5 Months Old

Sweet baby girl,

I can hardly believe you are already 5 months old! Time is going by so quickly! Here is what you are doing at five months....

Sleeping:

You are a little champ. We stopped swaddling you this week and you have done great. You go to bed around 7 pm and get up for the day between 6 and 7 am. I am still feeding you once a night, usually around 3 or 4. You used to get up twice but seem to have dropped a feeding a week ago or so.

Napping is a little more challenging. Most of your naps are in the swing (it is off but you still like to be in it) or while I am carrying you in the ergo. I know you will figure out napping in the crib soon so I am trying to enjoy carrying you around even if it means the house is a mess.

Eating:

You are nursing every 2-3 hours during the day. I just feed you on demand. You are growing well. We left you with my mom and Cyndy for 3 1/2 days -- you took bottles of pumped breast milk without a problem for them. When they fed you, you were taking 30-35 ounces a day.

You seem very interested in eating. At dinner time you screech and screech at me because you want my food. It is cute! Because of this we are going to officially start you on solids soon. You have had a bite or two of rice cereal a couple of times and seem to like it. I waited until 6 months with Erik but he never seemed to care about eating. You grab at my spoon and plate and yell/screech at me throughout dinnertime -- pretty cute!

Personality:

I feel like I am getting to know you better now. You are a very calm, easy baby. You like to be talked to and played with. You love playing with your toys and are very intense about it! It is cute to watch because you seem to concentrate so hard on what you are doing. You love attention and are very chatty with us. You do not like to be cuddled at all -- if I am holding you close you try to squirm away from me. You do like to be held though but I think it is more so you can see what is going on and be a part of everything. This is different from Erik who has always been very cuddly and still really seems to need a lot of physical touch (sitting in our laps, hugs, kisses, carrying) throughout the day. I am guessing that you will be a little more social and spirited than Erik. We will see. It is fun to see your little personality emerge!

Physical development:

You can roll from your back to your front now. I still haven't seen you roll from front to back unless you are on a bed -- which is cheating! You can sit, supporting yourself with your arms, for a short time. You aren't really mobile but you do move around a lot -- getting yourself around in a circle on the play mat and in your crib.

You are a sweet baby girl and we are so thankful that you are part of our family!

Love,

Mommy