5 Month Stats:
Weight: 14lbs, 1.2oz
Lately Hannah has been a very active baby, moving all over the place! If you put her on her back on the floor, the arms and legs get going. Then she starts squirming and shimmying her body all around. Its funny to watch. She bends up her knees and lifts her hips up in the air and moves herself. The arms start thrashing up, down, smacking her belly and legs, its pretty comical! I could watch her funny movements all day.
When Hannah is on her belly, she has finally discovered laying her head down on the floor when she is tired from holding it up. She will start to fuss and then remember she can just lay down, and she becomes content.
Hannah has also been playing really well in her little stand and play thingy. (official name there!) She's so tiny to fit in the seat, so I usually wrap some blankets around her body to help keep her steady. Without those, she gets so excited and her body just flings all over.
Due to our 4 month appointment and how small we were told Hannah was, I decided to take her into work and weigh her out of curiosity. Her weight was 14 lbs 1.2oz. Her weight gain was just shy of 1.5 lbs in one month. She is doing perfect. In fact, one of the pediatricians was there (not our pedi, and she has never seen Hannah before) looked at her and said she looks very healthy.
So a big ppffftttt (that is the sound of me sticking out my tongue and making a razz noise) to all those who thought it necessary to question our parenting abilities and attempt to tell us what we were doing wrong. We know that she is a great eater, she nurses very well and my supply is ridiculous. Our parental instincts proved to be right. No need to up the amount she gets in her bottle (she is getting plenty for her needs), no need to start rice cereal just because, she is doing just fine.
And here is my vent session.... I know that everyone who is a parent, has raised children, and obviously had babies of their own has their own version of how parenting works. The way you parented, raised your children, and cared for them is they way YOU wanted to do it. I can also understand how giving out parenting advice and tips is something you want to share. Here's the catch, you can talk, share your tips, share your stories and advice, but if no one is asking or wanting to hear your tips, your stories, your advice, it just becomes frustrating. You can only smile, nod, and just listen for so long before it becomes too much to handle. But how do you politely tell people to please stop with their advice without coming across as rude?
John and I need to decide on our own how we want to parent our children. We need to live and learn on our own, make mistakes on our own. I don't need someone else telling me how I'm supposed to be raising my child, that is not for anyone but us to decide.
I'm hoping that I'm not the only parent who has suffered from these same frustrations. If I'm all alone in this regard then please enlighten me on how to be okay with this situation, I'll take all the advice I can get :)
(late addendum... this is not directed to anyone person in particular, just a rant/vent in general. I believe as parents everyone you talk to wants to hand out advice and share what worked for their kids. This post came at a very frustrating time for us and as the author of this, my blog, I am allowed to share my thoughts and feelings even if it might not come across as the happiest to everyone. If we aren't allowed to share our honest thoughts, then what good are we?! Parenting is not a walk in the park, there are the ups and downs, but somehow we'll get through, together!)
