Haha, how’s that for a corny title? But yeah, the babies are five months old now, and wow what change can happen in a month. They are so much more aware these days. They interact with us, laugh at us, they study on everything and I swear I can see them growing right before my eyes. Every morning when I go to get them from the beds it seems like they have grown since the night before. It really is amazing.
There are a lot of things that are the same for both babies so I will go ahead and talk about those first.
We are not currently feeding the babies anything other than breast milk and the plan is to continue that exclusively until 6 months of age. After 6 months the plan is to leave it up to them—(at least as long as they’re health and growth continues). I’ve done a lot of reading and research and have come to the realization that everyone has their own opinion about how and when to start solids. As their mother, I plan to take the approach that “mom knows best” . Considering they sleep great through the night, they are gaining weight, hitting all their developmental milestones and considering the fact that breast milk is the best possible food for your babies, I see no reason to rush into other foods. I have thankfully been blessed with a wonderful experience in breastfeeding. I seem to have a great supply and have had no problems thus far, so I would like to continue as long as possible. That being said, once they show interest, we’ll get started. I am planning to make most of my own baby foods and have been reading up on what foods to start with first and collecting fun recipes to try.
With Nana going back home and the babies being with me basically all the time, I really have no idea how much they are eating at a time—it looks like Nora can still take as little as 4 oz. and as much as 6 oz. and Holden still somewhere between 5-6 oz. I still have to assume that they are eating much more than that when nursing because otherwise they wouldn’t be growing. I think they are both a little lazy with the bottle and prefer to nurse. I have been told to try out some different nipples, I just haven’t gotten around to getting out and buying some. The babies are both definitely capable of going longer between feedings now. If I can’t get to a feeding right at 3 hours it isn’t the end of their world—usually. This is most helpful when out running errands. They can easily go with only 4 feedings a day, but I have noticed that on those days the babies, Nora in particular, are more likely to wake up in the early morning hours wanting to eat again. If I can limit the length of their naps and squeeze in a 5th feeding—there isn’t any waking up at night.
Sleep as you can probably infer from above is going well. God thankfully blessed me with some wonderful sleepers. My triumph for this month has been organizing daytime sleep. We now have 2 solid naps a day—1 about 1.5 hours after they wake up in the morning—this nap can last from 2-4 hrs. Then they nap again in the afternoon for at least 3 hrs. sometimes up to 5. Then by 7 o’clock these babies are done with the day and WANT to go to bed. I know that sounds like a lot—but they never fight it and get pretty cranky without the naps—so we just let it happen.
The biggest excitement of the month for both of them is their OH SO SWEET LAUGHS! We still have to work really hard to get them, but when we do get a giggle it’s the best thing ever! I could spend all day trying to get them to laugh at me cause I just love it so much!
~Nora Grayce Burns~
The fifth month is an off month for well-baby visits so I don’t have any weight/length stats for ya but we did try to weigh the babies on the scale a couple of nights ago. It looks like our Norabird is around 12 lbs and judging by the fit of her clothes I would say just a tad bit longer than she was at 4 months. Her 3 month clothes still fit her best.
If I may be prejudiced for just a minute, I just think Nora is so beautiful. Her eyes are light blue especially when hit by the sunlight, we still assume both babies eyes will turn green at some point, but hers are so much lighter than Holden’s we’ll just have to wait and see. She also has a surprising amount of red in her hair—obviously not a carrot-top red, but a dark auburn color. We have had many comments on it lately—but there does seem to be red heads on both sides of our families, so we’ll just have to see. Her feet are still abnormally skinny and we still can’t find one pair of shoes that fit. Thankfully we live in Hawaii! She needs little ballet slippers that can tie up or something.
Everywhere we seem to go Nora demands attention and gets it pretty easily. Her expressions draw people in and her smiles are infectious. Her whole body literally lights up when she gets excited. Thing is she is already a master manipulator…she is happy as long as she is getting exactly what she wants and then she works that boo-boo lip like no baby I’ve ever seen. Where did she even learn that from?? That lip works on most people but Mommy and Daddy know the truth and just let ignore her during these times. I am still hoping she grows out of it!
She has grown out of the continuous crying, thank the Lord. Nora has even started talking to herself instead of crying when she wakes up in the morning. She also spends a lot of her time singing, like in our previous Movie Monday post. That singing just warms my heart. I absolutely love listening to the sweet sound of her voice and it’s so much more soothing than that awful bird-like crying..for which she will always carry her nickname, Norabird.
Milestones for the month are that she is now a proficient roller. She only does it when she wants to, but she is more than capable. We took the babies for 4 month pictures at Olan Mills and we had the hardest time getting a shot of the two of them together because Nora kept rolling over and out of position each time we took our hands off of her. She also is good at moving around…no more leaving her on beds and couches unattended, in the magical baby way, she moves around pretty good. We have even had to develop a way to strap her into the swing while she is swaddled so she won’t scoot out. She also is working on reaching out for things. She can almost reach out for me when I put my hands out for her---the hands go more up in the sky than towards me, but its still a sweet gesture! She can grab our hands and her paci when put in front of her, but hasn’t shown much interest in other toys lately. I have just started working with her on sitting up, the head control is totally there, the problem will be with the bending…Nora likes to be stick straight all the time which cause a slight issue when trying teach her to sit.
Other highlights for the month are her first trip to a waterfall, first trips to the beach and first swim in the ocean.
Nora’s Likes Include
-bouncing and playing the “earthquake game” with daddy
-diaper changing time
-baths
-being swaddled
-swinging
-walks in the stroller
-laying on the floor ---doing her “floor routine”
-her paci
Nora’s Dislikes Include
-waiting on brother
-the jumparoo
-cleaning out her nose and ears
-stopping at stoplights
-laying in her crib during the day
-tummy time
~Holden Reece Burns~
My sweet little boy isn’t really all that little anymore. We are constantly amazed and commenting on his growth. We think he weighs around 15.5 lbs and he keeps getting longer and longer. He is wearing mostly 6 mo clothing and even those things are getting tight in the crotch. As much as I like onesies, it seems that shirts/shorts sets fit him better because of his length. We are beginning to get comments when going out about how much bigger Holden is than Nora—someone even asked me today, in disbelief, if they were twins.
He may be a big boy, his daddy likes to call him “bruiser” even, but inside Holden is the sweetest, softest, most tender baby boy ever. He has the cutest smile I’ve ever seen and he will willingly give it to anyone. When he flashes that grin and gazes up at me it melts my heart, and all I have to say is “Lord have mercy” on all the little girls out there!
Holden is not only growing in size, but he is also hard at work growing his HAIR! It’s slow and steady but we now have a full coverage of fuzz again and it seems to be a bit darker than it was when he was born. It’s not quite long enough to tell about the texture, but when he was born it was a bit curly so we’ll have to see. Holden is in general lighter than Nora, we really have to watch his skin on our outings. Also, he easily gets heat rashes as well as red marks on his face from simply touching or rubbing a little too hard. When he is tired at night and starts rubbing his face sometimes it looks like someone has beat him up because his face is so red and blotchy.
No matter wherever we are and whatever we are doing Holden is the perfect baby to take. As long as he is being held he is content. Some days though he wakes up sad or something and just needs extra love—like today. He woke up crying and I went to get him, laid him on the changing table and stepped away for a second to attend to Nora and get the trash can and he WAILED because I had left him… “How do I know this” you ask? Well, because as soon as I came back and picked him up and got quiet, laid his head down on my chest and grabbed onto my shirt with his little fists…then when I tried to lay him down again, he started crying all over again.
I am happy to announce that Holden is finally getting better in his carseat. I would say only about a third of the time now does he scream in the car—and even on those trips he will eventually stop, which is a GREAT improvement from last month. Sadly though, Nora has gotten worse in her carseat, so there still isn’t much of a break for Mommy. If ever Mike and I meet up somewhere and have 2 cars I always beg to drive the car home so he can take the truck and babies. I just have to say I will never again underestimate silence in the car, or actually being able to hear and enjoy the radio.
Holden’s most favorite thing to do these days is play in his new rainforest jumparoo. This jumparoo can entertain him for quite a long time. The funny thing about this is that when it’s time to get him out sometimes I have a hard time because he is so slippery from all the slobber that has ran down his chest for the past hour or so. Yuck!
Holden’s milestones for the month include: rolling over—although he almost always prefers not to. I was beginning to worry that he couldn’t do it at all and then one night he was just in the mood and started showing off…so I guess he can do it, he just chooses not to..he’s almost perfected going from back to stomach—he gets about 80% there and then throws his legs to the other side and does the same thing, its like a new game for him. He also is very interested in his toys. He reaches for them, grabs them, rolls them, etc. The lights on his jumparoo can really get a reaction out of him and he starts kicking and jumping BIG TIME!
Holden’s Likes Include:
-being held and cuddling
-walks in the stroller
-talking with people
-his fish mobile
-jumparoo
-kisses
Holden’s Dislikes Include:
-being alone
-tummy time
-loud noises
look how big Holden's feet are!
We did snag a family on the way to the pool to take a picture of all of us. They were also celebrating Mother's Day and the birthday of their son! 
Look at that pretty blue sky! It was a gorgeous day!
and here's some pics before bedtime
What a great day!
What a great day!
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The cheesecake greatly exceeded Mike's last cake endeavor, which i have pictures of below...
My birthday present this year is a Nikon D5000 
Reading my 
Mike, Nora and Oliver were watching us open presents...I call this the "before" picture
Oliver what are you doing?
and this is the "after" picture...
Daddy and Nora...she's blowing bubbles/spitting, it's her new favorite thing to do
My excited boy!
look at those baby blues!
Holden in his 
For lunch we met some friends, Jenn and Kevin, at my favorite Mexican restaurant, Los 
Waiting on the deliciousness with my baby girl
Mike with his cinnamon and apple crepe...i got one with 
As we were leaving the parking lot, i spied this nugget of excitement...a great photographic opportunity!
What about now?
