Kangaroos and Cupcakes: USA trip, 5-month update and goodbye to the binky!

Hello!

I've been missing.

From this blog, that is. But we're back...! From our trip to the US. What an amazing trip we had catching up, relaxing and having some Q.T. with friends and family. I'm so thankful for the time we got to spend on our trip and having our families bond with and watch Decker grow right before our eyes. As I was uploading the 982 pictures I took while I was gone, I was comparing the pictures from the beginning of the trip to the pictures at the very end and I feel like he changed a lot. I also saw my last post was his 3-month 'chair shot' and realized how bad I am at keeping this blog up to date.

But we're back in Australia and it's supposed to be the middle of winter here but the skies have been clear and the sun has been shining. If this is winter, I'll take it! But nothing beats the summertime weather we had while in California and Washington. Spectacular.

Decker is now 1-week into his 5th month of life. I can't believe he'll be 6-months old at the end of August! I'm starting to put together his baby book and I got a little teary eyed when I was going through his newborn photos. When I was in that moment of trying to figure out what to do with this new little being in our lives (who am I kidding... we're still trying to figure this all out!), I sometimes felt like the challenging moments of being a new mom were never going to end. But like all my mommy friends told me, the different stages pass and time flies.

Our little mister is such a joy to us and brings smiles to our faces everyday. I'm definitely enjoying this precious little baby and all the special moments I get to have with him. He's still a laid back little guy. He's been rolling around from back to stomach and while we were away, Lolo (Grandma) gave him his first taste of rice cereal! I decided to take up the 'hobby' of making baby food and so far he loves: Sweet potatoes, pears, apples and carrots (mixed in with a fruit). The green beans I puréed? Not so much. We'll try again later.

Decker still wasn't sleeping through the night or taking naps very well and as a stay at home mom, it can be SO frustrating because I was starting to feel like I wasn't getting anything done. He would catnap for 40 minutes, be awake for 1-hour and then nap for 40 minutes again. All. Day. Long. He was also waking up multiple times in the night. I've heard that infant boys tend to not sleep as well as girls do so I was sort of just dealing with it.

We were visiting with some friends over the weekend, they were in the midst of weaning their 9-month old son off of his pacifier, 'the binky'. I then started reading online about infant self-settling and how important it is to get rid of 'the binky'. So many people were saying how their child would wake up a lot in the middle of the night crying because they were searching for it because it had fallen out of their mouth when they were sleeping. A lightbulb went off in our heads and we figured that must be the reason and made our decision then and there to get rid of the damn thing. The next day it was game on. The screaming that ensued for 45 minutes was heartbreaking but he's a smart little boy. He, for the first time, slept through the night!!!! WE WIN!

It's amazing how this little piece of plastic and rubber could be so addicting to these little ones.

Today is day 2 and Mister D has gone down for all naps (and took legit naps for 1.5 hours each time) and to bed again with no tears. I love him and binky's suck. I have kept a couple for a 'just in case' situation but as far as I am concerned they are gone.

Well, that's all for now. Enjoy a few of the recent pictures of Decker F.N King. And oh ya, we recently said Decker's name out loud abbreviating the two middle names...oops! Oh well, could be pretty badass if he becomes an athlete or something similar when he gets older! Ha!