5 Months Old!

Owen turned 5 months old about 2 weeks ago. Our baby is turning into a little man! He's doing so many new things each week and is getting such a personality. We have been blessed with a very easy going and laid back child. He's usually smiling, sucking on his paci, or eating his hands. He's still not on a good nap or bed time schedule, but I'm sure we'll get this figured out sooner or later.

At his last doctors appointment he weighed in at 13lbs 1 oz and was 25 1/4 inches long. This put him in the 10th percentile for weight and 60th percentile for height. So basically...we need to gain some weight. We also had an appointment with our geneticist and metabolic nutritionist at ACH on August 10th. It was just a routine appointment for them to do lab work, look him over, and let us know about the next step in feeding. Overall, they thought Owen looked great. We received the result from Owen's skin biopsy that was taken back in April...it showed that the enzyme that they thought was not working at all is in fact working, just not at it's full potential. So what does this mean for us...not much for now, we're still following the same protocol. They also informed us that they believe Owen will not have any of the cardiac issues associated with his disorder..Yea!! As for nutrition, we were able to start cereal and will be able to start baby food at 6 months. The only fall back is that Owen can only have .5 grams of fat for now. However, this number should increase as he gets older. Overall it was a very informative appointment. We are scheduled to go back November 9th and Josh and I will have our DNA testing done at this time. For now, the plan is to meet with the geneticist and metabolic nutritionist every three months for lab work to make sure that Owen's levels are staying within the appropriate range. As for us, Josh and I are feeling more confident about caring for Owen's disorder and have joined an online FOD support group where we can communicate with other FOD families around the world.


Things you're doing now...

• You're still wearing size 1-2 diapers. You wear pampers during the day and target up and ups at night because they don't leak
  


• You're still wearing 0-3 month clothes...We're trying to fatten you up, it's just been a slow process
  


• You're eating every 3 hours during the day and every 5 hours at night. Your current feeding schedule is 8am, 10:30, 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00, 3:00
  


• You're a pretty good sleeper. Most nights you sleep until we wake you up for your 3am feed and then go right back to sleep until about 7:30
  


• You are very particular about the temperature of you bottles...you will not drink your bottle if it's not warm enough
  


• You're taking Prevacid for your reflux, which seems to be helping....but you still throw up every other day. We're still trying to figure this one out
  


• You started sleeping in your bedroom the day that you turned 5 months old
  


• You started eating cereal in your bottle about a week before you turned 5 months old. We've tried spoon feeding you cereal, but your not a fan. You can throw a pretty big fit!!

• You are very curious about mommy and daddy's food...you are constantly reaching for whatever we have.
  


• You love playing in your exersaucer and on your tummy
  


• You are very curious about your surroundings
  


• You smile all the time...it just brightens our day!
  


• You're getting really good at putting your paci back in your mouth...but you sometime don't get it in just right
  


• You love reaching out and touching our faces
  


• You love to be held but also like your own space.
  


• You can roll tummy to back and back to tummy
  


• You pull on everything you can get your hands on...you especially love to pull mommy's hair and ear rings
  


• You have become quite a daddy's boy lately...you light up any time you see him
  


• You laugh a lot more...especially when daddy blows raspberries on your belly and your back
  


• You are babbling all the time
  


• You are constantly eating you hands...we're pretty sure you're teething, but we have yet to see or feel anything


• You love playing with chip bags...you get really mad when we take them away

• You love to touch everything...you scratch everything, especially the wall while you're getting your diaper changed


• You have also started hitting things...you're favorite thing to do is bang your paci on everything


• You also went through a phase where you were constantly sucking on you're bottom lip...luckily it only lasted about 2 weeks