It flies by!

I can't believe Elijah is almost 6 months old.
Next week marks his half-birthday. That old saying, "they grow so fast".... oh heck yeah.
On one hand, I can't wait for him to be older. I love watching him reach milestones, and am excited to see the boy/man he'll become. However, I love that he's little enough to scoop up and smother.

He's not eating solids yet. We tried him on oatmeal and bananas, and a bit of apple, but he just wasn't very impressed. However, he can drink from a cup!

Ok, so here's Elijah's 5-month list:

LIKES:

How do these work again?

- He loves being outside. While it's still nice out, I try to take him out several times a day. He likes watching people, cars, the trees, LIFE! He's an observer.

- His Ergo and baby Bjorn carrier. Gary uses the Bjorn more, and I use the Ergo. Elijah just likes moving around, and since he can't move himself, we are his mode of transport.

- Elijah has taken to yelling at us if we don't move fast enough.... going outside, picking him up, looking at him, picking up his toys... He loves to yell. He doesn't cry, just shouts and hollers.

- He is very adept at picking up toys now, and can switch hands. Big step, apparently.

- We put him up in his highchair, and he now bangs his toys on the tray, deliberately. The kid likes making noise.

- Elijah has discovered Sookie, and just loves watching her. He gets excited when she comes over and licks him (which I'm not too excited about. Her mouth smells like his diapers).

DISLIKES:

- Sleeping. Yup, Elijah still won't sleep. I've sort of resigned myself to that fact, and it makes things easier. He takes between 3-4 naps a day, 45 minutes long. You could set a watch to him. At night, he goes down fairly easily between 7-8.... but then he rouses multiple times all night, until 7-8am. It's insane. So he sleeps in bed with me, which doesn't really help that much, but it saves me having to get up a zillion times all night long.

swimming. 

- Sitting/lying still. The kid is a real mover and shaker.... howbeit a totally immobile one.

- Rolling over. He still won't roll over regularly. He can do it, and he might a couple times a day. But he's just not interested. He'd rather 'swim'.

- Teething! He's cut one, and another is on the way through. Poor little fellow. However, he isn't as drooly as I had imagined he'd be. He doesn't even need a bib!

Hey, there's something in here and it's sharp!

All in all, Elijah is a pretty happy little guy. Yeah, he gets fussy/grumpy/miserable... but don't we all. He doesn't cry much (during the day), and it's not too hard to get a smile or giggle out of him. He's fun!



I just wish he would sleep better. We are contemplating sleep training... I feel almost desperate. Any suggestions on sleep training methods? 

Up-cycled baby onesies

Yes, upcycle. Not recycle. Upcycle. Cause I'm cool like that and like to use newfangled words.

Since we lack a Target/Walmart/Cheapo Store in Korea, I can't easily find basic baby clothes - like onesies (babygros). I mean, you CAN find them, but you have to buy them individually, and they are pricey. Not like the handy packs you can find at Target (Carters brand, I love you).

Anyway! It's getting chilly here, and all of Elijah's 6-9 month onesies are short sleeved. As a matter of fact, so are all his 9-12 month ones. And winter is coming. By the time it's warm again, he will have grown out of all of those. So I decided to 'upcycle' the old pajamas and long-sleeved onesies from his 0-6 month stage.

This is the result:

Lil' gangster stylin' in his new threads. 

Not bad, for 15 minutes work! And it certainly saved us a lot of money. I also like that I can mix and match the fabrics. Makes (boring) boys' outfits a little more fun.

It is so easy to do, you should try it! Plus you get to feel all accomplished and everything.

Step 1:
Go through the clothes your baby has grown out of - grab all the long-sleeved ones.

Step 2:
Measure your baby's arm. All I did was use my finger as a measuring stick (I even did it while he was sleeping) ... Elijah's arm is 8 finger segments long.

Step 3:
Measure how long the sleeve should be, adding in the length of the bigger onesie's sleeve.

Step 4:
Cut off the arm of the too-small outfit. I cut off 6 finger segment's worth, as the sleeve on the bigger onesie was 2 FS (finger segments).

The process: cut off arm.  

Step 5:
Turn everything inside out, and pin if desired. It is not necessary.

 I only pinned one of them. Didn't make any difference. 

Step 6:
Sew the arms together. I lined up the sleeve to the hem, and sewed it so that the stitches don't show, and then finished result looks like layered shirts.

Stitch - yeah, my stitches aren't so neat and even. 

Step 7:
Turn it right-side out and put it on your baby.

Tada! Super easy. 

SO EASY! I've done about 5 of them so far.... and Elijah seems to like them too!

So happy with his new shirts!

Tiredness

I've been lax in posting, mostly because I'm tired. Also lazy. But mostly just so completely exhausted.
Elijah is a little nightmare when it comes to sleep! He's 5 months old now, and rousing every hour. I think he has gas, or reflux, because he just starts crying/screaming. Normal babies don't do this, do they? The weird thing is he doesn't fully wake up. His eyes never open. He just screams and cries, and I have to get out of bed and bounce him.

So anyway, I'm so very tired.

A very special group. haha. 

Gary's parents have left, and we had a wonderful time with them. Next up, my brother and his wife are coming! I'm so excited about seeing them. This has been an awesome year for family visits! Starting in July, we've had family come every month!






I don't have much else to say, so here are a few more pictures.

Amazing chocolates Ted and Jean brought. Yum!

beautiful baby

A day at the beach.