you are 22 weeks old!

since you can practically sit up all by yourself, i decided to see how you do with props. you made friends with the sneetch and the blue fish.

here are some pictures of you looking sweet at 22 weeks old. i couldn't choose between all the good ones.

love, mom

happy five months birthday!

well, just a couple days late.... you turned 5 months old on the 27th, Friday. we went to see you grandma and pappy and nany and all your cousins and aunt and uncle and great grandparents. it was a full weekend.

at five months, you are spunky and sweet, silly and opinionated. and as particular as ever. i have never seen a baby turn her nose up at getting rocked to sleep by your grandma, but you showed us again that you prefer your routine of lotion, pjs, swaddling, and being set down on your side in your bed. familiarity is key.

you're wearing mostly 6-9 month or even 6-12 month clothes. there are some 3-6 month dresses that still fit, since they don't have snaps at the bottom. your feet are still little, though, with short little toes on the ends. your size 2 sandals fall off frequently, so we might have to get some size 1s.

you are still very strong, wanting to stand up all the time. you can almost sit up on your own as well. still no rolling over, but i thought it might happen today. we can't wait to see what you do next!

love, mom

you are 21 weeks old!

i'm a little late taking and posting your 21 week picture, because i left the camera at church. woops.

this past week a lot of that pretty hair you were born with has been falling out. it is surprising, but apparently normal. babies supposedly often lose their hair within the first six months. it's still mostly there on top, and the new hair on the sides and in the back that has grown since you were born is still there. i don't think it'll lighten up a whole bunch, the way it does when some babies lose their hair.

we're still working on the tummy time and rolling over. you are enjoying it only slightly more than you used to, which is to say not really that much. once you get more mobile and don't feel stuck on your belly, though, i think you won't hate it so much.

you like to be swaddled again, but you still wake up about every three hours.

you have been interested in books lately. sam has been reading to you, and i usually read you an oscar the grouch book at night before you go to bed. you always smile at oscar. i think he's a cool favorite sesame street character to have! my favorite was grover.

here is a picture of you being a perky and fun 21-week-old!
love, mom

you are 20 weeks old!

this week has been really hectic and crazy, and i think that has you kind of upset. either that, or a tooth is coming very soon. i wouldn't be surprised at the latter, since you are drooling by the bucketfull. either way, you have been pretty clingy the last day or two. daddy said you cried almost the whole time i was at softball practice yesterday. don't worry; i missed you too.

you got to go to bella's shower and olivia's first birthday party, so that was pretty exciting. there were lots of babies at both. it's pretty neat that you have so many friends close to your age.

you are making all kinds of funny noises, and you get so excited when you're making them that i can't tell the happy ones from the angry ones sometimes.

you've been spending a lot more time on your belly lately as well. the nurse at your checkup asked if you were rolling from front to back, and i had to say "no." i figure it's my fault for hardly ever making you do your tummy time. you don't really like it very much, but it's somewhat bearable on your pretty quilt.

we discovered that you like to be swaddled again, after several weeks of not being swaddled. i guess we're going to have to make you some little swaddling sheets, so you don't get too hot now that it's warming up again.

here's a picture of you at 20 weeks old, looking gorgeous as usual.
love, mom

you went to see the doctor today.

and everything is great! the doctor and nurses were really impressed with how alert and calm and sweet you were. the first nurse said that you were the calmest baby she's seen in a while, and the doctor said you seem much older than four months. the second nurse really thought you had pretty eyes, and she felt bad having to poke you with the needles.

you really played it up after you got your shots, crying/shrieking, then calming down, and then crying again when the nurse looked at you, and making a pouty face and one tear come out. and then calming down, and then crying again when she talked to you again. i guessed you wanted her to know you weren't too happy with her.

the doctor said you don't need any solids yet, because you're gaining weight really well. according to him, there's no need to introduce other foods yet and dilute the benefits of your current food source. soooooo it might be a few weeks yet before you taste those carrots.

you are 26 and 1/4 inches. that's the 95th percentile,
14 lbs 15 oz. that's somewhere around the 75th percentile, and
16 inches in head circumference. that's around the 50th percentile.

love, mom

you are 19 weeks old!

and i think your shirt might be correct.

some big things this week, including our first family vacation, to silver dollar city, in branson! you were a really good girl in the car and at the park, even though it was freeeeeezing. you had a good time just riding around in your stroller and taking in the sights.

you finally think it is funny to be tickled, although i'm sure if i keep it up, you're not going to think it's too funny anymore.

you wake up more at night to eat now, so i think solids are in your very near future. i figured we'd wait until after you go to the doctor on friday, just to be on the safe side.

you're growing out of lots of your 3-6 clothes, including pjs, pants, and onesies. thankfully, the sundresses still have a little room! and your size 2 shoes are finally fitting right, and not looking like your mom dressed you in clown shoes.

you have a few long hairs in the back, which are kind of funny. i guess i'll cut them, to even it out a little bit. hope you don't hate haircuts as much as your brother does.

everyone loves your cheeks, and so do i!

love, mom

happy 1st Easter!

today you got all dressed up and went to church and then to a cookout and then home to get your easter basket. you can't have candy yet, so we got you some baby food carrots and some rubber duckies! thought that was sort of easter appropriate... and of course a turtle easter basket. sam got a fun snake and a white chocolate bunny.

it is way too cold for april 8. a couple nights ago, it actually snowed here. this is not normal. especially considering it was about 80 degrees a few days before that.

here are some pictures of you and sam today!

you are not afraid of dogs!

yay! we hope it stays that way. maybe someday we will get a dog for you and sam.

in the meantime, you can visit with sugar.

love, mom

your quilt is done!

well, maybe. i might quilt some little flowers on there, but otherwise, it's totally finished! the binding took a good while, but i knocked out most of it at your grandma and papa's house. for some reason i can't get anything done at our house.

the exciting thing is that you seem to LOVE it. i think you really like the colors and textures. the back is made out of seersucker material, so you like to touch it.

i have lots of leftover material and quilt squares to decorate your room when we move, and that is pretty exciting.

i wrapped you up in the blanket and put you on the couch for a minute, while i uploaded pictures. when i came back , you had fallen asleep. you practically never fall asleep outside of your sleep positioner thing in bed, so that's a big deal!

thanks to your adopted grammy misty for helping me with my first quilt ever - all for you!

love, mom

you are eighteen weeks old!

and fun and funny.

this week you didn't get to pose in your usual spot, because we were at grandma and papa's house. you batted your eyelashes at grandma when she batted hers at you, and you copied some of her hand movements when she was talking with her hands.

some of your hair is getting long in the back, but the rest of the hair hasn't caught up. we probably will trim it a little, so you don't get a baby mullet!

amber took this picture of you. she says it looks like you are pondering life and stuff. i agree!

love, mom