five months old

 My sweet baby Wyatt is five months old today.  He is such a blessing in my life.  He requires me to slow down, enjoy the moment & remember all I have to be grateful for.  When I stop to change his diaper & he coos at me, or when I get comfy on the couch to nurse him for a while, I can't help but see him for the miracle he is. He was an unexpected gift that I didn't know I would need.

---

That said, the little bugger is a lot of work lately! He's been waking up every three hours or so at night (after going seven hours for a while there!) and I am exhausted.  He doesn't like sleeping alone in his bassinet.  He'd much rather nurse & sleep with mommy, which is all well & good until Josh comes home (in 38 days!!!) and our now roomy bed becomes quite a bit smaller. On top of the sleep issues, he has decided he officially hates the car. He screams, with real tears, at such a pitch, my ears are still ringing from my trip with him this afternoon.  Lucky for him we're headed to a place where car rides will be few & far between.

---

I have begun cloth diapering with Wyatt in preparation for our move to Alaska, and I am pleased to say it's going really well. I have half (12 diapers) Econobum, which are like the old school cloth diapers my mom did with my little brother.  They don't require pins, but it's a basic cotton cloth with a plasticky cover.  The other half (12 diapers) is BumGenius. I love the BumGenius.  If money were no object, I would have all (24 diapers) BumGenius diapers. They are a one size, all in one diaper, and come in lots of fun colors & fit Wyatt really well.  I use an oversized wet bag (a bag with a special liner) to collect the dirty diapers until I'm nearly out.  I do one load of cloth diapers every two days. I have used both Nellie's & Allen's natural laundry detergent.  I do a cold rinse, a hot wash & an extra rinse. Then hang dry the covers & low heat dry the inserts/cloths.  It's way simpler than I had imagined.  Of course, he's not on "people food" yet, so my feelings may change!

---

His schedule right now is as follows:

7am (give or take) Daily wake up

9-10am Morning nap

12-2 or 1-3 Afternoon nap

5:30-6pm Cat nap

6-7pm Cranky Time (of course, during dinner, bath & bed time for his brothers!)

8pm Asleep for the night 

Wakes up to eat at 11pm, 3am & 5am

 ---

I'm not sure how often he eats, I don't really keep track, but I was telling Roxanne today that it's way less than it used to be (at least during the day). And the timing is perfect in that I have so much to do right now with the move & packing.

---

And lastly, this baby is humongous! He is wearing 9 months clothes and with his new diaper bum all his six months clothes are TIGHT!  He weighs at least 20 pounds, and at his last appointment he was in the 98th percentile for weight.  Everyone teases me about my sweet, sumo baby, but I am so glad he's a big baby.  With temperatures in Marshall already dipping to 10 degrees below zero, I need him to have all the chubs we can pack on!
---
All in all, I am in love. He's sweet, generally easy going, and always adorable.  And getting to experience a singleton after twins is proving priceless.