5 months

Happy 5 months to me!

Avery turned five months old about a week ago. She is getting more and more personality every day! Here's what we've been up to...

Eating- We're back! We started solids back up last week. She is eating oatmeal and loving every minute of it. I almost feel bad that I stopped because she really seems to like eating from a spoon (or just eating in general!). As I was feeding her this morning, she kept opening her mouth while I was still getting the cereal on the spoon. She was ready for more! Now that she is getting more solids, she sometimes only eats 5 times a day instead of her usual 6.

Sleeping- We are finally back to normal in this department. Hallelujah! Avery has been doing so well. She goes to sleep around 8, wakes up around 4:30-5:30 to eat, then sleeps until around 8. She is STILL being swaddled. I just can't make myself wean her from it yet. I can't even think about going back to no sleep again. She is on the brink of rolling in her swaddle so I'm sure that I will be breaking her of this habit soon. It makes me nervous just thinking about it!

Firsts-

-Avery started doing some rolling this month. She has rolled several times from her belly to her back and is so close to going from her back to her belly. Her arm just seems to be in the way. She's been moving around so much more than she used to.

-She is also much closer to sitting on her own. I have to force her to sit down because she will lock out her legs to stand. She would so much rather be standing than sitting. Hopefully she will figure out that she can do a lot more from the sitting position!

-Sitting at the dinner table. This is a huge one for us! We can finally eat together as a family now that she has her own chair to sit at. It is so nice not having to entertain her while we hurry and eat.

-Making all sorts of noises- She has started making some crazy high pitched squealing sounds. At first I thought that she might be mad but nope. She's just talking! She also makes some noise that sounds like she has a lisp. She will stick her tongue out a little bit and try to make a noise.

Favorites-

-We have realized that she loves being naked! We have stripped her down before bath time and let her play a little bit. If she is fussy, she will instantly turn into a different child. It is really precious to watch her.

-Shopping in the jogging stroller- I used to take her shopping in her carseat but she hates this now. She wants to constantly be looking around.

-Playing peek-a-boo

-Looking at herself in the mirror

-Shelby and Grace- she is on the lookout for them and is completely focused on them if they are in sight

-Being outside- she still loves this even if it is cold outside.

Watching dad plant some flowers

Dislikes-

-She has started having some stranger anxiety. We have noticed that she gets really shy around new people or even people that she knows but isn't around all the time. She refuses to smile until she gets comfortable. The other day, Avery was meeting some family members that she hadn't met before and apparently had too many people looking at her. She burst into tears. She warmed up after a little while but she kept making sure Mom and Dad were nearby.

-Teething

-Clogged tear ducts- Her left eye remained clogged but we have good news in this department! It got really bad about two weeks ago but then finally cleared up. Thank goodness! She was getting really sick of having me wipe her eye multiple times a day.

Check out her left eye. This was taken right before it got better.

Some other pictures from this month...

Avery loves hanging out with her friends. Luke wanted to get really close to Avery so she decided to play with his hair.

Then he tried to move away but she didn't want to let him go!

I love my girl in pajamas!

Being silly

Trying to look sporty!

Solids

After Avery's 4 month checkup, our pediatrician told us that it was okay to start solids. Most people that I had talked to began at 4 months, but I had done some research and read that it is recommended to wait until babies are 6 months old. I had planned to hold off for a little while but we were still having some very rough nights. I was willing to try anything at that point so we decided to give it a go.We began with rice cereal the Saturday morning before Halloween. She actually did a lot better than I thought that she would. She was a little confused at first but eventually got the hang of it.

First bite

What is this stuff???

Grace (in her Halloween jammies) was making sure nothing fell to the ground

After a few days, we started giving her the cereal for dinner. She was not sleeping any better. I was actually having a harder time getting her to fall asleep which never has been the problem. She seemed to be wiggling around a lot and having a harder time relaxing. I think the cereal just made it a little more difficult to poo so she was having to get used to that. Well, after a few days of that, I decided to stop for a little while. I was pumping so much for the cereal, and I figured we could wait a few more weeks.

Avery has been sleeping so much better lately so I haven't started it back up. We'll probably begin again with oatmeal soon.

Halloween 2010

Happy Halloween!

Avery's first Halloween was a lot of fun. We started off with our visit to the pumpkin patch a few weekends ago. Then last Friday, we met up with some friends for Faithbridge's Fall Festival. Bill and I have volunteered at the frog toss station the past 2 years so this year it was fun to see all that they had going on. There are so many activities for kids of all ages, and it seems to be a lot bigger than it has been in the past.

Since Avery is still a little too young to go trick or treating, we were able to see her dressed up that night. She was a cute little strawberry!

Once we got there, we went to drop off the strollers and then check out the stations. There was a bubble room where the kids can check out lots of bubbles. The babies were mesmorized by them!


Next, we went to some other stations...

Of course, we had to take some pictures along the way.

Notice that none of the babies are looking at the camera!

Finally, we went outside to see the carnival area and have some hot dogs.

The holidays have officially begun. Now it's just a countdown for Thanksgiving and Christmas! Can't wait!