Five Months

Remember when all you had was a baby? One baby. Babies are a breeze. Two year olds? Whole different story, especially when you add an 'easy enough on her own' baby into the mix. I have all these good intentions to write about Elodie so that in my sleep-deprived, diaper changing, nursery rhyming stupor I can remember every little thing about her—because she is so worth remembering every little thing about.

I love that each one of my girls came hardwired with their own unique little personality. Elodie is a mover. Britta was a sitter. I loved that Britta was a sitter. I have mixed feelings about Elodie’s desire to be mobile. The second you lay that girl down she flips onto her belly to get a better view of the world and spins around in a circle or rocks her legs up underneath her. I have been tempted on more than one occasion to swipe those little legs out from under her to buy myself some more time before I have a crawler on my hands. 

Elodie goes wild for the Jumparoo. Britta only ever had mild interest in it. Britta was a talker. Elodie is a smiler. When she looks at you, she takes you in for a second and then the most beautiful, genuine smile bursts across her face like she just can’t hold it in any longer—as Britta puts it, “Mom, Elodie made me a smile!” 

Elodie is a mama’s girl. Britta only had eyes for Daddy. Elodie just wants her mama. I secretly love it—unless I’m doing dishes.

Elodie took longer than Britta to sleep through the night, but she is pretty solidly sleeping for ten hours straight now. She is tired by about seven, and wakes up about five. I would love it if we could get her to bed later and thus waking up later. We’re working on it. She is so easy going about naps, which is nice because I am not keeping her on nearly the same routine schedule as I did with Britta.

She is ready to start solid foods, but I am dragging my feet because A.) I don’t want her to grow up and B.) spoon feeding a baby takes foreverrrrr…. I am holding out hope, though, that a full belly will help her sleep longer at night.

At her four month checkup she weighed 13 lbs 12 oz (40^th percentile) and measured 25.5 inches long (75^th percentile). Her head was in the 25% percentile—it’s a good thing she has all that hair to cover her tiny noggin.  Aside from head size, she is pretty much exactly the same size Britta was at this age.

She is all around fun. Her giggles and smiles are the bright spot of my morning, and her kissable cheeks are the reward for this thing called motherhood.