It’s a new year, Miranda and Eleanor turned five months old today and we’ve posted photos. Over the past month, the girls have been gaining more control over their bodies. They’ll both clasp their hands together, they’ll put things in their mouths (though they aren’t yet stretching their arms out to consciously grab things), and they have much better control over the stability of their heads and bodies.
Miranda is now twisting to roll over though she hasn’t quite made it yet. She went through a period of scratching herself, but though her scalp is still a little dry and flakey, she seems to have stopped scratching.
Eleanor can turn over onto her stomach with relative ease now. She first did it on Christmas, but over the last week she’s been turning over whenever she could. She’s not as good at turning onto her back, but she’s getting better at it.
Because of all of the twisting and turning, we’ve stopped swaddling the girls completely. Most people stop at around three months, but when the girls got a little tired and fussy, binding them in blankets seemed to help them sleep. With the twisting and turning, they now end up all tangled in the blankets. So we dress them warmly, turn on the heater and put them in their cribs with nothing else. They seem to still fall asleep easily enough without the swaddling.
Our girls are drinking seven ounce bottles now, though they aren’t finishing every time. Miranda has started sleeping through the night more regularly, managing between ten and thirteen hours most nights since Christmas. This means that she sometimes doesn’t get her fourth bottle of the day. Eleanor still wakes up around midnight for one more feeding, so that means she’s been eating more than Miranda. We won’t be surprised if she’s heavier than Miranda at their next doctor’s visit.
We don’t know how big or how heavy the girls are. Their next doctor’s visit is at six months. We’ll post more pictures at the beginning of next month.