5 Months!

Lila Jane!! You are 5 months old!! I've been putting off writing this post because I don't even want to believe it could be true!!
You weigh about 15 lbs 6 oz. I don't know how long you are, but you are very long!! All of the sleeves on your sleepers are too short for you now. You can still wear some of your 3-6 month clothes, but just barely! The 6-9 month clothes fit just fine, and you are even in some 12 month clothes! Your big diapered booty takes up a lot of that room, though, or at least that's what I tell myself. :-)
You are eating EVERYthing now! We've given you all of the standard jarred baby foods except peaches. I'm kind of holding off on those because I know how sensitive your bottom is, and peaches are known for giving diaper rash due to their acidity. You have also tried lots of mushed up table foods like fish, sweet potatoes, melon, bananas (your FAVORITE!), pickles, lemons, crackers, and even pickled ginger! You are pretty adventurous, and will readily eat most anything we give you.
Your big developmental milestone that you're working on is SITTING UP! I can't believe you're already at this stage, but you're doing great with it! You started sitting up in a boppy at school last week, and you're steady enough to sit completely unassisted for several seconds at a time now. You're curiosity always gets the better of you, though, and you inevitably lean toward something interesting and topple over.
We've given up on actual nursing, because it just doesn't fit into our schedule any more. I haven't nursed you in probably close to a month, but I'm still pumping milk for you. I'd been pumping 4 times a day, but I was still making more milk that you would need most days, so I've just dropped back to 3 times a day. I'm so glad I've been able to make all of this milk for you, but I have to admit, I'll be SO glad when we're done with all of the endless pumping, cleaning of parts, lugging the pump to school, etc. I'm really torn about when to actually stop.
You're still VERY solid in your night time routine and sleeping through the night. We start bath at 8ish, then daddy usually does books. You are really starting to enjoy story times! When you aren't busy trying to eat the books, you really like to stare at the pictures, or look up at us to watch us reading to you. It's SO cute!! You had a little virus last week, so you woke up a couple times. You're still very stuffed up and congested right now, so you woke yourself up coughing last night around 4:30am. I listened and waited for you to start crying, but you never did. For almost an hour, you would talk, cough, get really quiet, and then chat to yourself some more. You finally fell back asleep around 5:30, I think. You're such a contented baby that you never did cry or fuss. I always put you to bed on your back, but most mornings when I go in to get you, you're laying very happily on your belly. It wasn't all that long ago that I wondered if you would EVER be content on your belly!
We started trying you out with a sippy cup this weekend. You aren't really a fan just yet, but you're already getting better at it. We bought a few different kinds, so we're going to figure out which ones you like best. You've really been interested in trying to hold your own bottle for a while now, but you always get bored with it or get distracted from it, so you're not quite ready yet.
You still have your serious look sometimes, but you are generally very happy now! You give up the smiles very easily, and will play very happily by yourself in the exersaucer or on a mat on the floor for a long time. You LOVE when people talk to you, and you are quite the conversationalist. You watch faces very intently, and often make funny sounds back at us. Your favorite sound is like a backward laugh! You open your mouth and suck air in to make a really funny squawky sound. I love it, and call it your baby pterodactyl noise!
You're really starting to be interested in standing up now! For your first few months, you had no interest in putting your feet on the ground. Now when we hold you in a standing position, you plant those feet and stiffen those legs! It makes me start thinking about how very soon you're going to be pulling up and cruising around, and it makes me so very sad! Slow down, Lila!!
You are really utilizing your bed real estate these days. You get all turned around in there, and I never know where you'll be, or what direction you'll be facing when I come in your room! When you get turned around, you fill the entire bed from the back rail to the front rail!
You're still on your medicine for your lip. We're not noticing a lot of change in it now, but it is definitely smaller than when we started, so we're very happy with that. The plastic surgeon is recommending that we keep you on the medicine until you're 6 months old. He says most of these hemangiomas stop most of their growth by that point, so we're hopeful we won't see a regrowth.
These next few pictures were taken one morning when you woke up. You just looked so big in your bed, and so sweet. I really like that last one of your big diapered booty!!


We love you SO much, Lila Jane! Keep doing what you're doing. You make us smile every day. Just one snuggle with your wet sloppy cheek can make my worst days seem perfect.

Growing Girl

Warning! There is a cute overload ahead. Proceed with caution!! I've cleaned off Lila's school camera AND Daddy's good camera and crammed ALL of that cute into ONE intense random post!

We'll start with a sneak peak at Lila's Derby ensemble. One of Lila's future teachers, Mrs. Carolyn, put this hat together for her!! It is SO over the top (pun only slightly intended) and I LOVE it!! I think LJ loves it, too!Ever the diva... Mrs. Mary at Mommy's work made Lila this outfit with the yellow tutu. One of Lila's classmates wore one similar to school, and Lila could NOT be outdone! Mary gave us two of these, and I couldn't wait to get them on her!! Fortuitously, I was shopping at a yard sale last weekend and happened to find the PINK tutu!! Of course, we had to have that as well. If one tutu is good, then two tutus are GREAT!
Lila's first field trip!! Contrary to this facial expression, Lila loved the big field trip to Brown Park next to school! Of course, for such a big occasion as a first field trip, we had to get a bit dressed up! A girl needs a nice sun hat for a day outdoors, and of course we had to have a matching outfit for the hat! More of Lila's future teachers gave her this outfit, and it's SO cute on her!

EASTER!! The Easter Bunny came to our house, and he hid some special eggs for LJ at Aunt B and Uncle A's house!!
I can't even tell you how much I LOVE this picture!
The Easter Bunny brought Lila some bunny ears AND a bubble blower! She was mesmerized by the millions of bubbles floating around the room!
We had to do a bit of an Easter "practice run" at school on Good Friday. Lila looked SO cute in this pink polka dotted dress!
LJ in her sweet robe that Papa Jimmy embroidered for her. SO CUTE!!! She LOVES bathtime and all the sweet snuggles and attentions she gets on the changing table after.
What started out as simply a cute Minnie Mouse outfit might've gotten a bit over-accessorized by the time Mommy got done having fun with it.
Guess who's been rolling over in her bed!! I went in to wake Lila up one morning this week and found her with that sweet little booty stuck right up in the air, and she was just as proud of herself! Happy as a clam!
Trick picture!! I had to throw in this fun picture of the cats to break up the cute Lila overload. Lila and the cats still pretty much just ignore each other. Yesterday morning while Lila was finishing up her bottle, Ramone (the brown one) hopped up in my lap with us. Lila sat up and they just watched each other for a minute. Finally Lila gently started grabbing and kneading Ramone's furry back. It was so funny! I don't think either of them really knew what to think of it all.
Lila LOVES to be naked! I think I've figured out why! I got her undressed for her bath one night, and without that big bulky diaper, she was able to grab her feet and get them both all the way into her mouth! I cracked up and grabbed the camera.
Ok, Grandparents and Great Grandparents, I hope that's enough to hold you off for a little while longer! Lila has been saving up her kisses for you all, but she has so many of them now that they just run down her chin all the time and soak her clothes. I'm sure she's still saving a few, though!

Lila's First Cook-Out

*Don't be alarmed, but this is my second post in under 12 hours. If you haven't seen the last one, be sure to scroll on down!

Warning! Lots of pictures...

I keep a camera in Lila's cubby at school. She spends the better part of her waking hours there, so it makes sense that there would be some good photo ops while at school. I haven't uploaded any of the school pics in a while, so I have a TON for you! YAY!! I uploaded them in backward order, so we'll start with today.

I popped in to Lila's room to find her like this! She's really into her little burp cloths lately, and loves to hold them and chew on them. That's what she was up to in her bed today when she fell asleep! She slept like this for a long time! Don't worry, CB! She was well supervised!

LJ went on her first buggy ride at school today!! I have to tell on myself on this one. I got a little choked up. I just had one of those mommy moments. For all of the years that I've worked at the center, I've seen babies taking their first buggy rides. We always get all excited and take pictures. Somehow, though, I just never thought it would be MY baby getting so big and riding in that big buggy. Doesn't she look grown up?

Doesn't she look excited??

This is Lila and Jillian having some tummy time together! For the longest time they just stared at each other! I love thinking about how in a few years, these babies will be Lila's best friends in the whole world! The kids in her class will learn to walk and talk and share together. They'll celebrate birthdays together. They'll perform in Christmas programs, and even have their Pre-K Graduation together! I hope it doesn't all go too quickly, but I love that I get to be a part of their lives as they grow into big kids!

Lila was fascinated by this little aquarium toy they have. She sat there just mesmerized by it.
Funny side story on the outfit: This day was our "multicultural fair" at school. Each classroom chose a country or culture to represent and all of the big kids got passports and traveled around the center learning about each culture. Lila's class was representing China. The teachers always joke around with me about all of Lila's outfits and how I love to dress her up for everything. I have to admit that she was the only kid who actually had Seuss outfits for Seuss week. So they had to go and offer the offhand challenge... What's Lila going to wear for Multicultural Day? AHHHHH!! The pressure!!! I came home and racked my brain and ransacked Lila's closet for something silk or robe-like, and came up with nothing. I googled "China costume" for ideas. And there we had it...there was a panda costume! I remembered receiving an outfit with pandas on it in a bin of hand-me-down clothes! I ran to the basement and ransacked my bins until I found it. It's a bit big on her, but we certainly rocked out China!!

check out that big huge polka dotted booty!! I've started putting an extra insert in Lila's cloth diapers to help with some leakage issues we were having, and it just makes her bottom look huge. I loved how her dress got hiked up and showed those big polka dot tights!

We're obviously getting into some older pictures here. This is Lila with her friend Elliott and Mrs. Barbara. Elliott is the ONLY boy in her class! There aren't even any boys coming any time soon to help him out with all of these flirty girls!!

Remember those leakage issues I mentioned? We've pretty much taken care of all of the "wet" leaks, but when Lila makes a poo, she REALLY makes it count. On one such day, she blew out of her diaper, out of her outfit, and all over the exersaucer at school. The teachers called me to let me know what my child had done, so I went to help with the fallout. It was so bad I actually had to bathe Lila in the sink! Thanks to Elliott's mommy for always being over-prepared, and having some baby soap in her diaper bag that she shared! Sorry this pic is a bit PG. I don't know how to edit it!
As you can see, Lila goes to the BEST daycare in the whole world. And I just happen to have the BEST job in the whole world that lets me peek in on her throughout the day and not miss out on some of these amazing moments.