5 Months Big

Paige is 5 months old.  She is getting big, finally turning into a baby and not just a little, unstable, creature.  She is closer to sitting up.  She can almost hold things, which means that she is getting better at controlling her hands and arms and not just flinging them around involuntarily.  She loves to stand up and look around.  She doesn't like to play laying down as much anymore because she can't see what's going on.  She will play on her play mat because she likes the toys, but otherwise she wants to be standing.  She is finally big enough to be in her exersaucer and she likes it a lot.  It's nice to sit her in it while we get dinner or her bottle.  She likes to turn around and around while playing but gets mad that none of the toys reach her mouth.  That's her big thing these days - everything goes straight to the mouth.  Her hands are still always in there, but now she likes to chew on blankets, her clothes, all toys, and even our fingers.  She is teething, which she has been doing for over a month now.  We keep thinking that she will have a new tooth every day, but we keep waiting.  She just keeps gnawing on everything in sight, poor kid.  I think it will be her two center bottom teeth, so we shall see.  

 We started food this month.  With Harper we were perfectly on schedule.  Poor Paige had to wait an extra month because we were a little busy and I honestly didn't even remember what to do.  We finally did about a week's worth of rice cereal (it took almost 3 weeks to get that one week done).  Now we will start some fruits and vegetables.  She is drinking about 5 ounces in each bottle.  She takes about 5 bottles a day, give or take.  That mostly depends on what time she wakes up, because this baby is sleeping through the night!  She started a few weeks ago.  One night, she just didn't wake up, so the next few nights when she would cry out, I would give her the paci and she would immediately go back to sleep and not wake up again till morning.  It worked like a charm and it was pretty easy for her.  Then, we hit a rough patch a week or two ago.  She still doesn't need to eat in the middle of the night, but she stopped sleeping as well.  She has been waking up each night around 3am and being awake for about an hour.  She doesn't cry, she just talks, babbles, and whines.  Her room is close enough that it keeps me up and I've been pretty exhausted.  Since she isn't eating in the middle of the night, she is also waking up suuuuuuper early.  She wakes up about 6am and honestly can't make it to her afternoon nap.  It's been a struggle to try and get her back on a schedule.  If she eats at 6, she eats again at like 10 and then is tired enough for her long nap then.  Plus, she likes to cat nap at 9am.  This doesn't bode well for our routine since we are usually at the gym at 9am and we don't get home from morning stuff until 12.  Poor kid doesn't make it.  We are hoping to find a way to get her to sleep a little later in the mornings, but for now we just make it work.  Other than that, she still cat naps for about 30 minutes between feedings, other than her long nap in the afternoon which lasts between 3 and 4 hours.  Love that one.  

She is taking big baths with Harper now in the tub instead of her little mini one.  She likes to lay down with a towel and she kicks her feet and waves her arms like crazy.  She loves to splash and make water fly everywhere.  It makes us all laugh.  Her hair is getting a bit lighter and slowly growing a little longer.  She is getting to the end of her 3 month clothes and about to start the 6 month clothes.  She still loves her newborn paci's best of all.  She has a doll that has some crinkle to the skirt and lots of limbs to move around.  She loves it best and likes to chew on the arms and legs.  She has discovered her mobile and loves to sit and look at the owls.  She can scoot herself around quite a bit.  She usually turns herself around in a circle and sometimes when she's mad, she can scoot herself forward.