Five Months!!!

Wow. Five months have gone by?

My sweet little baby is five months old today. What a joy she is in our lives! We had a rough first three months, a better fourth month, and now at five she is such a fun little baby!

Let's see....for the updates....

I'm not sure how much she weighs these days, but I can tell you she is already outgrowing some 6-9 month stuff! Wow. Of course, she can also still fit in some 3-6 mo stuff so I guess all things are relative. She is one chunky little girl though. I think Brooke and her have been on the same growth chart, but Brenna has a little more thickness to her. Not much, but a little. Noticeable in side by side pictures only. We are having trouble finding socks that fit her ironically enough. She still has the tiniest little feet (probably a size 0...*maybe* a 1), but her ankles are chunky. So the small socks to fit her feet won't fit her ankles and vice versa. Not a huge problem now, but as the weather gets cooler....

She is also now too big (and weighs too much) for ME to carry her in her carseat. Unless she's asleep, I am taking her out of it these days, even if it's for the simple task of dropping Brooke off at school. But it also means, she is spending more time in the sling or other carrier. She also got to use the Floppy Seat for the first time at the grocery store the other day. Another product I loved with Brooke and now with Brenna! She loves it too and really enjoyed being able to look around the store!

She is now sleeping in her crib!!! YAY! for that one! She was in the bassinet until recently. Then we tried to make the switch cold turkey and it was a no-go. She woke up at 45 min (just like her naps). So, we found this cool little gadget for her crib to make it vibrate. It is the First Years Gentle Vibration Crib Soother and it was a lifesaver! She is/was addicted to the vibration in her Pack N Play bassinet, but this makes her crib vibrate. It's awesome! And...it has a feature that if the baby moves or makes any small sounds, it automatically turns on to the last setting. (it also has music and sounds and lights and such, but we are just interested in the vibration) Anyway, WAAAY cool and way worth the $30. We have yet to get on the solid food bandwagon yet. But probably will in the next month. : ( Sadly....the time has come, or is coming. I just want to have done *something* before her next well check at 6 mos to be able to tell the doc since he recommended it. But I've been delaying it as long as I can. Once we do it, can never go back. She'll be on solids the rest of her life. :( Ok, I know I'm a little overdramatic, but she is our last baby....

Anyway, she is developing such a personality now. She smiles if you even look at her, even if she's tired. Apparently Mommy has the secret touch to getting her to sleep in public...who knew? But otherwise, she goes to sleep pretty easily at home. For naps, I have to rock her just a bit, but at night, we just swaddle her up and put her in her crib and watch her drift off. Yes, she is still swaddled, but I was just telling Brad today that it may be time to wean her off that too since she is now rolling on her side (and sometimes tummy) to sleep. And that is all within the swaddle. You may remember my blog post Inch Worm? Well, she still is able to move around while swaddled. So, who knows what will happen when we take the tight wrappings off and let her go. Only thing is one of her 'things' is she fights her sleep, esp during the day and the swaddling keeps her contained and makes her give it up. So I don't know...

She is such a happy baby these days, but does like to have your attention. She will let you know if she is one place too long! Her favorite place is still her playmat, but she is starting to enjoy other activites now. She likes being in her exercauser but not so much to play with the toys...moreso for the sitting up/standing position she can view the world from. And we usually give her a few handheld toys to play with.

Of course, her big sister can always get her attention and make her smile and laugh.

She is putting EVERYTHING in her mouth these days. Still not sure of any teeth coming in, but she sure does like to chew on things, including fingers...if you give her some. ; ) But she is also learning her hands very well and can manipulate an object or toy much better these days. She is still taking a pacifier (not to the extent that Brooke did, but she'll accept it) and can now get it in her mouth herself. It's so fun to watch them figure this stuff out!She has also taken to biting and pulling while nursing. Well, not really "while" nursing. More like that's her sign for when she's done. Yea...wish she would learn another way to signal me. Suggestions? (I've done the whole 'no biting' and pulling her off thing, but she doesn't care since she's done anyway. ) This could become problematic once she actually does get teeth.

Her favorite toy is a stuffed elephant that coincidentally was Brooke's favorite around this age. They both like(d) to chew on the trunk - LOL. Brenna also has a game we play with her with it on the changing table where the elephant slowly 'gets her'. She laughs every time and we are using the game to teach her the sign for "more".

Speaking of signing, so far the only signs we are teaching her are "more" and "milk". I KNOW she knows what they mean - gets all excited over the "milk" one, but still does not have the hand coordination/development to do it yet.

She also has this new talent for showing you her "mad face". She puffs her lips out and sort of blows bubbles with that pouty look. It's so cute! Here's the only pic where I caught it on her camera...And yet, another 'face' - her silly smile as we like to call it...

Her hair has fallen out a lot - not completely - but is already starting to grow back in. You guessed it - BLONDE! So, it looks like we may have another little blue-eyed, blonde girl on our hands. Yes, eyes still blue as ever - very stunning, big and bright. Just like her big sisters'.

And this just in....last night was her first time laughing hysterically. I mentioned before she 'laughs', but before they were just wierd one-time squeals or a chuckle here or there. Last night, she laughed so hard she was falling over. You know, the good old belly laugh that doesn't stop? Apparently the dogs playing around was quite amusing. Of course, by the time I got the video camera out and close enough, this is all I got. But I swear she was laughing hysterically for like 5-7 minutes! (I'm just too slow on the take I guess...) So you can kinda catch the very tail end of it at the very beginning of the video and then one last little chuckle towards the end of the video. I know...I know...it's not very good and really was a 'had-to-be-there' kinda moment.


So, another month down. Unfortunately they are going waaay too fast for me. But she is honestly a joy in our house and it is so great to see her smile and laugh and feel her cuddling cuz she is a cuddler too. I wish I could make this time slow down, but in the meantime, I am enjoying every minute I have with her. My favorite thing to do is to kiss her soft little cheeks once she's sleeping in my arms. There is nothing sweeter than the soft touch of a baby.