Nolan’s 5-6 Month update

adorable boy (gosh, he is soooo cute)

playing with Alivia and a baloon

Stats:

13 Pounds, 9 ounces and (about) 25 inches long.

He is not gaining much weight right now, which is worrisome to the doctor we take Nolan to see. But, we are not too worried about it as the same sort of thing happened to Alivia. The only thing that slightly makes me uneasy is that Alivia was very, very active and Nolan is not. Alivia also started solid foods at 4 1/2 months whereas Nolan is exclusively breastfeeding. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few months and what the doctor will recommend. The pediatrician that we took Alivia too recommended we supplement with formula but we never did. My guess is they will suggest the same thing but Nolan does not take a bottle and I don’t want to supplement unless absolutely necessary.

Nolan’s Loves:

• Being held: all the time (in carrier or just held, usually by mama)
• Playing with toys
• Sucking on toys
• Playing with Alivia- they now feed off each other and make each other laugh. So cute! Goal: get a video of Alivia tickling Nolan!!
• Watching TV: I don’t like that he likes to do this but he does like to watch the colors and movement when we have the TV on at night… Now he usually goes to bed before we turn on the tv, so this is happening less regularly.
• Bouncing on the exercise ball in my lap
• Being outside--- LOVE
• Bubbles
• Listening to daddy play guitar
• Sitting in the bumbo chair and playing with a toy (usually during meal time)
• Singing

Nolan’s New Things:

• Rolling over from back to belly, he still has only done it a hand-full of times, but we know he can do. He is so immobile, especially compared to his wildly active sister
• Sitting by himself for upwards of 15-30 seconds
• Having a bedtime: 7:00 or 7:30, any later and we have an angry, tired dude
• setting

Skin Issue Update:

Nolan is doing much better, but unfortunately is still suffering from eczema. Although, not as severe, he still has patches on his skin  that I know bother him. We are currently using Aveno Baby Eczema which helps with the itching, but does not completely clear up the patches. After going gluten free/dairy free for over a month and trying numerous upon numerous topical treatments, we did decide to use the lowest amount prescription steroid cream to get it under control. We have seen vast improvement with my diet change, but we needed something to get his skin healthy. We waited over 4 months before trying the prescription cream. After 3 days, his skin is almost perfect. We are still applying the Aveno cream as well. I plan to use the prescription cream only when completely NECESSARY. After much internal debate and confusion (along with Ben’s opinion to not want to use it), we are glad we decided to give him the steroid cream as he is much happier now. He smiles much more; I can put him down longer; he is less (overly) needy; he is sleeping better (for the most part); he can have sockless days (hooray), we were putting socks with duck tape on his hands to prevent scratching and bleeding, but now we only have to do it at night. He hates his socks; he is not itching, only by habit when he is really upset does he go to itch his face. Praise God!

Side note:  After trying a ton of natural ointments, oils, and lotions! I now have some new favorites that I have included in my skin regiment. Shea butter as lip balm = amazing (especially after a day in the sun)! Shea butter is also great for a facial lotion. Coconut oil, aloe vera, bees wax, and water made into a lotion is great and smells wonderful! Weleda baby lotion smells fabulous as well and is a great hand cream. Dessert Essence  has a pretty inexpensive organic body lotion, that is not as oily has the homemade lotion that I use.

 

look how cute I am!! loves this (for a short time)

cutie-pie!!

(poor sock hands that he had to deal with for months because of his skin issues)