuff, like steam mop the floors, unload the dishwasher, or fold laundry while we listen to some tunes….the Beatles are a big hit with him. But some days the clean laundry will sit on the corner of our couch unfolded for 2 days. Just gotta go with the flow. I also love face-timing my Mom every single morning to show her the lil’ bubs.