Amelia's 5 month update

Dear Amelia,

Nevermind this is the first update since you were one month old.  Let's overlook that for a minute and just celebrate that you're FIVE MONTHS OLD!  How?  WHY?  Time, slow down!

Five months is simply a wonderful age.  We have all settled into our new normal as a family of 5, and while there's still plenty of chaos and insanity and "how will I make it to bedtime today?", I feel like we've reached a groove at this point.  You're also still (fairly) immobile.  I say fairly because you definitely can scoot, roll, and inch your way around a room - the other day Addie yelled to me and said "Moo-oom, come see what Amelia's gotten into," and there you were, on the other side of your bedroom floor, with your sound machine pulled on top of you and biting on the cord.  Nice.  But, you're not crawling so I can leave you in one spot and find you *generally* in the same area when I come back. But at 5 months, you're so interactive and full of life.  You love to observe everyone and everything.  You can sit quietly watching your brother and sister for really long stretches, and love to people watch at the grocery store, the pool, and anywhere else there's lots of activity.  Once you're one-on-one though, it's like you're ready to unload about ALL you've seen, and you talk up a storm.  Kind of like when daddy gets home and I am ready to talk a mile a minute off of his poor, unsuspecting ears.

a toy interesting enough for all three! yes! 

Now that you're knocking on half a year, we've also fallen into a much more predictable routine.  You're not quite napping by the clock yet, but once you wake up in the morning, I have a pretty good idea how the rest of the day will fall.  You're usually awake for about 90 minutes after waking, and then go down for a nap - sometimes that's for 45 minutes and sometimes it's for an hour and a half.  

This past month I had to get serious about sleep, because we had fallen into some unsustainable habits.  At least, they were unsustainable with two other wild kids running around, like rocking/feeding to sleep, and these ridiculous 3-hour marathons for bedtime.  Mama pretty much turns to a pumpkin at 7pm, so bedtime lasting from 7-10pm was. not. OK.  It has taken some work, but we are in a much MUCH better spot of you falling asleep totally on your own, without the swaddle, in your crib, without the paci... yeah we had a lot to change.  You're still waking a few times at night to eat, which I am working on weaning you off... I'm fine with once but 3x?  Just... no.  Hoping I have great things to report on that next month.

Just before 4 months you rolled over tummy to back, and then about 2 weeks later rolled over back to front.  You're starting to do that baby sit-up thing where you can't just lay back in a chair or on the floor, you have to see how far you can hold your head up and for how long and seriously?  That can't be comfortable so let's all just relax.

You're just a model 3rd child.  You go with the flow, sleep on-the-go when necessary (which means every day at the pool for your last nap...), are fine with being passed off to anyone, and are social, social, social.  You are content to be plopped down pretty much anywhere and on a dime, like when brother HAS TO GO POTTY RIGHT NOW and you're in the middle of nursing.  You can keep yourself content for a LONG time, but do love to be held (by all members of the family...).

Lest we think it's all rainbows, for posterity I will write down that we drove to Florida at the beginning of June and, in summary, we are never going back.  At least not in a vehicle.  We are officially 0/3 on kids who will sleep in the car (WHY?) and for a 3.5 month old that is just brutal for such a long trip.

No solid foods yet, and we will wait until about 6 months for that, but you are definitely interested and have started lunging head-first toward my plate at every meal, trying to grab any stray morsel.  You've been on Zantac since a really scary incident at 7 weeks old (oh man, is that a story I need to write down... I'll just leave this photo and come back to that).

But we are now weaning you off it and all is well!  No vomiting!  No terrifying incidents! No emergency room! Yes!

Overall, this has been the fastest 5 months of my life.  I'm actually still kind of surprised to look down and not be pregnant.  And yet here we are with a big, moving, babbling baby!  You are the perfect addition to our family.  Your brother and sister adore you, your dad can't get enough, and I'm head over heels.  We love you SO MUCH!  And I promise to write more updates!