Happy 5 Month Birthday, Butter Bean!

 

Can you believe that my precious girl is 5 months old already?  Trust me, there are days that seem to drag on forever, but I can't believe how quickly the months are flying by.  I'm so glad that I do these monthly recaps, because it's fun to see how much she's grown in just a month's time.  I'm sure this won't always be the case, but she sure is changing quickly now.

Month 5- By the Numbers

Weight- almost 19 lbs.

Diaper Size- 3

Bum Genius- Still 2-3 snaps in the middle depending on time/day, but moved up to the middle snaps for the rise

Clothes Size- 6-9 mos.

#oz drunk/day- switched to about 5 6 oz bottles a day, the last bottle is usually less

Road Trips- none!

Favorite things- rolling onto her tummy, exersaucer, jumparoo, smiling at the neighbors when they say hello and then quickly turning her head

Things that make her laugh- kissing her tummy, blowing on/kissing her feet, moving her body so she can dance, hanging her upside down

New Discovery: using her hands to do things/move objects, squawking like a parrot, blowing raspberries.  Man, can this girl 'talk!'

What'd you do today?

You know, just hung out. Little Miss loves to be upside down. She loves it when you angle her body with her legs up so you can kiss her tummy, she loves it when you do bicep curls with her on your arms, and she loves hanging upside down. I'm not brave enough to try this, but hubs will do it for short periods of time and she squeals with delight. Look at poor Huck in this photo. I'm quite sure that he wouldn't want to be hanging from his back legs, but he sure does miss the attention.

Let's Go Outside

I'm not sure about you, but this week has been absolutely gorgeous here.  We've been really lucky to have cool (not cold) mornings and beautiful afternoons.  One afternoon it was too beautiful not to be outside.  Of course, now outside entails bug spray, blankets and multiple trips into the house for toys and entertainment, but we were able to make it happen.  Here's Little Miss Sunshine's adventure outside.

 

First we started playing with her toys outside.

 

Then we realized that grass could be a toy, too.

 

Not to mention looking at the flowers in the beds.

 

And, all the while, Huck looked on...

TGIF- The Back Pocket Edition

This is now becoming an older picture, but when we were out at a restaurant and hubs was waiting in line to pay, this is what I turned around and saw. For such a seemingly tough guy, he sure can surprise me sometimes. I know that he did this out of necessity, but I still think that it's cute.

The Prince of the Pillows

Throughout the years Huck has had a variety of nicknames.  His most current one is Prince of the Pillows.  I think that these photos show you why.

^^Because apparently the couch isn't soft enough...

 

Baby Anna needs this place?  I don't think so, Baby Huck is using it now...

 

How Did you Spend Your Sunday Fun Day?

We had one of those rare days where it felt like we experienced an entire weekend in a single day....

Because the weather was so gorgeous and we were up early anyway, we decided to start the day with a hike...

 

Which turned into nap time.  I love how she still held the strap in her sleep. (don't mind the drool)...

 

Then we met some neighborhood friends for brunch in the neighborhood, followed by 2 hour afternoon naps for Mommy and baby.  When we were all up, it was time for an afternoon treat from the new bakery and snuggles on the front porch...

 

Isn't it nice to be able to take a day and just put your feet up??

 

We all hope you have a great week!

The Family Bed

Little Miss is still sleeping in a cosleeper next to our bed. This works really well when she wakes in the middle of the night as it's so nice to just be able to reach over and pull her into bed to satisfy her needs, rather than get up, walk to the other end of the house, and try to figure out what she needs in a sleep induced haze. Friday night Little Miss awoke in the middle of the night and we were able to cuddle all night in bed with her and the dog. When I woke up on Saturday, I really felt like we had a bonding experience as a family.
She slept through the night on Saturday night, but we pulled her into bed with us for Sunday morning snuggles. Huck couldn't resist joining us as well.

A Sheep In Kiwi Clothing

When Little Miss was born, one of my friends from New Zealand sent her a little stuffed toy that was a sheep dressed up in a kiwi costume.  Now that Little Miss is starting to grab things, I thought she might like the kiwi beak, so I pulled the toy out.  Call this girl a carnivore because she was all about eating the kiwi/sheep!

 

 

 

Happy 4 Month Birthday, Sweet Pea!

I know that she's very nearly 5 months at this point, but there was a lot of craziness happening at the end of last month and it's taken me until know to get settled/back in the game and get my act together to take the photo.  Here's month 4, by the numbers...

 

Weight- 16ish

Diaper Size- just moved to size 3

Bum Genius- 2-3 snaps in the middle, depends on the time of day and who's doing the changing

Clothes Size- heading into 6-9 mos.

#oz drunk/day- switching to 5 oz bottles, combining with breastfeeding, all over the place

Road trips- 3, Atlanta, Memphis and Chicago

Favorite things- taggie

Things that make her laugh-

kiddie aerobics, walking fingers up tummy, putting her upside down, doing 'bicep curls' with her and kissing her tummy, 

New Discovery: rolling over, making noises with her mouth, eating and grabbing hair

When on your tummy...

stay on your tummy!  Now that Little Miss is rolling over, she flips over to her tummy and stays there.  If she's entertained, she'll stay on her tummy for quite a while, which is good because it helps develop the muscles she'll need for crawling.  However, it's not always easy to entertain someone laying on their stomach.  I came across a pin on Pinterest that showed how to use the toy below for the entire first year, so we took the legs off so she could give it a go.  She likes it!

 

Play day

Here are some pics from a recent play session at home.  We still get out the play mat, but sometimes the bars restrict her movement, so we also just throw a blanket on the floor and let her have fun with a toy or two.  Who could forget the most fun toy of all- a bib?

 

The Napping Solution

After a sleep regression that lasted a few weeks, Little Miss Sleepy is back to sleeping through the night. Hubs and I are both thrilled about that one. Unfortunately, the last week or two her naps are really taking a hit. She's only been sleeping about 45 min in the morning before waking up screaming and not being able to go back down. In the afternoon Little Miss and I became accustomed to napping together for 2-2.5 hours. She's been waking up from those naps after an hour screaming. It's not a nice way to be woken up and it takes me a while to get her back down, or I have to just get up and wait a few hours before I can try to put her down for another nap.
Growing disillusioned with this new nap pattern, I decided to go back to basics for her morning nap. Hubs normally does the night routine where he puts her in the sleep sack, turns on the noise machine, puts her down in her cosleeper and leaves her be until she falls asleep. I decided to try something similar for her nap. I put her in her cosleeper with the noise machine, but that didn't work. I thought she might need a light blanket over her that she could kick off since it's warmer during the day- no cigar. I brought her into bed with me and tried cuddling- nope. Finally, I put the sleep sack on her and laid down next to her- she was out in less than 2 minutes. And here she's sleeping still two hours later. She did wake up after about 45 min with a scream, but by the time I got upstairs to check on her she was already back asleep. Score!
I'm not sure what this extended morning nap will mean for the afternoon when I'm ready to lay down as well, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Who's Afraid of the Big Blue Ball?

When I was pregnant I used the exercise ball often to sit on and to help me do some stretching exercises.  Afterwards, when I threw out my back, the ball came in handy for some physical therapy.  Unfortunately, with such a small house there's no good place to store the ball, so we put it between the couch and server.  We discovered two things when I used it early on: 1) Huck is deathly afraid of it if you play with it at all and 2) he actually likes it when it's 'put away' because it makes a little roof over his bed.  

Fast forward a few months and the ball lost some of its air, making it easier to slip down to the pillow below.  Oops.  Huck's fear returned full force and he wouldn't go anywhere near his pillow until we fixed it.  Even so, he's still not so sure...

BEFORE

 

AFTER

Let's Exersaucer

Little Miss Grows-a-lot has officially outgrown her swing.  Whenever we were putting her in there, it would up that her back was parallel to the floor and her legs were up in the air.  Not a safe option for her anymore.  So, with the fall comes new consignment sales and hubs and I scored an exersaucer.  It has plenty of toys right at Little Miss' reach and she can stand, which she loves to do.  Here are some pics of her first time exploring some different options in the exersaucer.

Notice the swing unceremoniously tucked into the corner.

 

She really took to eating the giraffe on the first go in there.  It's kind of intense with the lion and pandas looking on.

 

 

Huck decided he wanted to eat a toy, too.

 

Here's the two of them, eating away...

TGIF- The Peek-a-Boo Edition

Aunty Judy bought a teddy bear for Little Miss that plays peek-a-boo.  When she first got it she was a little young to really appreciate it, and she's still not all that into peek-a-boo, but she does enjoy watching the bear.  I had fun taking the pictures with the good camera and seeing how the picture changed based on where it was focused.

 

 

Let's Bounce

When we were in IL we bought this jumparoo for Little Miss thinking she may enjoy it at some point. I couldn't pass up the price. It sat around the living room for a few days until hubs asked what it was. He installed it and we decided that she probably had good enough head control to give it a try. The first few times she went in, it took a while to figure it out, but she enjoyed spinning around and putting her feet on the ground. This is a picture from one of her early times in the swing.
Today I put her in and went to do some things in the kitchen. When I came back her feet were wide apart and she was balancing. Later she began spinning and she enjoyed playing with the toys that are attached at the tray. She played happily in there for almost an hour today. I kept waiting to hear the signal that she was done and it never came. Finally I took her out to feed her. She hasn't figured out how to use her legs to really get herself bouncing, but I'm sure that will just add to the fun once she figures out the next step on the equipment.

Coffee Date

I'm extremely lucky that I'm meeting and making friends with other moms in the neighborhood. I'm becoming particularly close to one mom who lives just a block away and has a son 10 months older than Little Miss. We often see each other at play dates around town, but we've taken to hanging out around 3-4:00, when the afternoon starts to drag on and we're waiting for the husbands to get home. Little Miss is heading full on into teething and had a really difficult day today. She didn't nap well, fussed a lot and screamed in Mama's face a large portion of the day. So when I asked my friend if she wanted to get coffee and an afternoon treat at the neighborhood coffee shop and she said yes, I was thrilled/relieved/excited. After we finished up there, we went back to her house for an impromptu play date- man I love those- and by the time I walked home, Daddy was pulling up. Relief! I was never so happy to walk the dog by myself and get some peace and quiet. Hopefully the tooth will come soon, things will get back to normal, and Mama can catch a break.

Water Baby?

Hubs is in charge of giving baths in this house and I never hear crying when he does.  So, imagine my surprise when I took her to a friend's house for a water play date today and this was the reaction she gave during her first time in the pool. (*elapsed time: 20 seconds)

 

I'm so grateful I thought to ask another mom to document her experience.  These pictures will be treasured classics for years to come.  Who knows, we may even pull them out when she starts dating- I think we're going to be those kinds of parents.  Anyways, I did wait a little bit and then a mom who was sitting in another pool offered to hold Little Miss Scaredy in the water.  That didn't fare any better, the minute her toes touched the water she began crying.  She then instantly stopped when removed from the water...it was a very interesting on/off switch situation happening.   Ah well, at any rate, she got to have a new experience and watch all the other babies play and I got to talk with other moms.  It was a fun day overall.

Nice Grass

Last week Uncle Jon, another friend and I took Little Miss back to Live on the Green. We forgot the picnic blanket, so we got to sit in the grass. When I held her so that she could stand I realized that she's never been in the grass before. She didn't appear to have any strong feelings about it either way, but I hope that exposing her to different surfaces and textures now will help alleviate any texture aversions in the future.

Haven't you always wanted a mon-keeee?

Little Miss Grabs-a-Lot is really into, well, grabbing. She likes to find things to hold onto and then usually stuffs it into her mouth. Last week we were out for a walk and she fell asleep holding onto the monkey's pineapple. She really loves that pineapple...

Then and Now

Taking the pics this morning reminded me of the last time we took this sort of pic of her.  Little Miss was only 1-2 weeks old, and we only got a few shots before she got cold and cried.  Look at the difference a few months makes!

1-2 Weeks

 

4 months