Picnic+Shuttle Launch

We picked up Chick-Fil-A, went to our favorite spot on Park Ave and had a picnic in the park. We had a great view of shuttle going up.  Sad, it's the last time we'll see Discovery going up.

5 Months Today...The 4 Month Low Down

I got this great idea from Beach Bum & Baby so I thought I would update LL's monthly happenings this way as well.  I added "Momma's Mental State" to the list because that changes just as much as LL does. haha

Today is LL's 5 Month Birthday -- 4 Month Low Down

Bedtime: between 6:30 and 7:00

Wake-Up: Usually around 6:30

Naps: LL takes 4 naps a day...each one around 45 minutes.  Lately, they have been going a little longer and  she misses some of the 4 o'clock naps  She may be transitioning to 2 naps a day.  When she does miss the last nap, we move night-night time earlier. 

Bottles: I just started to give LL a bottle for her 6 o'clock meal and her dream-feed meal at 9:00pm.  For those bottles I mix part formula/ part breast milk.  We're using the soy formula.   Each of those bottles are 4-5 oz. equal parts formula/breast.  I started doing this b/c 1.) my supply was really low in the late afternoon and 2.) I'm trying to get her used to the taste of formula.  She WILL NOT drink it by itself.

She nurses/bottle about 6 times a day about 4 hours b/w each feeding 5-6am, 9-10, 1-2pm, 5-6, 9-10, 1-2am

Night Time:  I read somewhere that at this age sleeping through the night was about 5-6 hours straight.  LL has done that on occasion.  But we are still very inconsistent with sleep at night.  She'll have 2 great nights of sleeping...then BOOM....back up every 2 hours.  Gotta love it. :)

Foods: She loves food!  We stopped the rice cereal and are now just sticking with Prunes, Pears, Apples, Bananas.  That may seem early, but the girl was literally grabbing at B and I's forks during dinner.

Developmental Milestones & Firsts: Rolling over both ways (she was just rolling from back to stomach but recently started rolling from her stomach to her back), eating, scoots around play mat, while on her stomach she pushes up with her forearms and stays there longer, plays & entertains herself longer.



Favorite Books: She LOVES books!  Hello, Baby! By Mem Fox,   Hooray For You By: Marianne Richmond ,  Goodnight Moon By: Margaret Wise Brown

Favorite Songs: Bryan and I both made up songs for her that we sing to her all the time.  They're both name songs. 

Favorite Toys:  Bright Starts Bounce-a-Bout, Sophie, Bright Starts Tug Tune Pig.
She loves any of those hanging toys that are normally clipped on to car seats, etc.  Her fav is the pig.  You can see it hanging on her Bounce-a-Bout below.

Momma's Mental State: I finally feeling like I'm pulling my head out of the sand.  My hormones seems to be under control.  I had no idea it would be that bad.  I heard it's just as bad when you stop breastfeeding.  Great.

I'm feeling more confident about taking LL out and about.  Before, I was having these strange visions of me dropping her or something totally irrational.

Believe it or not, I still feel like I'm recovering from having her...yes, I mean "down there".  How come no one talks about how traumatizing that is?

Sleeping--4 Months 4 Weeks

4 Months 4 Weeks

Ughh. At the end of this week, LL will be 5 months old and I feel like I haven't gotten any closer to a consistent night-night sleeping pattern. The only thing that is consistent is her bedtime routine... boob/bottle, bath, book, bed. She is usually in bed between 6:30 and 7:00pm. She always wakes up about 45 minutes after she goes down, but we get her back to sleep right away. B dream feeds her around 9:00pm....then the inconsistency begins. Some nights she wakes once around 2:00am... then other nights she wakes at 1:00 and then again at 5:00am. And then there are some nights she wakes up every 2 hours. I don't feed her every time she wakes up. I usually just nurse her around 1:00-ish and then again 4-5-ish.  Her wake time is always around 6:40am.

Nap time is pretty consistent.  She takes 4 naps a day...each one 45 minutes.  Her wake time in the am is about an hour and about 2 hours in the afternoon. I usually don't let her go more that 2 hours of awake time.  You can read all about the sleep schedule I put LL on here...

Is this normal for a 5 month old? Do your babies have this inconsistent night-night sleeping pattern?  Do older babies fall into a more regular night sleeping schedule?  Please say yes.

Despite all of this happening, I've moved her back to her room. And this is where she'll stay. I finally feel comfortable having her sleep there. Before, when I thought of her sleeping in there by herself I would have a mini panic-attack. Now, it's all good.

On The Move!

4 Months 4 Weeks

I can't believe it.  LL is moving all around the floor.  This morning when I put her down in her play area, she immediately flipped over and then proceeded to scoot, roll and play....scoot, roll and play...eventually making it to the other side of her play area.  I was watching her the whole time and when she looked up and saw me, she smiled really big and then squealed!  This literally happened overnight.

I love that she's playing more independently.....but kind of hate that she's growing up so fast.

LL Loves Her Bright Starts Bounce-a-Bout!

4 Months 4 Weeks

Lately, LL seems to really hate her floor/tummy time.  She used to loooove her Activity Mat.  She would bat and play with her hanging toys forever.  Now, she'll play maybe 5 minutes and then get really grumpy.  I guess this is yet another sign of her growing up.  So, we bought her this Bright Starts Bounce-a-Bout. 

"I'm soooo over playing on my back, Momma.  I want to stand, now"

She has just started to really play in it.  When I say play, I mean about 10-15 minutes.  She does not sit up on her own, so we use a pillow to help her out.

A small part of me wishes I had gotten this...

I've heard great things about them, too. Do you have one? If so, do you love it, hate it?

I've Been Outsmarted!

4 Months 4 Weeks

Remember this post about how LL was flipping over while lying on her mat?  I thought I was so sneaky and clever to use her sleeping-wedge-thingy to keep her from flipping over.  It seemed she couldn't help flipping over because she was pulling her legs up towards her head and "weeeee"...she was rolling on her tummy.  Well, I look up today and here's LL...

"Momma thinks she's so smart....but I'm always one step ahead of her!"

Not sure why I thought that wouldn't happen...just another example of how naive I am when it comes to mommyhood.

LL's Baptism + Tiny Prints

I ordered the invites for LL's baptism today! Love me some Tiny Prints!  Great selection... I don't even have to address or stamp them.  Uploaded all the addresses of the attendees and Tiny Prints is doing the rest.  Love that.

We'll be traveling back to my hometown for the Baptism. It should be a fun-filled celebratory day. We have a lot to celebrate!  Took us 5 very long, tear-filled years to have LL.  Boooo infertility...YAY for IVF...boooo shots....YAY for my babes, LL!

Product Review: Sophie The Giraffe

4 Months 3 Weeks

LL received Sophie The Giraffe from Santa (see post here) and at 4 months and 23 days today, she is able to hold her for long periods of time and chew on her legs.  Before this point, I was holding Sophie for her while she would gnaw on her. 

She's also able to pick her up when she drops her.  I noticed this yesterday while she was in her car seat.  She would chew on Sophie....drop her....pick her up....and continue chewing (and talking to her) the whole way home from the library.

sing......."I'm a big girl, now!!!"

Why Did I Renew These Subscriptions?

I have no idea what I was thinking when I renewed these magazine subscription back in August....1 month before LL was due.  I haven't looked at one of these magazines. -_-

Happy Valentine's Day!

4 Months & 20 Days!

Aden & Anais Burby Bibs...Love Them!

I was gifted this Aden & Anais Burpy Bib at one of my showers and I just pulled it out.  It is by far one of my favorites bibs because it covers not only the front of LL but her shoulders and arms too.  LL is constantly moving her head back and forth and her arms up and down during yum-yum time resulting in food covering her arms and shoulders.  This bib covers both areas perfectly.

 It's going to work even better when she's sitting up solo in her high chair!

Over The River And Through The Woods...

We're off to MeMe and PawPaw's this weekend!  LL is very excited as she can't wait to show everyone all her new tricks. 

Puj Booti Shoes and Puj Go Slings

I came across these new items from Puj.  I'm a huge fan of the Puj Tub...which you can read about here...so I am naturally curious about the new Puj Booti and Puj Go Sling.  I like the idea of the booti's not having either a right or left foot...and the sling looks so quick and easy to use.  I LOVE our Bjorn Active Baby Carrier, but it is bulky with lots of straps for adjusting.  This sling fold easily into your bag without straps.  Hmmm...I see 2 new additions to LL's life!

Push-Ups & Crunches...

LL wants to sit up so bad.  Every time I lie her down anywhere...play mat....bed...crib....she immediately goes into a stomach crunch.  Every time I lie her on her stomach...she straightens her arms and lifts her entire upper body and then relaxes and does it all over again.  What happened to my stay put and observing child?

Teach Your Baby Sign Language

I've been thinking a lot about teaching LL some simple sign language.  Then, I saw an update on Facebook from Baby Cheapskate with a link to this awesome sign language website...Baby Sign Language.  If you haven't "liked" Baby Cheapskate yet on Facebook and you're a mom, then you should.  They have tons of great posts on ways to save money to anything baby related.  Anyway, this Baby Sign Language site is so cool. VERY user friendly and you can print out wall charts or individual flash cards.  Here are two signs I'm learning for LL.

Back To The Miracle Blanket!

Thanks, Momma for FINALLY putting me back in the Miracle Blanket!

So, last night around 10:30 and after the 2nd time of LL waking up...I pulled out her Miracle Blanket, took off her "not so Magic Sleepsuit", swaddled her tight and she slept until 4:00am....then again til 7:00am.  Thank you JESUS!  I guess she just wasn't ready to transition out of her swaddle.  Here she is waking up bright and chipper this morning.

Since she has been waking up so much at night, she found her way back to the side of my bed in her Rock N Play.  If she continues with the longer stretches of sleep, I'll move her back to her room!

Magic SleepSuit....not so magic today.

Momma is most crabby today.  What a horrible night of sleeping for LL.  She was down at 7:30 last night then up at 8:30 (that's pretty normal) back up again at 11:30 (not normal) then again at 1:30 (normal) and 4:00, then up for the day bright and early at 6:00.  Of course, I've been up since she woke at 1:30 not able to fall back to sleep.  Lying in bed wondering why this was happening again...this sleep regression.  Why can't we figure this out?  She's not really hungry...she only nurses for a short time.

She's worn the Magic Sleepsuit for 4 nights...and this was the worse night so far.  I'm considering going back to the Miracle Blanket.

I've Rolled Over and I Can't Roll Back!

4 Months 2 Weeks

Since LL has learned to roll over from her back to her front...that's all she does.  As soon as you lay her down, she hikes her legs up and rolls right over...weeeee!  Hey, this is great and all and she needs the exercise but after a minute or 2 she starts to really let me know..."hey...hey you...I don't like it like this anymore and I really need your help to flip back over so I can continue to play with my hanging toys".  After about 30 times of this, I decided to outsmart her.  I got her sleeping-wedge-thingy (also a hand me down from C who gave me the Miracle Blanket) and laid it on her mat so she couldn't roll over...HA. 

"Thanks, momma! If I rolled over one more time I was gonna scream!"

Now, please don't think I keep her from rolling over and doing tummy time...because Momma does tummy too.  But baby girl needs time on her back too to practice with hand eye coordination. Anyway, this works!

I Caved....Enter, The Magic SleepSuit!

4 Months 2 Weeks

"Oh boy, here she goes again."

So, I caved and bought the Magic SleepSuit. I've been reading a lot about it on the boards and decided it was time that LL transitioned out of the swaddle. I received 20% off because it was mislabeled...reads size large instead of small.  It came in the mail today which was nice...took like 2 days to get here. It's hilarious to look at and imagine her sleeping in it...looks like a big snowsuit.  I wonder if will be too hot?

"Are you serious?"

We'll keep you up to date on IF and HOW it works.