Five Months

This is a few days early, but I will be out of town on her actual "birthday" so I wanted to go ahead and post! Belle is five months this month! It seems that she is growing faster than Jackson did, but I am sure it's because we are just busier now so time seems to fly by! 

I just took her in earlier this week for her 4 month check up so here are her stats:

Height: 24 in. (25th %)

Weight: 14.5 ilb (40%)

Head circumference: 16.5 inches (50%)

This is one of Belle's favorite things! Keeps her entertained for hours.

Her other favorite thing-- her playmat. Sometimes I just want to hold her and she gets fussy because she'd rather be down playing.

She's not quite crawling yet, but this girl isn't staying in one place. Belle is quite the roller/scooter/wiggler to get where she wants to go.

My little girl is getting all big and can sit up all by herself (for a few seconds anyway)

Dear Belle,

You are just SO much fun right now! You are old enough to want to play with toys and occupy yourself for little bits of time, but you're still my sweet little baby. You are a very social baby, giving away smiles to anyone who may look at your direction. You are the cutest little thing ever and I think you know it too. Last week, three different people, all from different places, told me that you are cuter than the Gerber baby. (Maybe Gerber will read this and hire you on the spot.)

You are wearing 3-6 month clothes and they are finally fitting better! You have so many cute clothes thanks to Chacey and Victoria. You should thank them someday. You are wearing size 1 diapers, but could stand to move up to size 2. You have to finish the ones from a huge box I opened awhile ago because I just can't let all of those diapers go to waste. 

You are the wiggliest. thing. ever. Seriously. You haven't stopped wiggling since I first felt you move when I was 12 weeks pregnant. I can't really sit and cuddle you, unless you're sleepy, because you just kick those legs and flail those arms all about!! I have to say, I'm a bit nervous about how this level of activity will play out in the next few months! Let's not be too crazy, k? Oh, and it is impossible for you to lay on your back without your feet up in the air. It just doesn't happen. I put one down and it will fly back up as soon as I let go. Sometimes it's a funny game for Mommy to play. 

Just this past week, you slept ALL NIGHT long for a few nights. But that was just a tease, because now you're back to waking up for a night feeding again. I plan meticulously to stuff you full before bed and if I do it right, you'll sleep really well. But if naps and schedules don't align, I will see your smiling face around 3am. Eating solid foods isn't something you love to do. You seem to like the taste, but every single spoonful I put in your mouth takes about 5 actual steps of scooping up what you spit out and re-trying. There's progress with every bite, but it is a time consuming and very messy task. And you'll only eat about half of a stage 1 baby food thing at a time before you're just mad about having to eat. You'd much rather just have a bottle. But when you have that bottle, you don't want to be held laying down... you want to be sat up so you can eat and check out the world at the same time. Silly girl.

Jackson is so affectionate towards you and you just gaze at his every move. I pray that you will grow up to be close friends, just like me and Uncle Phil. We never fought. (just like I never disobeyed and I didn't start dating until I was 25. You'll be sure to follow in these footsteps!)

I can't believe I am going to to be away from you for a whole week starting tomorrow. I am going to miss your smiles, babbles, and baby lovin' soooooo much! Don't grow up to fast! Love, Mommy