Emma's 5 month update

My baby girl is in such a hurry to grow up.  Here she is now at just 5 months old and she's already rolling over and able to hold herself sitting up.  While I'm very excited and proud of her, I'm also fully aware that having her do all these things earlier just means the sooner I'll have my hands even fuller... literally chasing after her and Evan.  

Firsts:
--First time rolling over from back to tummy
--First controlled sound (see video of Emma "practicing new sounds")
--First time playing with Sophie the Giraffe
--First time in the jumperoo



--First time sitting up (with boppy pillow support)

Growth and development
Emma is quickly outgrowing her 3-6 month clothes and is now mostly wearing 6-9 month clothes, especially for sleepers and onesies.  Her legs are pretty short, so I haven't started having her wear many of her 6-9 month pants yet.  We moved her into Size 3 Pampers diapers when we ran out this past week.  We initially thought they may be a little bit big, even though she's got to be more than 16 lbs and that's the minimum weight for this size, but we figured that we didn't want a big box of Size 2's that she'd outgrow before we'd used them all.  As fast as she's been growing, that wasn't out of the question.   And as it turns out, she's fitting into them just fine.

Her eyes are definitely blue.  I hope that she's old enough that it won't change now, because I like her having at least one trait that she got from me.  I think she looks a lot like Evan did as a baby in many other ways and so she probably got a lot of everything else from John.

She is still struggling with eczema (or some kind of rash) on her stomach and chest.  We put ointment and hydrocortisone on it and it will go away a little bit, and then sometimes come right back.

Emma went through a phase of sticking her tongue out for several weeks this past month, as well as a phase of screeching (not due to being fussy, but just because she figured out how to make those sounds!).  The tongue phase was cute, but I can't say the same for the screeching one.  Now she's working on raspberries and "b" sounds (almost like she's saying "boo"), and is even starting to control such sounds by making them back and forth with us.  At least she laughs a lot these days, and that is the cutest of all!  Video of "Laughing at mommy".

These are just two of the many photos I have of her with her tongue sticking out!

While she rolled over for the first time from tummy to back on her 4-month birthday, she hasn't really done it much since.  However, soon after that she started rolling over from her back to her tummy and has been practicing that new skill daily ever since.  If you lay her on her back and leave or look away, you'll likely find her on her tummy.  She is starting to be somewhat tolerant of tummy time, especially when it's because she rolled herself into it, however her patience runs thin eventually.  Especially if her arms are stuck under her body from the roll.  Her other frustrations are because she doesn't know best how to get rolled back over to her back and because she can't go anywhere.  When I see her on her tummy, she really looks like she wants to figure out how to crawl so she won't be stuck in one place.  I think she may have even scooted herself forward a bit by pushing off of her feet.  She also sometimes lifts both her head and her legs while arching her back (see below) when she's working on moving.  I've read this is called "the superman" and it a good exercise for babies to strengthen their neck muscles.   I feel like she could be crawling by 6 months if she keeps all this up.

Meal time
When I go to work Emma takes 4.5-5 oz of breastmilk in each bottle.  I'm almost able to keep up with that from my pumping, but not completely.  For the time being, we're using all the milk I froze during my maternity leave.  Once that dwindles too much, then I may have to start doing some extra pumping sessions, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.  For now, my supply is doing fine I think.  She also watches us very closely at meal time. I think she is quite interested in our food and will be very ready to have solids soon.  I'm going to try to hold off for a few more weeks though and then see about trying some runny cereal first.

Sleep time
Soon after Emma turned 4 months old, she started waking more than once at night.  This seemed to occur after we'd stopped using her swaddle blanket (due to her being able to escape it anyway and since she was rolling over now) and also when she was a bit congested fighting off a cold.   Thinking she may need the extra hydration, I usually nursed her some of these extra wake ups for the first few nights.  However, when she was waking me up at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 am for several nights in a row, it was getting old.  So then I also tried her pacifier, which used to work well to help her get back to sleep.  No dice.  For a few of those nights, the only way to get her back to sleep was to nurse her.  Some of those times she woke up babbling in the middle of the night initially and then that morphed into a wail or cry.  I really wasn't sure what was going on to cause her sleep to be so broken.  I put her back in her swaddle sack one night thinking that was it, yet she woke up with her hands half out of it anyway.  Luckily it lasted just about one week, and then like a switch she went back to taking her pacifier during some of those nightly wake ups and only needing one night time feed around 4am.  And now she is back to only waking us up for that one feed around 3-4 am (on most nights at least).   I am wondering if perhaps she is teething, though, given how we have had a few nights recently where she doesn't go down for bed very well.  (That and she wants to chew on something and seems to find comfort when I give her cool teething toys to chew on too).  I remember thinking Evan was teething for months, so we'll have to wait and see how much longer it will be until her first tooth surfaces.

So night time sleep is still going pretty well, but nap times are getting harder.  She sleeps well in her swing and car seat (if we're out and about), but she has to sleep in a flat crib for daycare and that's where we struggle at home.  She takes the best (and very long) naps in her swing (with soothing "soundscapes" music on too).  In fact, she's been having a very long afternoon nap this way (sleeping for 2-3 hours!).  However, she's also getting too big for her swing and can't sleep in a swing at daycare, so I'm working on trying to get her to sleep her naps all in her crib.  Some days go better than others, but she usually only sleeps for 45 minutes at a time that way.

Play time
This past month was really the first month that she was at the age where she plays with and enjoys toys.  I think her favorite toy is her O-ball.  It's lightweight and easy for her to grasp (because it's full of holes), and it rattles when she shakes it around.  I can dangle other toys in front of her, and sometimes she won't grab at them, but when it's the o-ball she grabs it right away every time!  Most of her play time is on the floor in her floor gym and involves her grabbing at her floor gym dangling toys and playing with the hanging mirror.  I caught her playing peekaboo with herself in the mirror one day.  [See Video of Emma playing "Peekaboo with herself"]  She also rolls over from her back to her tummy a lot too.  I certainly can't leave her in one place and expect to find her there a moment later.  In fact, I think she's getting too big (and mobile via rolling over) for her floor gym, so we may be retiring it soon.   When she's in her rocking chair she plays with her teething beads, Sophie the Giraffe and she really likes her black and white crinkly Aussie animal book.  She can entertain herself for quite awhile playing with it.  Granted, she tries to eat it though.

Emma with her o-ball (green ball) in her floor gym (left) and in tummy time on her quilt (right)

Emma enjoying her teething beads in her rocking chair

I've also recently started letting her have some floor time with her boppy pillow.  Sometimes we lay her in it so she's reclining, but given she was trying to sit up from the reclining position we started letting her sit up with the pillow around her (to cushion her in case of a fall).  That then led to her really getting good at sitting up (see Firsts).  I've also started putting her in it to support her in tummy time, thinking that may help her with crawling since that seems to be what she wants to do in tummy time anyway.   

Emma reclining (left) and propped up during tummy time (right) with her boppy pillow.

At 5 months old, Emma has definitely found her way into our hearts.  Her personality is starting to really show with her cheeky sense of humor, and she loves to smile and laugh.  John and I find ourselves acting silly (lots of silly faces to be had!) or playing peek-a-boo with her to help bring out those smiles and laughs.  She is already quite ticklish (her chubby thighs and her tummy and sides up to her neck are all sure spots to make her giggle).  She loves to be held by us, and also likes to observe what's around her (so she prefers to be held upright so she can look all around).  She is just amazing to watch as she plays and explores and learns about her body and her surroundings.  And I am so proud of all she has already learned and accomplished in less than half a year. 

Snuggling up in Daddy's arms and with Mommy in the moby wrap.