Five Months

This past month in the life of our precious Baby Bub has definitely been the most exciting so far. SO much to tell. Here she is in all her five month glory.

If you are wondering about this silly face, she was blowing raspberries
at her daddy and me the entire time we were taking her picture....
but at least this one is a raspberry/smile, yes?

Five months is not a pediatrician appointment month, so we do not have an exact weight and height. But I did put her on a commercial scale for fun the other day and it said 14.5 lbs, which sounds about right (of course, it also said I weigh about 30lbs less then my normal weight, but whatevs). Her little legs definitely look longer, although this cannot be officially confirmed yet. She is still in size 2 diapers and finally fitting well into her 3-6 month clothes. Her hair is still strawberry blonde and has gotten a little thicker. The big news is that she is sleeping wayyyy better.

Right before she turned 5 months, Bub the hub and I decided it was time for Maddie Brynn to start sleeping in her crib at night. This was tough for me because I really love having her in our bed and getting to cuddle. But I also know that I am being a wee bit selfish and we need to promote good sleeping habits and get her used to her own room. She had been doing well with taking naps in her crib lately, so we decided to go for it...and of course, the first night was a huge FAIL. Maddie Brynn 1, parents 0. However, by the second and third night, letting her cry it out lasted less than 10 minutes, and within the week she was going down earlier and earlier and lasting much longer between bottles. Now we are at the point where she goes down between 7:45-8:30pm and will usually wake up for bottles around 1am and 4-5am, then sleep in until it's time to take Avery to school. I call this success!

Now before this post gets totally out of control long, I am going to have to revert to bullet points:

• Like I mentioned last week, she has started rolling a lot more, especially onto her elbows. Also loves climbing us, and even scoots on her tummy, but usually only when she's really mad ha!

<--• We just got out the Jumparoo, and she was pretty intrigued (and a little too short : ). But as with her swing right now, she wants us to stay and play with her. She doesn't understand that this is not. the. point.

 • In December she started making little shrieks and now she's a full out screamer. We'd all be annoyed except it's so darn cute.

 • She enjoys holding -->

her bottle. Sometimes I can even put her in her car seat and get a few chores done while she does it all by herself!

• Working on sitting but mostly wants to stand
• When she gets really excited, she stomps. So precious.
• She LOOOVES when we read her books. I am so thrilled. Her favorite right now is "Bubbles, Bubbles" with the Sesame Street characters. We read it about 5 times in a row, everytime.

• Started to notice she is developing some separation anxiety this past month, boo!

<--• Still not happy about being strapped in the car seat, but playing more with toys in the car and is all smiles when we are actually shopping

• Super duper ticklish! also enjoys tummy raspberries- of course, we are happy to oblige
• She's completely mesmerized whenever we are eating something and always reaches out to try and snag some...cracks us up.

• Equally mesmorized by her big sister. Just stares up at her with those big baby blues. <3

• Still loves the mirror and makes the biggest smiles at herself...ditto with the bath!-->
• Has 30-40 minute naps through out the day, unless of course Nana comes over and holds her all day and then she sleeps for, like, hours and hours at a time.

<--• We started rice cereal and baby food and it didn't take her long to start eating it more than spitting it out :)

• She's completely content for me to hold her on my hip as I am going around the house doing chores and things. My back is not loving this!

•Always wants to be where the action is

• She has the most amazing and bright smile --> 
and it makes my heart so happy. She has a big dimple in her right cheek and another smaller one in her left cheek that hid at first--we just it noticed this month! Bub the hub and I each have one dimple in different cheeks, so obviously she got one from each of us :).
• She's drooling like crazy and wants to gum everything, but no teeth yet (I'm constantly checking)
• Loves to be outside, especially at the park where she can watch her big sister swing
•Yes, I am still dressing her up as much as I can!

This post is only one week late, wahoo! I'm totally getting better. I'm also a lot better at taking care of the girls together, and it only took me five months....not bad right?

Brag Update

Apparently my brag was not complete! Last week after my post, we finally got a new big girl highchair for Avery that we had been waiting on, and I had to share how somehow she aged from 3 to 12 when we put her in it. She gets to eat at the table with us like such a big girl!!

   this is MY chair                                        I'm pretty excited...

I get to sit at the table and eat with mommy & daddy! don't I look old suddenly?

 boy...this photo shoot sure if makin me thirsty.

did mommy mention how great I'm doing with my utensils?

oh good. just checkin

And not to be outdone, Avery's little sister began to purposely roll from back to stomach and get up on her elbows this week. This mommy is WAY proud. Madeline was pretty happy with herself as well. 

This bugaboo is FIVE months today!!!

 Can't wait to share what else she's been up to!

(hopefully before she turns six months :)

Avery Brag!!

Been thinking lately that I don't brag about lil'bub enough. She's not doing what most three year olds are, but she is making good progress and that still counts! First and foremost, she continues to work very hard on her walking. It is basically a giant trust issue, because Avery still doesn't completely trust her right side. Even though it's come leaps and bounds since her surgeries-- she can move both right leg and right arm independently/on command now-- she can't fully depend on them yet. She takes steps like a champ though, and her physical therapist (the awesome Miss Eda!) is working right now on Avery using her arms to weight bear and push her doggie while stepping, with a little balance assistance. Here's a video from right after Christmas--as you can see, we had not cleaned up yet from the festivities--

Until Avery learns to walk, Bub the hub and I have to be her legs. She's definitely a leggy string bean, but it sure is getting harder and harder to cart her around. I'm wishing and praying her body adjusts to walking sometime soon before we have to order some major equipment...if you have time for a quick prayer too, we'd be much appreciative.

I'm not finished bragging though! When I said she can move her right arm on command now, that is a new and amazing feat!! The movement in her right leg came fairly easy, but the arm control has taken it's sweet time. Her right shoulder movement improved a lot in the begining of 2011, but it's only been in the last 6 months that she's started purposely moving the entire right arm when we ask her to. Such a seemingly small task that helps us all enormously.

Avery's sign language has improved as well. She gives us more signs independently instead of being prompted. She has about 15 "words" that she has learned through school (and the best teachers we could ever ask for), and she has recently learned how to start putting two words together...TREMENDOUS!!

When it comes to feeding, she has been pretty independent for a long time, but still needs help with utensils. In the last month, her spoon scooping skills have developed amazingly, and she thinks it's really fun too, which helps :). Her jaw strength has also improved significantly, which has led to new sounds! I could be saying the same thing too about her little sister, actually. They have some very interesting conversations in the back of my car that totally crack me up. I would give anything to know what they are saying!

We also bought Avery an iPAD for Christmas (she already uses one at school) and it's been really cool to see her interact with it. There are some great apps for kids with special needs, and we hope to be using it as more of a communicative device in the future.

I feel like this brag got a little long, but you've probably already noticed I like to talk about my lil'loves. If you see Avery around, you might want to give her a high five or something. She deserves it.