Aubrey 5 Months!

Ahhh, our baby is turning into a real human : )  I love the point in which newborns turn into infants that start becoming more social and interactive, and less lump like. Uhh, I mean baby like : ) Is that terrible to say!? While we loved her no less in her "lump-like" state, she just gets more fun (and easier in a lot of ways!)with  each passing month.  
So here's to progress!

Happy 5 Months Aubrey Lynn!

This Month's Highlights:

-The day you turned 4 months old you started rolling over...and over and over and over...non-stop! Front to back, and back to front. You would be on your piano playmat one minute, and the next across the living room rug! You also used this as a means to get across the playroom! Little lady on the go!

You roll over and over and over to constantly watch your big sister!

-The constant, non-stop rolling was our cue to stop swaddling you at night (we had stopped during naps for the last month and a half or so). You did fine with being unswaddled, and if anything you loved having your hands to put in your mouth when you woke up, but you rolled like crazy in your crib. The first night, Mama had to go into your room to turn you onto your back after you rolled onto your stomach and just couldn't get back (and were crying hard!). But then an hour later, you rolled onto your stomach and spent the remainder of the night there! Now, most naps and a big portion of night sleeping is done on your tummy.

-Getting you out of your crib in the morning is one of my most favorite times with you! You are absolutely smiling and oh so happy. You usually just wake up and babble a bit before you realize you are hungry, and it is so much fun to listen to on the monitor.  On the occasions that I have to wake you up from a nap (oh heaven forbid!), you are smiling even before your eyes are open! I love how happy of a baby you are becoming!

No, she does not sleep naked : )

-Right as you turned 4 months you really got the hang of reaching for and grabbing objects. by 18 weeks you were able to grab lambie and sometimes even get the paci into your mouth. By 20 weeks you were pretty much a pro at getting it right into your mouth when you wanted it! Hallelujah!

-You hate laying down and always want to be right where the action is.  If things are going on around you, your head is popped right up and you arch your back to see things better behind you!  I think you are going to be the life of the party in no time! 

-With that comes you NOT being a cuddler. At ALL! While your sister still will let us rock her and sing to her hours on end, you want none of it. You barely let us rock you before bed, and most times it ends in "Fine, you are squirming out of our arms and fussing, so we will just put you in bed to fall asleep on your own!"...which is promptly followed by a "Thank you Mama" as you roll over in your bed. Nice. 

-You are an extremely happy and smiley baby! You smile anytime we pick you up, play with you, basically just look at you! Easy going baby! That being said, when you aren't happy you definitely let us know! You still let out your Angry Elf scream when you are mad, and you still get pretty fussy in the evening between 4 and 6 just not wanting to sit still, not really wanting to play, and just super squirmy when we hold you. 

-You love getting attention, and when you don't it after a few minutes, you let out a really loud scream, not an angry or sad noise, just one that let's us know you are still there. As soon as we look at you and smile, you have the biggest grin on your face!

-The last 2 weeks you are getting closer and closer to becoming mobile (in another form other than rolling over across the room!). You are pushing up on your elbows and sometimes arms, and then get your butt in the air by pushing off on your feet. You move ALL over your crib at night, and I never see you in the same place or position each time I look at the monitor. When I put you on the blanket on the playroom floor you push off on your arms and go up onto your knees and scoot backwards until you hit the wall, or a big toy that stops you.  While you aren't crawling or scooting forward yet, I don't think it will be much longer before you do!
  
-You have really started loving to play with toys, or at the very least hold them, stare at them, and ultimately put it in your mouth! You absolutely love playmats, but also love sitting up in the bumbo and "playing" that way. Favorite toys include: ball pictured below, pink bear rattle, crinkle butterfly, and Sophie giraffe.

 

Sleeping:  You continued to do well at night, with bedtime around 6:30 (sometimes 7 or 7:30pm), and a dream feed at 9:30pm until 20 weeks.  Most nights you would sleep til 6:30am or so, with the occasional waking in the 4 or 5 am hour, and occasionally waking at 7:30 or 8:00!  At 20 weeks I stopped the dream feed just to see if you could still sleep til 6 and you did for about a week! Then you decided you wanted to get up multiple times a night, so we went back to waking you up for a 9:30 pm feed, and even then you'd wake up at 4, 5 or 6 am to eat.  Definitely no consistency yet with you in regards to night time eating, but that's ok. 

Naps: The 2 weeks before you turned 4 months you were napping terribly with 30 minutes max, but right at 17 weeks you were getting back into somewhat of a groove.  You typically woke up in the morning and stayed awake for about an hour, then would nap for about an hour.  You would then be awake for about 1.5 hours, and sleep for 1-2 hours.  The afternoon as more sporadic and naps usually lasted 30 minutes. You definitely get crankier and crankier as the day goes on (not a surprise as the naps get shorter and shorter!). Even at 21 weeks, a few days you'd sleep til about 9:30 am after your 6am feed, then sleep from 11:30 or so for about 2 hours, then take another 45 minute to hour nap around 3pm.  Other days it was the 30 minute nap/1 hour awake game all day long. No consistency on this sleeping front either.

Breastfeeding: You love to eat and have been so much easier to breastfeed than Bella ever was! This month you were all over the place, and on average you ate 6 times a day (roughly 6:30am, 9:30am, noonish, 3pm, 6:30pm, 9:30pm; after we dropped the night feed you cluster fed every 2 hours after your noon feed to get in 6 feeds so 6, 9, noon, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm).  There were a few you had 5 feeds but you always woke in the middle of the night after those days. And then there were some days where you wanted to eat 7 or 8 times.  You eat on one side the first 2 feeds of the day, and then the remaining 4 you usually take both sides. It takes about 7-10 minutes for you to eat, although I feel like half that time is me trying to redirect you b/c you are SO easily distracted these days!

I will say that I LOVE following your cues rather than watching the clock and following a schedule when it comes to you eating. I use my Feed Baby app SO much less this time around, and even when I can't remember what side you should start on, I just guess and it's all good. Supply is not hurting around here!

She apparently needed a break...milk didn't get the memo!

Aubrey Loves:
-Having her head rubbed

-Lambie paci when trying to fall asleep or really mad

-Rolling all over the place

-Piano playmat
-Activity ball
-Butterfly crinkle toy 

-Watching her sister play
-Sleeping on her tummy

 
Aubrey Hates:
-Clothes going over her head
-Being in her carseat in the car for long periods of time (although you are getting better at this)

5 Month Stats:

Height: 25.75 in (approx 75th percentile)

Weight: 19 weeks- 13 lb 11 oz (at MD office)

5 Months- 14 lb 8 oz (approx 35-40th percentile)

*Wearing size 2 diapers (using Honest Co and Costco brand)

*Wearing size 3 month and 3-6 month clothes

Aubrey's Firsts this Month:
-First night sleeping unswaddled 3/30/16
-First time in your jumper and you LOVED it! (21 weeks)

This Month in Pictures:

Family dinner out

Sweet Aubrey expressions

That belly!!

My sweet girl!

Bella teaching you everything she knows about singing!

You may not be tall enough for your jumper yet, but you LOVED it! (21 weeks)

Sweet girls in their brown and pink coordinating outfits!

Isabella 22 Months!

I wish there were words to express how much Jon and I love being this little lady's Mama and Daddy! She brings us more joy and happiness than we could have ever imagined! While I wish I cold slow down time, we are truly savoring every single moment with her. We are trying to etch into our minds her sweet giggles, her little head tilt and smirk that indicates she wants something, and just her little signature moves and words that make her, her! Every day is a delight with this one. And now that she is saying "I Love you!" back...OMG...melt my heart! 

Happy 22 Months Isabella Rae!

This is her "Happy and You Know it and Your Face Will Surely Show it" face : )

This is her "hands in your lap and smile please pose" : )
 
22 Month Highlights:

-Daylight savings hit and we had to Spring Forward. Not our favorite night of the year! We had to get up early anyways for church since both Mama and Daddy were singing in the band, and you were so exhausted you fell asleep as soon as the door closed in the car!

-I have said it for the last couple months, but this month you continued to show off your super girly side! You absolutely love playing dress up, pretending to put on make up with mama, trying on everyone's shoes, and you must have a bow on at all times! I never imagined myself as a girl mama, let alone, a girly girl mama...and I have to say I absolutely love it!

-We continued to run every Tuesday at the greenway with Tia and Dani which you absolutely loved! You always wanted to bring your (naked) baby, and plenty of snacks, but you enjoyed every second of it.  If Tia jogged behind Mama, or too far in front, you'd shout "Nani, Nani??" b/c you couldn't see her. You loved to be close, and tried holding hands in the strollers every once in awhile!

-You got the grasp of coloring more this month and totally loved it! You could sit at your table for a long time with a few crayons and a coloring book.  For the most part, you also get not coloring on anything other than the book, with the exception of sometimes flying the crayon right off the page and onto the table (good thing it just wipes right off!)

-We played outside a ton and while Mama wanted you to run around and get all your energy out, you loved riding in your "Ca" (car, said with a Boston accent : ).  Oh boy, I have images of what's to come in just about 15 years!

-Because the weather was just so gorgeous so much of the time, we also ate on the back patio quite a bit, which was nice for Mama and Daddy b/c while you ate dinner, Aubrey was swinging right next to you, and we were having Happy Hour : )

-Aaaand then we realized you have seasonal allergies!! After about 12 days outside from morning til night, you woke up one morning with watery, swollen eyes, total nasal congestion and a clear runny nose that wouldn't stop like a fast flowing faucet, and you just felt lousy. You didn't nap that day (not because we didn't try, but because you couldn't lay down and breath), so you spent a lot of time cuddling on the couch.

-We celebrated St Patricks Day by going to the Park and dressing alike. So just an ordinary day with cute little matching onesies that Mama made (a Pinterest win I would say!).

-You are growing more and more independent, and more and more curious as time goes on.  You want to do things on your own. You want to find new things. You want to open doors now to see what's behind them.  I love your independent spirit, although part of me wants to keep helping you with every little task, b/c each time you do something new on your own just reminds me how much of a big girl you are becoming, and you are certainly no longer a baby!

-You are the most amazing big sister ever (and I'm one, so that's saying something : ).  You absolutely love Aubrey with all your heart. You constantly want to give her kisses on her head. You love to shh her and rock her in the car seat when she screams.  You pause your playing sometimes just to go over to her on the playmat and rub her head.  You make my heart melt every time you do these things. I can't wait to watch the two of you bond even more deeply as you grow older! You've also kneeled onto her face, pushed her stomach down to her spine when she was laying on the floor, and swatted her hand away numerous times as she reaches for you this month, so it's not always rosy, but it is definitely a *mostly sweet* adventure with you two!

This was not prompted in the least...you just wanted to hold her hand and make sure she was ok!

-We also celebrated Easter for what seemed like a couple weeks!  We went to an Easter Egg hunt in Mimi's neighborhood and you absolutely loved it! You were a little skeptical of the Easter Bunny, but liked looking at the real bunnies.  We then had an Easter Egg hunt ("Gee huh") in our living room with Dani and you loved finding the eggs, even though there was nothing in them! (BTW: what do you put in eggs for 1 year olds that don't eat candy/sugar, and isn't a choking hazzard!?)

You were SO not happy about taking this picture you were choking back tears. What a fake try at a smile : )

"Get me away from this huge bunny, holding a huge bunny!"

 

You squealed with excitement with each and every egg you found! You were so upset when the 3rd "gee hunt" was done!!

So serious, and yet I love this one of you two!

-You are really talking up a storm this month and your vocab has skyrocketed even more! I am amazed every day at the new things that come out of your mouth! You are starting to sing certain words to some songs too which is just precious.Things like "Mmm, juicy!" when eating an orange or "Pies" (to mean "Up High, Down Low" high five game) just crack me up. You also now repeat everything we say. Everything! So we are watching out!

-You know all your body parts and can easily point them all out (including heart and lungs), and now you pretty much say them all as well, in your own words. Examples: "He" (hands), toesies, boom boom (heart), eyes.
 
-You really took a lot of tumbles and hard spills this month!  One evening you were happy to see Pops pull into the driveway and ran downhill on the sidewalk  and smacked your forehead hard on the ground! That left a nice big bruise and scratches on half of your forehead. Then, a few days later you fell off your step stool while brushing your teeth and busted your nose. Not to mention the always scraped knees and sometimes scraped elbows. Such is the life of toddlers in the summer I suppose!

About a week after the forehead incident, and the day after the nose!

Sleeping: You are a great sleeper, and on nights you don't necessarily sleep well, you are a great rester! You were in your toddler bed all month and did fantastic!! You never get out...even when you drop Moo Moo or "Be" (brown bear) all of 9 inches down!  It cracks me up to watch you on the monitor b/c even though you could just reach right down and get them, you look over like "Oh well, that stinks!" You are also highly aware of the video monitor and when you are really ready to get out of bed will sign "Please" and say Mama or Daddy. But, if we don't come immediately, you still sit there patiently! What a good girl!

As for timing, bedtime is still 6:30 or 7, and we get you out of bed at 8am.  Some mornings at the beginning of the month (right after the transition to toddler bed) you were waking up super early, around 5 or 5:30, but you'd just lay there playing with Moo or Be. 

You take 1 nap a day around noon, lasting 1.5-2 hours most days, although occasionally when you are really tired it will be closer to 3 hours!  

On a side note, your bed is looking like a small animal farm these days with everything you want to sleep with.  This last week you have added a few things so now you have Moo cow x2 (one with paci, one paci removed), Be (brown bear), Be too (teal bear), and "Ma" (one bunny slipper). I have NO idea how you came up with "Ma" for the bunny slipper, and occasionally you will hold it up and say "Baaaaaa" really loud, so I'm not entirely sure what you are making of it, but it certainly makes us laugh! You also wanted to sleep with naked baby but she's pretty hard, and it was a pain trying to remember to bring her up and downstairs constantly b/c you want her with you all the time! 

Eating: You are willing to try most everything at least once and I love that about you.  Things you have hated in the past you are finally starting to like such as tomatoes and avacado. And man, can you eat your fair share of guacamole!! You still love scrambled eggs (gee's) with spinach, cheese ("chee", blueberries ("boo boos"), 'nanas, strawberries, pear, nectarine (ok, really pretty much any fruit put in front of you!), fig bars, black olives, greek yogurt with fruit, Kashi granola bars, GF nuggets, and man oh man is cereal now your favorite food! We stick to cheerios or bran flakes and you could out eat us all with those! You still eat oatmeal with fruit most mornings, but we give you a choice, usually oatmeal vs yogurt with fruit vs eggs. You also are world's longest eater, and will usually take about an hour to complete lunch or dinner.

Isabella Loves:

-Dancing, singing, & listening to music

-Reading
-Snuggling, giving hugs and kisses...you are SOOOO affectionate!
-Rocking (and more snuggling!) 

-Playing outside, taking walks
-Going to the park to "schide" and swing
-Baths!

-Wearing bows, sunglasses, and shoes...all the time!

-Going down "schides" (slides)
-Puzzles, coloring, blocks
-Eating good food
-Looking at animals, making animal sounds, reading about animals 
-Naps, sleeping!

 
Isabella Hates:

-When yummy food is all gone!
-Not being able to do something independently that you are trying to do
 

22 Month Stats:

 Height: 33 or 33.5 in (approx 45th percentile)- she hates getting measured so this one is a little iffy : )

Weight: 26 lb (approx 70th percentile)

Teeth: One new tooth this month- canine on bottom left, so now total of 13 teeth (4 molars, 4 uppers and 4 lowers)

*Wearing 18 month fall things, and 24 Month and 2T stuff for the summer. 18 month things fit, but we handed them all down to Dani since you got a complete summer wardrobe from Maggie and the Lefler girls!

Isabella's Firsts this Month:

-First major tumbles and falls leading to quite a few cuts, bruises, and a bloody nose
-Said "I eh oh" (I Love You) for the first time!! 3/31/16 

This Month in Pictures:

Easter Sunday

Duck lips for days : )

This is her "eyes peas" (AKA: ice please) smile!

My 3 favorites!

When there is time to kill before our run...take a selfie...

Make funny faces....

Shove snacks in our face...whaever : )

You LOVE to help push the stroller!

Big statue, little lady

Kissy face selfies : )

Silly face selfies

That dimple! LOVE!

Taking time to stop and smell the roses

My favorite picture right now!

Meal times with Daddy are more fun!

Daddy and his sweet girls- who could have imagined the foreshadowing when Daddy bought 2 identical onesies in sizes 24 months and 3 months!?!?

Helping Mama do our planter boxes for the front yard...you LOVED it!

Those sweet little chubby toes and feet!