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.