This 5th month has made me realize how true it is when people talk about how quickly children change. You hear it all of the time but you never fully understand it until you are a parent watching your own child grow by leaps and bounds every day!
Leighton has grown almost 2 entire inches (now almost 25 inches long) and has gained over a pound (now almost 14 lbs) this month! (These are by my measurements as there is no Dr. visit for 5 months.)
She is reaching for things deliberately, now. Before, she would swat at things willy-nilly, not really comprehending but now she is reaching for everything! Her favorites are: her toys hanging from her baby gym, and faces, especially mommy's.
She is ROLLING FROM FRONT TO BACK! Woohoo! I was shocked the first time she did it, she acted like she had been doing it all along. It didn't scare or upset her, she was just kind- of ...indifferent. And she did it over and over and over. I was loving it and she was looking at me like "what's the big deal mom?" I have a video on this too...hopefully one day you will all get to see it! She doesn't do it all the time now, just randomly. I knew the day would come when I'd go to get her up from her nap and she'd be on her back (since she is a stomach sleeper). Well, that happened just the other day. I glanced down at the baby monitor to check on her and something looked strange. I did a double take and realized she was on her back, just staring at the ceiling, not even fussing.
She is understanding more and more who I am. Now, when she is in her crib, swing, etc. and I come in to the room to get her, she immediately lights up, smiles, laughs, and kicks her legs. It absolutely melts me.
She still has severe reflux. Some days it feels like it is never going to end, though I know it eventually has to. We are praying that she will be like most babies and will grow out of it by 6 months. We would appreciate your continued prayers.
We have started other solid foods aside from the rice cereal. I am homemaking her baby food. It's SO much cheaper than jarred baby food, and healthier too! A win-win in my book. The first thing she tried were some homemade carrots! They were so easy to make. I just washed, peeled, and chopped a bag of carrots; put a 1/2 inch of water in a skillet; brought water to boil, added carrots; covered; boiled for about 6 minutes; threw carrots in food processor; pureed them; added water as needed to soften and voila! Homemade baby food. Then I used ice cube trays that I bought at the grocery store and filled up each cube with carrots which equals about an ounce a piece. Just one bag of carrots which cost about $2.50 made 26 ounces of food! That's about 25% of the cost of Gerber. Then, I froze the carrots over-night and popped them out of the ice cube trays. I transferred them to a zip lock bag, labeled them with the date and put them back in the freezer. They will keep for about a month. A few of hours before lunch I take the amount out of the bag I wish to feed her and let it thaw. How simple it that? (Thanks again, Alan Reynolds, for all of your tips!) She seems to like the carrots, just can't figure out her tongue still. It will happen, we are just being patient. Oh- and it amazes me how much the pureed carrots stain! We just feed her in her diaper because the food gets everywhere. No sense in ruining an outfit!
She is still quite the talker. A couple of Sundays ago, when we picked her up from the Church Nursery, one of the workers commented that she had never seen a baby who loved to talk and imitate what you are doing as much as our child! Seriously, I think she talks more than she does anything else. Who knows where she got that from?! ;) Speaking of the church nursery- gone are the days when I worry about her being in there. It didn't take long. The workers are wonderful and just love our sweet girl. One worker actually begged us not to take her home last week! So blessed with such a wonderful church in every way.
She has started to try and grab her feet, though she cannot hold on for very long. I know pretty soon she will be sticking them in her mouth!
She had her first beach visit! She LOVED playing with the sand, I guess she likes discovering how it felt between her hands and toes. She loved the pool equally- she fell asleep in her little float. Someone who shall remain nameless, forgot the camera for this affair so all I had was my phone to take pics which are in the "mobile uploads" album on my Facebook, if you'd like to see them.
She enjoyed her first 4th of July! We had friends over to cook out and then our family of 3 watched fireworks together for the first time. The East Montgomery firework show is put on in an area that sends the fireworks, literally, right at the end of our street (pictured above). We just lay a blanket down in our front yard and enjoy. It's like our own private fireworks show! Leighton was mesmerized the whole.time. She never fussed or anything.
She is a smarty-pants. Since she has started pushing up in to the baby push-ups position she knows exactly which way to look when she wakes up from her nap because she knows what side of the crib mommy picks her up from. (Speaking of sleeping- she sleeps at least 10 hours every night!) She also has come to love the T.V. No, I don't let my 5 month old watch TV but she will get glances of it every now and then when we have it on and all of the sounds and colors fascinate her. When I feed her rice cereal or carrots I face her away from the TV on her boppy while I watch the news or something educational. The little stinker figured out how to turn upside down to see the screen! Now, we have to eat with the TV off.
Her favorite things are still eating, sleeping, bathing and putting everything in her mouth- especially her hands.
Happy 5 Months, my smart, sweet girl! You are such a happy baby who loves to play and talk and love on everyone! You bless my life daily and I love you so!
