One of these days I'll write something other than Arden's monthly posts not likely, but for now I'm dong my best to just keep up with those!
Five months old and still as cute as ever! Seriously. Arden is so adorable and so sweet. She is a pretty easy going baby, and is relatively quick to flash anyone and everyone a smile. So far she doesn't care too much about who as holding her. Though she does have a thing for just snuggling in with me. If I'm standing of course. Why do babies care if you're sitting or standing while they're being held? Still baffles me.
At Arden's four month appointment our pediatrician asked for her to be seen at the breastfeeding clinic for a weight check when she was five months old. That day she started to have bright green poop diapers, and when it continued for a week, he had us to go the clinic early. The mystery green poop cleared up, but we've been going back weekly for weight checks to make sure Arden isn't falling off the growth charts. The first week she lost an ounce, but has since gained seven. At today's check she weighed in at 11 pounds 8 ounces, putting her in the 1st percentile. She by no means looks underfed, and aside from the spitting up we can't really put a finger on why she isn't gaining weight, other than she needs more calories than she is currently getting. So I'm not supposed to let her sleep through the night without feeding her.
FREAKING FIGURES. I finally get a relatively good sleeper and I can't just let her be! She actually has been waking up on her own once a night probably five times a week, so I don't exactly set an alarm all the time. If she falls off the charts I'll figure something else out, but for now I just do my best to make sure she has the opportunity to nurse six times a day, and eat as much guacamole as I can. :) Speaking of my relatively good sleeper, Arden still wins by a landslide at being able to put herself to sleep on occasion. Today she has gone down for both naps completely awake, and fallen asleep on her own. She is still swaddled in an Ollie and sleeping in the Rock n Play, but I'm telling myself that next week we're going to attempt the crib transition again. I want to do that first, and then get her from the Ollie to a zipadee zip. Arden is usually taking three naps a day, with one of them being 2-3 hours long, the others 40 minutes to an hour. She goes to bed between 7:30 and 8pm, and is up for the day between 6 and 7am.
Arden tends to favor quietly (or not so quietly) observing the world around her from the comfort of someone's lap over working on her gross motor skills. On May 23rd she did manage to roll from back to belly for the first time. She has done it maybe twice since then. But usually she just lays around. She has basically made zero attempts to roll from belly to back. If I pull her to a standing position she is reluctant to bare weight on her legs, and often picks up the right one like a flamingo. And she is nowhere close to sitting unsupported. But she is definitely gaining better control of her arms and hands. I love to watch her grab on to things, her little eyes get a bit wider, amazed that she actually made her arms work! And though I'm sure she really isn't, there have a been a few times in the last couple of days where I swear she has waved. I don't know that anyone ever waves at her, so I'm not sure why she'd be doing it. But it has looked so much like a little wave!
With better control of her hands comes the ability to pull hair. Man oh man, Elsie and Thea are quickly seeing what it is like to be on the receiving end of hair pulling! Thea just loves to get right up in Arden's face, mostly kissing her and loving on her, but naturally Arden just grabs fist fulls of hair and holds on tight. I am constantly reminding them that if you get in her face she WILL pull your hair. Because it's there and why not. Arden has also started pinching and scratching the back of my arms while I'm carrying her around or nursing her. It hasn't gotten too bad yet, but it is in the near future, I can tell.
The screeching still remains Arden's favorite form of vocalization, but in the last week or so she has started babbling consonants here and there and I love it. Of course she sounds like she says dada sometimes. Never mama. Oh well. The point is that she babbles and it is just the sweetest thing. The big girls are already speculating on what her first word might be. I'm sure you've still got several months to wait, sorry kiddos.
Arden had another big adventure this month, taking her first trip to Georgia! All things considered she did relatively well and again tolerated a fair amount of missed naps and being toted from place to place often. I was worried that she would hate the beach or it would be way too windy for her, but the weather was relatively calm while we were there.
Baby girl, you are so loved.