elsie - five months

written July 9th

For the love little one, how are you five months old?  I know I wish for time to go by quickly every day, but that is because I'm ready for your daddy to be out of residency, NOT because I want you to grow up faster.  Slow the heck down.

bam.  baby thighs.

No visit to the doctor this month (which reminds me, I should probably get her six month appointment scheduled), so let's play guess how big the baby is.  I'm fairly certain that she weighs right around 15 pounds.  Now her length?  That is a shot in the dark.  We measured her at 25 inches, then at 24.5 inches, and then I looked at her four month post and apparently she was 24.75 inches then, so um, we'll go with 25 and pretend she isn't shrinking?  Nonetheless, I don't understand how my kids start out as such little peanuts, and then grow so dang quick.  She is still wearing a size two diaper and 3-6 month clothing, but were it winter we'd be in 6-12 month pants.  I just pretend they're crops, it works.

Elsie is nursing anywhere from five to seven times a day, approximately every three hours.  It just depends on how well she sleeps.  Haha, sleep.  Such a funny subject, right?  We had a good stretch there of her sleeping through the night, or not waking until 4:30 or 5.  Not so much the last week.  She is up once or twice a night, and sometimes I can't convince her to go back to sleep for almost two hours.  We were going to start sleep training this past weekend, but really we are still back and forth between my parents house and ours for a bit longer, so we're waiting another two weeks.  At that point if she wakes in the night and wants to eat, I will still go and feed her.  But girlfriend needs to learn to put herself to sleep... in her crib.  Trust me, I can't wait.  That was sarcasm.  We start the bedtime routine around 7:45, with my goal to have her asleep by 8:30.  I found it interesting reading back over Ryann's 5 month post, that I put her to bed between 6:15 and 7.  How the heck we did that I have no idea.  I can't imagine Elsie going to bed that early, especially with Ryann not being ready for bed until at least 8 or 8:30.  But it could be nice...

We are pretty consistently down to three naps a day, but there really isn't anything consistent about them other then the fact that she needs to go to sleep about two hours after she last woke up.  Sometimes she sleeps for 45 minutes, sometimes she sleeps for 2.5 hours.  I can kind of predict which kind of nap we're going to get, but sometimes I'm wrong too.  Oh and the two hour mark thing is pretty funny not really.  Say she starts acting tired and grumpy around the 90 minute mark.  It starts to escalate a little so you think, 'maybe she needs a nap already'.  So you wrap her in the one arm swaddle, and she fights the crap out of you.  'It's ok sweetie, you're just tired, just go to sleep.'  The fight continues for a bit until she finally gives in.  You check the clock.  It has been exactly two hours.  So pretty much no matter what her actions tell you, you might as well not try to put her down for a nap until she has been up for at least an hour and fifty minutes.  It just isn't worth the fight.

Let's see, gross motor skills... Shortly after turning four months old (June 13th to be exact) she started putting her feet in her mouth.  Not really a skill per say, but hey, whatever :o).  June 30th she finally rolled back to belly, and hasn't stopped.  You put her down on the floor and she just flips over, and pukes on everything, and kicks her legs.  The down side to that is for some reason she still isn't rolling belly to back.  She did it a little more than a handful of times between 2 and 3.5 months, and just hasn't at all since.  Of course I'm all paranoid that she is behind in her development and it is my fault because she spends a lot of time being toted from here to there while I take care of Ry or the house or something, but I'm sure she's fine.  I just wish she'd start doing it.  I really don't question her strength at all, she loves to stand and can support her weight, just needs a little help balancing.  She can also push her chest all the way off the ground.  Chris has tried propping her up in a crawling position, but when you try to tuck her legs she just goes stiff, while pushing her chest off the ground, as if you were going to do a wheel barrow race or something.  On July 7th she was able to hold a tripod position for a short while on her own.

Elsie is starting to become very grabby.  She grabs at my face, and unfortunately my hair, all the time.  The good news is I don't often wash my hair so it is usually in a pony or a bun :o).  She also tried to grab anything I'm eating and drinking.  She'll watch me put it in my mouth and open hers wide like she wants some too.  Sorry kiddo, you'll have to wait at least another month before I'll share!  But back to the grabbing stuff... this is another area I'm paranoid that she is behind in for some reason.  I have no idea how much control a five month old is supposed to have over their hands, but I feel like hers should be better.  She reaches for stuff and tries to get it, but she just can't make her hands open and close around an object very well.  I know she'll get there, and down the road it won't make any difference exactly when she started doing some of these things, but goodness the paranoia and mommy guilt is certainly getting to me!

In general E seems to be pretty laid back, and my quicker to smile than Ry was.  Getting her to laugh is tough, but when she gets going, oh man.  It is so incredibly cute!  But seriously, her smile?  Melts me.  Every single time.  Her whole face smiles, I can't resist going back trying to get just one more grin out of her.  Of course she was completely over me and my camera while taking these pictures, so I really couldn't capture it, but trust me.  Her smile is the absolute sweetest.  She has been a touch grumpier lately, with a whole lotta drool and finger chewing.  I'm praying that she isn't teething yet, because I am by no means ready to lose that gummy grin.

Miss Elsie Jo loves to see herself in the mirror.  If she is getting a little cranky we play where's the baby, which really means I just turn away and turn back to the mirror, it gets a smile out of her almost every time.  She also loves watching Ryann do almost anything, and being held so she can see what's going on.  I wouldn't say she loves to be held, but if she's up on your shoulder or facing out so she can take everything in, she is a much happier camper.  She will let me hold her a lot more than Ry ever would, so that is kind of nice.  Oh and she makes this awesome little noise when she sees us, especially after a nap or in the morning.  The best way to describe it is an 'ahhh' noise.  I love it.

Elsie girl, I fall more in love with you every single day.  Happy five months!