Ellie: 5 Months

Sweet, Ellie. Where has the time gone? How are you ALREADY five months old?

Ellie is just SO MUCH FUN now! I feel like this last month her personality started to blossom, she has become much more interactive with us, and the laughs and smiles happen more frequently. It brings me so much joy to watch her explore the world around her and reach new milestones. I'm still amazed at how fast she's changing, growing, and developing.

Odds N Ends/Life Lately

Ellie really is such a happy, easygoing baby. And I realize that most of this can be attributed to luck. Sure, she fusses with the best of them when she's hungry and/or tired, but aside from that she is normally mellow and content. In fact, when we take her to public places (e.g. restaurants) we often get comments from others about how happy and well behaved she is. We are so spoiled in this regard.

Ellie can now roll over both from her tummy to her back and back to tummy, though she is best at rolling over from back to tummy. Go figure.

She is working on her voice and gives us all sorts of babbling, squealing, and happy squeaking. 100% girl, I tell ya.

She smiles all the time BUT extra big in the morning, when her daddy comes home from work and greets her, and at night during bedtime routine. She is our little ham.

Speaking of bedtime routine, yes, she loves bedtime routine. I usually get the biggest laughs and giggles out of her now when I'm undressing her and getting her ready for bath time. Those giggles still melt my heart every time. When we head into the bathroom to begin the bath I always pause and let her look at herself in the mirror. This always results in her making lots of smiles and happy faces at the naked baby in the mirror.

She still loves her bouncer and I love it when she gets all excited and frantically kicks her feet all around in it. <<<---I dread the day when she outgrows this lifesaving piece of baby gear.

Still spoiled in the sleep department. Yes, still sleeping pretty great...for the most part. We're working to establish a more firm bedtime (and to be honest, this is an area I feel kind of lost in), but lately she goes to bed for the night between 8 and 9, all depending on the flow of the day. Ellie has started to wake up a little earlier (usually between 6:30 and 7) but most mornings she will contently lay in her crib until we come in to get her at 7:30. Most days. Naps are now a little longer (so happy to say goodbye to all those catnaps) so she takes fewer naps during the day. Again, depending on the flow of the day, usually a longish nap in the morning lasting from 1-2 hours, a longish nap in the afternoon also lasting anywhere from 1-2 hours, and then usually a catnap late afternoon/early evening. If she'll allow it, I love to hold Ellie while she takes her short nap in the evening. And when this happens, I try to soak up every second of it.

She most definitely recognizes her mama. When someone else is holding her she will frequently look around to find me. If daddy is making silly faces at her while I'm around she will smile at him and then look at me and smile big. This all makes me so happy.

Our little lady is already quite strong. She loves it when you stand her up and hold her while she bears weight on her legs. And almost every time we do this she gets this ridiculously cute and proud look on her face. Kind of like, Ta-da! Hey, look what I can do! 

She wants to touch everything and put everything in her mouth. Toys, blankets, walls, my face--you name it--she is captivated by different textures. Sigh,  I just love those chubby little drool-drenched fingers so much.


Ellie loves to grab her feet and has mastered the art of sticking them in her mouth. So proud of my little yoga baby, but diaper and clothing changes have become quite challenging with this squirmy, wriggly baby.

This past month I've (mostly) come to terms with the fact that Ellie is just not a great eater, despite all of our efforts. She doesn't latch on great, gets distracted easily, likes to eat small meals all the time, etc., etc. I'm not sure how much of this can be chalked up to "that's just the way it is" or how much of this is instead driven by some other obstacles. But in that regard, it seems we have had so many obstacles this last month that added to the feeding challenges. Ellie's had two pretty bad colds the past few weeks, which of course made it difficult for her to eat with a stuffy nose. Case in point, when the cold was at its worse I fed her FOURTEEN different times in one day. Fourteen. Plus, though the new medication seems to be working a lot better, we're still dealing with reflux issues. Acid reflux, I will publicly state that I hate you. Thank goodness she's still getting enough to eat (not-so-little-miss is up to 14lbs, 13oz); it just takes a lot more effort and time to feed her.

So that's a little snapshot of life lately. Ellie is a true joy and not a day passes where I don't thank God for this huge gift. This new life most certainly has its difficult moments and aspects, but (as the cliche goes) I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm trying to relish every single moment I get to spend with Ellie during this precious but fast chapter of babyhood.