Grace is 5 Months!

Grace is now 5 months old and I know I keep saying it... but time is flying by! She will be 1/2 a year old in just a few weeks! She's becoming more and more animated each day and is really starting to sit up pretty well. A week or two before her 5 month birthday she was able to balance herself sitting up in a tripod position. It was very impressive. As you can see in her 5 month picture below she's sitting up well with the help of the pillow behind her back. I think in the next week or two she should be sitting up unassisted! I love when they start sitting up. It brings a whole new world of playtime. 

5 months old

Brown eyed girl!

Grace is still a happy little lady! She smiles at EVERYONE and smiles very BIG! She loves to be held and be part of the action. At dinner she doesn't usually want to sit in her bouncer and watch us from afar, she wants to sit in one of our laps and see everything. She kicks her feet real hard at bath time as if she purposely wants to splash. The exersaucer has been really great. She stands very well in it and really enjoys the little toys. I'm amazed at how well she spins herself around to see all the different toys (the seat can move 360 degrees). When she is on her belly she kicks her feet very hard and looks like a little baby seal with her arms held back. I wonder when she will crawl. Already she tries to move her body and does a pretty good job in maneuvering the floor. I found her head under the ottoman today - about 2 feet from where she originally was placed! She rolls, twirls and scoots!

Little tripod!

I like standing in my exersaucer

What is Grace's day like? She's a champion with the daily schedule! I don't know if she's that much better at adapting to a schedule than William was (who wasn't even bad, but it took until 6 months to get two naps a day down pat) or if I'm just more knowledgeable as to what the day should look like, but I'll take it nevertheless! She gets up around 7:15/7:30a, eats, plays, then goes down for her first nap of the day sometime between 9-9:30a. She gets up sometime between 10:30-11a, eats then plays on her mat or runs errands with me and William or goes to the Y daycare with William then is ready for nap #2 of the day right as William is ready to go down around 12:30-1p. Nap #2 has been her longer nap, which has been really nice in letting me relax for a little. She gets up a little before William does and eats again, which works out nicely because I like to get her "meals" out of the way when William is occupied. William has no problem playing while I feed her, but I'd rather be on the run with him than making him wait. Once William is up then we go play until Daddy gets home. Grace some days wants a third nap and some days is just a little cranky, but won't nap. She can't quite make it the rest of the day without a little rest, but she sometimes fights that late afternoon rest. By 6p she's making it clear that she's ready for the bedtime ritual. She takes a nice warm bath, gets her footie pajamas on and sleep sack (a fleece sack with armholes that is essentially a blanket), eats then passes out on her tummy in bed. She is still a tummy sleeper and I very rarely see that she's rolled onto her back to snooze.

I managed to rip my mobile down to play!

So as you can see she eats 5 times a day at this point. The late afternoon feedings are a little tight, so I think we may be dropping a meal as we start bringing solids into the mix. We haven't tried any solids yet, but think we should probably get started here shortly. The doctor gave us a go ahead at 4 months, but we clearly haven't rushed into it. Her two bottom teeth are very much in and ready for food!

Yummy feet I like to try to eat

Grace loves her big brother so much and constantly stares at him. William is getting really helpful with her. I can ask him to give her certain toys like her toy links or if she's bored I ask him to show her a book then she's happy again. She laughs at him all the time - even when he isn't doing anything funny. I think William found his #1 fan - outside of his mama and daddy! Next to William, for entertainment she enjoys mouthing on everything (probably because of the teeth) especially the toy links. In her exersaucer she likes to mouth the fish toy. She's just now getting into her crinkly book and I brought out the singing dog that William really enjoyed playing with. Once she's sitting up better there are many fun toys she will probably enjoy.

You're fun, big brother!

Well, we sure are lucky! Grace is doing so well and we couldn't be happier. I can't wait to see her grow more each day and see how she and William start to play. It's mostly eye pokes and blankets on top of the head, but I can see William making attempts and Grace really hoping he will entertain her!

Great job, Miss Grace! We're looking forward to the month ahead!

Smiles smiles smiles

Whatcha have there William?

Working on sitting up

Two teeth! I'm a happy lady!