5 months old already!

Well, Eric turned 5 months old this week. It's hard to believe that it's been that long already!

I know it seems that I've recently abandoned my blog, but I was working on an entry about the birth story. It's actually getting quite long, and I'll try to finish it soon to post it. I decided to start another post, though, meanwhile, to update the blog.
Since Mauri has gone back to work, Eric is getting back into his normal routine, and I think that has helped somewhat with his sleep schedule. He has been sleeping a bit better at night, and I can sometimes get a nap out of him during the day, like now.

The last few days, I decided that I was sick of being overweight with many post-pregnancy pounds (and a few extra that were there before getting pregnant). Since I haven't really had any free time to get in any real exercise, I decided to take advantage of the nice weather we've been having lately and get the stroller out and walk Eric around my house. It's actually a pretty good workout since I happen to live on the mountain, and the streets I choose to walk up and down all have a bit of an incline.

I'm starting to realize how out of shape I have really gotten over the last year and a half. A benefit of walking Eric is that he always seems to eventually fall asleep in the stroller, and even when he's not asleep, he's calm and happy during our stroll. So, I can get another nap out of him this way, and while it doesn't really help me get anything done around the house, it does help me peacefully get some exercise in. I'm starting to really feel it in my hips and thighs!
I've also decided to watch better what I'm eating. I've seen that while it isn't recommended that you crash diet while breastfeeding, you can actually try to lose weight. What they don't want is for you to lose more than 2 pounds a week so as not to release toxins into the breastmilk. Since I think it's practically impossible for me to lose more than that after the first week of taking off water weight, I've decided that it shouldn't be a problem for me to start losing some of those extra pounds that I've been lugging around for way to long. It really makes it difficult for me to be as active as I would like with all of the excess weight.
Eric has been much better lately. There are still days when it is impossible to have him sit on his own for a little while without crying, but there are other days when he entertains himself more, and lets me have a little free time to myself. I also bought him a bumbo seat to help him with sitting up.

It actually works well for feeding him too. (For those who don't know what a bumbo seat is, it's a flexible seat that allows babies who can hold their heads up to sit correctly without straps). It's actually quite handy, but Eric doesn't really love to be sitting for very long.
What he does seem to like is a bouncer or jumper chair (Don't really know what to call it) that a friend gave us.

Since Eric likes to move non-stop, it gives him the chance to move freely by himself. Inside the house, Mauri hung some hooks on the ceiling so that Eric could play there in the chair.

Outside, we set up a ladder and hang him from the center. Either way it works really well.

Eric really seems to like being outside. I take him around the garden most days, and I tell him about all of the fruit trees we have. He likes to stop and play with the leaves of each tree. He also likes pulling at the grass.
Maybe his favorite thing to pull at, though, is Sheena's fur! Lately Sheena approaches us a lot when we are on the ground, and she lets Eric pet her. Eric's idea of petting, though, is really pulling on her fur. Sheena graciously lets him, though, and is actually quite calm around him most of the time. If you know Sheena, you'll know that calm is not a word that usually describes Sheena. The best part of having the dogs around with Eric, though, is that lately, every once in awhile, they cause Eric to start laughing histerically at them. I'm going to have to try to catch it on video some day soon when Mauri is home. The first time it happened, I was in the front porch with Eric in my arms, and I bent down to pick something up, and Eric caught a glimpse of Sheena and Molly sitting patiently at the door, waiting to come in. All of a sudden he started to laugh louder than I've ever heard him laugh before. I asked him "Is that Sheena? and Molly?" and he laughed more. "Are they funny?" -more and more laughing. :)
Yesterday I provoked it again by throwing Sheena the frisbee. Instead of throwing it right away, I had her look at us waiting for it to be thrown. Eric started to laugh at her again. As Eric gets bigger, I'm sure he and Sheena will become good friends.
Eric is happy as long as he's part of the fun, but doesn't really like spending time by himself. So, it's hard to get in a lot of time for email, blogging, and organizing pictures, but I try to get some of it done with him in my lap and some of it done while he's sleeping or distracted.
I've been working on organizing the pictures, and here's a video made with pictures from his first 3 months. I'll have to work on one for the next 3 months soon.

Well, I'd better get going. I'll try to post the birth story soon.