5 months old!

Eli became 5 months old on January 18th!

Some things Eli is up to at this time...

Loves:

1. being in the exersaucer
2. silly faces/noises
3. bath time
4. mirrors
5. playing with his feet
6. squawking
7. being on his *back* in his activity gym
8. car rides
9. simon/macy/small living things that move in general
10. chewing on literally anything that will fit in his mouth
11. watching people talk
12. books (chewing on, of course)
13. sitting in the bumbo

He has not yet rolled from his back to his front.  He has rolled front to back a total of 9 times.  He has to be reeeeally motivated to do it.  Otherwise he's pretty content on his back and can't be bothered to roll around.

He has also been practicing "sitting up".  He can tripod sit for a few seconds and sometimes can balance himself the old fashioned way but obviously, being only 5 months old, he just tips over, haha.  I'm hoping he can sit up ;ong enough for his 6 month photos, which I am working on scheduling!

Eli on his 5 month birthday!

Here is a pretty crappy job on a panorama of Eli's room as it currently stands.  I ignored currently standards and got some crib bedding with a bumper pad.  In his case, I am more worried about his leg getting stuck in the bars than suffocating, as he was waking up many nights kicking the side of his crib.  Plus it's super cute and I got the entire set for $35 at Once Upon a Child!

Also, still no tooth yet, and he hasn't had any solid foods.  I'm planning on starting that after talking with his pediatrician about the best options at his 6 month checkup!

*Also to note, I recently received a mother/baby scale and according to it Eli weighs TWENTY POUNDS. if that's true, he gained almost 3 entire pounds in about a month and a week.

*Correction: He weighs 18.8 pounds.  I tried it a few more times.  It makes more sense, especially since he has had a cold this ENTIRE month so far and hasn't been eating as much as usual.

lately.

I am going to be honest, lately I have been having a lot of negative thoughts.

Eli has had a cold for about a week and a half now and for me that means only a few broken hours of sleep a night.  I'm tired.  I'm really, really tired.

Over the past couple years I've followed a lot of blogs.  These are usually the blogs of people who, to me, appear to have their lives together.  They are the type of people that cook all their meals from scratch (organic, of course...probably locally grown, too), build their own furniture, and still have time to look like supermodels while raising multiple children.

Initially (you know, before I had a babe of my own) this was really inspiring because hey! I would totally love to be that kind of mom!

Except...then I had a kid.

And every day is a lot like treading water, just trying to stay afloat.  I don't have time/energy/will to do all those things that looked so inspiring pre-baby.  Don't get me wrong, having a baby is really awesome.  But it's also really a lot of work.

And I'm tired.

Now those blogs that once inspired me kind of annoy me.  I am envious of their ability to even make their lives have the appearance of being so together.

I am annoyed because my husband doesn't come home from work and immediately become involved with our child.  He usually gets on the computer and we don't have a real conversation.  I am annoyed because if I even make it to the grocery store and buy fresh ingredients to make something for dinner, I usually don't even do anything with said ingredients and then they rot, and then I throw them away. I am annoyed because I get on Facebook and see friends post statuses complaining that their baby didn't sleep that night when my baby has slept through the night two or three times since I brought him home from the hospital (and for the record...through the night means 6+ hours...we've done 7).  I'm annoyed because I have bags under my eyes and no amount of concealer can hide the fact that I just need a freaking nap.  Mostly I'm annoyed because I can't choose to be happy despite these things.

I guess my New Years resolution should be to just "deal with it" in a positive way.  I don't know exactly what that would look like in my life, but when I do, I'll let you know...