Dexter is 5 months old today. He started the day with a bang by waking up every 2 hours all night long. I'm not sure what's wrong. This is the third night in a row he's done that. It isn't teething because Tylenol doesn't help. I thought maybe he's not eating enough, but I made sure to nurse him every couple hours yesterday, so that's not it. He's been good on his schedule, even through the holidays. Now he's waking up to play at 5 am to play and carries on in his crib making all kinds of noise for an hour. I have to ignore him to discourage it, so I've been using earplugs at times. I'm so exhausted that it's seriously making it difficult to think and my emotional state is hitting rock bottom from pure exhaustion. To top it off he's been nipping me on a regular basis while nursing which is excruciatingly painful. That makes the midnight snacking all the harder to deal with when I'm donating blood to my little vampire. I know the sleepless nights will end someday and he'll be weaned in a few months, but it doesn't make today any easier. Even though I resent not getting sleep, looking in his eyes and getting a little smile usually makes me feel better.
The fun stuff about Dexter. He's sitting supported (with his hands) pretty well and he's recently started to transfer a toy from one hand to another. He's even picking up 2 toys at once sometimes. He shakes his rattles in a rhythm like he's in a band - so funny to watch. He's banging on things when he gets excited and if he sees me hold something, he reaches for it. He's discovered that his fingernails will make noise if he scratches something, so he's scratching me, the couch, the Baby Bjorn, his books, his toys. When he's on his tummy he will look up at us standing above him and is inching towards toys placed just beyond his reach. He pivots around his blanket pretty well now. I would love to do a time-lapse photo session on him at some point because every time I turn around he's somewhere different.
He's also recently started to laugh at Squee who he watches intently all the time. I swear he learned to sigh from Squee because he does it the exact same way Squee does. Dexter also pets Squee and Squee tolerates it until Dexter grabs a fistful of ear or fur. I try to correct Dex whenever he does this, but I'm sure he's just trying to imitate me scratching Squee's neck. Squee will now lay down beside Dexter as long as Dex is quiet and not flinging his arms and legs everywhere. They will be best buds as soon as Dex can throw Squee's toy.
Today is my first 6 hour day to work and my first 4 day week. I'm still working at home an will be until our new office is ready later this month. I plan to continue nursing him every 2-3 hours and hopefully avoid the bottle as much as possible since I can't seem to pump enough. It will be a nice break to walk home to see him and spend a few minutes nursing him and get part of my career-life back.
