Aubree: 5-months

Five-months! Crazy. She's almost halfway done with her baby-ness. :) I think I say this every month, but she is such a good baby.

-She seems to cry even less now...she rarely cries when she's hungry anymore so sometimes it's difficult to figure out if she's ready to eat or not. It's generally every 3 to 4 hours...she still can't eat any more than 5 ounces at a time and sometimes that's a bit of a struggle.

-She is able to stay awake for pretty long stretches of time and lately she doesn't give us any indication that she's ready to sleep. So weird. But as soon as I give her her binky and blankie, her eyes start rolling and she's asleep in no time. She seems to be taking one long nap in the afternoon (1 1/2 to 3 hours) and little 20 minute catnaps here and there. We're not going to go into detail about how she's sleeping overnight because I always always always jinx us. We'll just say that we're happy with how she's doing right now. :) She's nearly binky-free overnight. She falls asleep without it and we end up caving when it's almost time to get up in the morning. It's like pushing "snooze". We plug her back in and it buys us just a little bit more time.

-I'm ecstatic to report that she is doing incredibly well with baby food! She still loves her rice cereal. We're making our way through veggies right now. So far she's had peas, green beans, squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes. She's eaten each one like a champ. Everytime I prepare food for her, I tell myself, "This is probably way too much so if she doesn't eat all of it, it's okay." I'm trying to keep myself in check so I don't freak out like I do with Ayla. But she always finishes every last bite. It floors me everytime. I actually get excited to feed her. :) Right now she has rice cereal late morning/lunchtime and then a veggie mixed with rice for dinner. In a couple of days, she gets to start fruits. She's going to love them!

-She isn't drooling like crazy anymore but that gave way just in time for her to figure out how to blow raspberries. It's messy but so cute. :)

-I don't think she's teething yet, but she really likes gnawing away at her toys, fingers, toes, blankets, and whatever else she can get into her mouth.

-She's rolling all over the place now. It's so strange to put her down in one spot and turn around to see her in a completely different area in the room a minute later.

-She smiles a lot at the people she knows best but getting her to laugh is another story. Tough crowd. But sooo worth it when she finally giggles. I can't get enough of the sound of her laughing. It's the best. Overall, she seems more serious than Ayla was as a baby.

-"Stranger Danger" has recently begun. Sometimes when someone she doesn't know well holds her, she cries. Loudly. It's a totally different cry than any other cry I've heard from her. She seems genuinely freaked out, tears and all. She settles pretty quickly once I take her though.

-She goes nuts in her jumperoo especially when someone's there to root her on. It's right next to Ayla's toy shelf, which is a great spot because when she gets tired of jumping, she just hangs out and watches Ayla play. She also likes her play mat but doesn't last as long in it now that she rolls...she ends up getting stuck and gets upset.

-She's awesome. She's amazing. She's beautiful. I love her.