Our Baby is 5 Months

It's a bit crazy to believe...but I love to say it. Dan and I have a five-month old. We've waited a long time to be able to say that!

Our little 7lb newborn is closer to 17lbs these days. It's a good thing the movers delivered our belongings to our new storage unit here in Vegas because I think it's safe to say Aiyana has outgrown her bed.

Three days old and plenty of room!

Almost five months and a little cramped. It was time for an upgrade. A week ago, we set up her pack 'n play!

Much more spacious! She now enjoys rolling onto her left side for most of the night. While she has rolled onto her stomach a couple times before we've gone to bed (and was promptly rolled back over!), she pretty much stays off her stomach throughout bedtime.

 I love this denim outfit! (thanks Jamie Smith!)  Too bad Aiyana has outgrown it and is looking particularly porky in this picture. Aiyana no longer wears 3-6 months and has breached the world of 6-9 months clothing. Yay for getting to buy new clothes! (P.S. If any of you have a Kid-to-Kid near you, that's the way to go!)

 This is one of her favorite toys. It's a textured giraffe that usually hangs in her car seat. Speaking of which, Aiyana does so well in the car these days! She seems to enjoy getting out of the house and is only a screamer if it's too close to nap or bedtime.

But sometimes when she's tired, Aiyana get slap-happy hilarious and it's the cutest thing. The other day, I was pushing her around the library in her stroller doing some publishing research, and she started squawking for attention in a "it's time for a nap" kind of way. If I stayed still too long or avoided eye-contacted, she'd make high pitch noises that were definitely not suitable for a library. But as soon as I looked at her, she'd bust out these awesome grins and laugh like, "Heh! Heh! Heh!" It sure boosted my self-esteem in the comedy department because she thought everything I did was the funniest thing she'd ever seen!

 For the most part, she's a loud, happy girl! When she's excited, every body part gets put in motion.

 Just lookin' up at Uncle Kroc and holding his hand. (She loves Ryan and Megan. She gets lots of fun attention from them)

 There's that tongue again. She's like a lizzard!

 Aiyana likes grabbing her pacifier and putting it in and out of her mouth. It's fun to see her control getting better. She doesn't need it to stay asleep at night, but she likes to start out with it.

 At 4 1/2 months, she broke her first tooth! It's one of the bottom ones in the middle. The tooth beside it is breaking through now, too. She's handling teething pretty well. She's not super-droolly, but the drool is increasing, which is Dan's least favorite part. She has more fussy moments but she's still pretty happy.

 Just over 4 months, she started rolling regularly from back to tummy. Only problem was: She still hated to be on her tummy! So she'd roll over, make an exaggerated coughing sound like a princess in distress until I'd roll her back over. But for some reason, she felt compelled to keep doing it, like she was proud of herself that she could roll, but couldn't wait to return to her back. It took another two weeks before she rolled a few times from tummy to back. She's still working on it, but most of the time, she just starts "planking", which I didn't know was a thing until episode 1 of The Office! 

 But she is getting stronger and puts up with tummy-time better!

 New toys! When the movers came last week, they also brought this exo-saucer we borrowed forever ago from Pawnee that we have not been able to return in time for Ethan's use. Pawn was so nice to give it to us! The first time Aiyana sat in it, her eyes were huge and she didn't know what to play with first.

 Teething, lots of teething! Everything gets chomped on.

Other Fun Facts:

• Size 3 diapers
• Bottle situation resolved! Mostly. I discovered that she'd take formula from a bottle but not breast-milk. It was still taking her forever to drink it though, so I tried switching bottles again to a nipple that is shaped like her pacifier. She drank so much faster from it, so then I tried breast-milk and it was a success! I don't know what that rebellion streak was, but I'm glad she's over it.
• Aiyana likes to growl. Yep, like a grizzly bear. I started growling at her when we played, and then she growled back! It's a deep-throated sound that makes us all laugh.
• She likes to pucker her lips together and blow spit through them. It makes the sound of someone blowing on a baby's belly and she likes that she can do it. She also thinks it's a fun game to spit milk at us when she's drinking her bottle. Little stinker.

I can't wait to create her nursery. It's part of that pregnancy nesting stage that has yet to be fulfilled! My main eagerness for moving into a house is centered around that. I've been thinking more about it, trying to figure out why it's so important to me. And I've realized that it's another step I want to take. I'm scared to put her in her crib at night, and to make that walk down the hall to check-on her; and to be honest, I'm kind of glad for the excuse that she still needs to be in our room. But I also know we need to move so that I will force myself through that step. I want to be ok with Aiyana being in a crib, and I won't make that step until I have to. It will feel good to move on from this point. I hope I can do it! I know we can.