Ok, so yesterday, Natalie was 5 months old. We didn't miss the date, just too busy to post. Busy in the middle of March, can't imagine why! (hint: taxes)
She is doing all sorts of fun things now. I got her to giggle for a good 60 seconds on Monday. I know, doesn't sound like much, but I've been [patiently] waiting and finally got it out of her. I was laughing too hard to think about grabbing the camera. She's been doing quick laughs here and there, but this was the first laugh-out-loud-because-my-mom-is-making-a-funny-face-laugh! Too fun!
She's also been steadily eating rice cereal. She gets bored of it about 1/2 way through the feeding. The Dr. said to expect that, because after 3 or 4 days of wallpaper paste, she'll be ready to move on. I'm trying to decide what to serve as her first official food this weekend. Maybe Sweet Potatoes? I'll research more tomorrow. By the way, this is hard for me, because I don't like to eat half of the things you're supposed to feed babies. In fact, I don't even know how to cook most of them! (potatoes? peas? squash? avocado? should be interesting for us both)
She rolls around on the floor occasionally, and gets up on her side, but she's just not that interested in moving. She'll find her hands or feet and just try getting everything into her mouth at once. That keeps her attention for the most part.
Her head and neck are really steady now. She turns and looks when she hears noise or voices. And most definitely follows mom and dad across the room.
She seems like she is getting bored just sitting in our laps. She wants to have a toy or better yet, whatever you're holding. We played cards on Friday night with Trisha & Travis, and she kept trying to swipe my cards! We went out for dinner on Saturday, and she reached for my salad multiple times. I started reading her books in the evening and she wants to help hold the book and stares at the pictures. Kind of nice to know she's paying attention!
Her nap schedule has really adjusted. Her morning nap is still consistent, but she's cut it down to 45 minutes. She'll usually take 2 more 45 minute naps throughout the day, but she's definitely awake more. I've read about this, and hopefully when we move to more solid food, she'll take better naps (the goal is to get 2 naps of 1.5-2hrs each).
We haven't been using her swing much anymore. I'll put her in it sometimes if she seems sleepy but is fighting her nap. It usually buys me 30 min or so, but other than that, she gets bored and wants out.
She's still sleeping through the night. We put her down about 7:45 each night and she'll wake up around 7:30 or 8 on her own. The putting her to bed routine has gotten better, but it varies depending on her naps. Sometimes she fights us when we lay her down, but usually a crank or two of the mobile calms her enough and she is able to do it on her own!
Stats for this month:
Weight: about 14.5 lbs
Height: about 24 inches
Hoping to get more pictures tomorrow, we took these close to bedtime and the smiles were hard to get!
