Praise God for a much more peaceful month! Nora hasn’t had any more episodes and we haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. We’re still waiting on the referral to go through for her full neurological evaluation (I’ve been getting kind of annoying with all my calls to the doctor) but I’m cautiously hopefully that everything will come back clear on that anyway. We’re so thankful that she’s doing so well!
Here’s what’s new for Nora this month…
Weight & Length: No well-visit this month so I’m not sure of her percentiles or height but she’s just under 14 lbs, about a pound heavier than last month! Yay Nora!
Clothing: She’s still in 3-6 month or 6 month stuff and somewhere between size 2 and size 3 diapers, but we’re going with size 3 because they just seem more comfortable around her little round belly. She can’t really wear her footie pjs anymore because she’s just so tall! Things will fit her everywhere except in length, or they’ll fit her in length but be so baggy and huge everywhere else. Luckily summer is fast approaching so she’ll probably be in onesies (and bathing suits) starting pretty soon anyway. I can’t wait to see her in all her sweet little summery things!
Eyes & Hair: Baby blues and medium-brown hair! Sometimes it still looks super dark but in the sun I swear it’s going blonde or at least much lighter brown, kind of like a caramel color. I’m getting super antsy to see how it grows in and get to start styling it all cute and girly!
Sleep: Last month things were bad with naps and good with nighttime sleep. This month it’s kind of the opposite. Although this week specifically has just been bad all around haha. I feel like she’s in the middle of switching up her sleep pattern right now so this category is kind of hard to write about. She’s been waking up like every 3-4 hours during the night (very strange for her, she usually sleeps 8 hours straight and then goes back down for another 3-4 hours after a quick snack) but her naps have been somewhat more predictable. I think she’s actually in the process of dropping down to three naps a day. She’s been able to nap for longer periods of time as well, like an hour and a half or two hours sometimes. But like I said, this week in particular has been hard for her so I’m not quite sure how it’ll work out yet. Hopefully she settles into a schedule soon. She takes every nap in her crib now but we still have her with us at night because honestly I’m just not ready for her to be down the hall and away from me! Plus it’s just darn convenient to have her close for all those nighttime wakes she’s currently dealing with.
Eating: Still exclusively breastfeeding although she’s getting so grabby with table food that she’s almost swiped some of it on more than one occasion. Once she shoved her entire little hand into my yogurt haha! We’re still planning on waiting until 6 months to start introducing any solids and even then it’ll be just for fun. I might try out a sippy cup with water for her soon because I remember that Jameson loooved that at this age, but besides that it’s business as usual. Although I will say that she is a very stressful nurser. She constantly moves around, whips her head around at any noise, sometimes chokes, it’s just a hot mess sometimes. But she has been more willing to nurse to sleep, which I know some people dislike but I absolutely adore. 🙂 This phase is so short that I’ll take those sleepy snuggles wherever I can get them!
Milestones: I feel like this is mostly the same as last month actually. I mean obviously she’s fine-tuning a lot of her skills but there haven’t been any big and new milestones this month. I thought for sure she’d be rolling from back to belly by now but she’s still so content to stay where she is (aside from scooting herself forward a bit while on her tummy). She does roll up onto her side but so far hasn’t given much of an effort to flip all the way over. Oh well! Makes things easier for me to have her stay in one place. She’s getting better at sitting with support (she can actually sit up by herself for very brief moments of time), can grab and hang onto her feet, and is officially a “hip baby” now, although she prefers to be carried facing out so she can see everything that’s going on.
Loves: Jameson, Jameson, oh and Jameson. Homegirl is obsessed with her brother (no arguments here, I’m obsessed with him too). She giggles nonstop when he’s around and when he does things to make her laugh she literally cannot control herself. Like big, adorable belly laughs for as long as he’s willing to stand there playing with her. She can’t handle her love for him and it’s so adorable. He is without a doubt her most favorite person, even more than me I think. She also loves music, being outside, grabbing/gnawing on everything, taking baths, hanging out stark naked, playing with my pink water bottle, being on my hip, and honestly whatever she can get her hands on.
Hates: Tummy time for more than like five minutes, the car seat most days, and being passed to anyone who isn’t me or Alex. Although she does have a soft spot for my dad.
Communication: She’s adding new sounds to her repertoire all the time, including raspberries and excited squeals. She loves to coo back and forth with me and responds with smiles almost any time someone talks to her. She’s also learning to turn to me as kind of her home base, which is very sweet. She’ll smile shyly at someone and then bury her face happily in my shoulder to make sure I’m still around. She laughs all the time with Jameson and copies his happy screams too. And her facial expressions are the best.
Things I want to remember: Your sweet blue eyes quietly watching my every move, your warm squishy belly, the way your face breaks into a giant smile when Daddy gets home from work, how it feels to watch you and your brother becoming friends, the way you laugh so hard you can barely catch your breath when Jameson does something funny, the way you like to keep one hand on my face while you’re on my hip sometimes, the way your little fingers gently reach up to touch my lips when you wake up in the morning, the way you pull my shirt down over your eyes when you’re trying to nurse to sleep, and the way you look up at me when I go to pick you up after a nap (eyes peeking out of your snug little swaddle, the corners of your mouth slowly creeping into a big ol’ grin).
Nora baby, we adore you! You are such a sweet presence in our lives and we can’t get enough of your joyful little spirit. We are so so thankful for exactly who God made you to be and we can’t wait to see all you learn and all you become! Happy five months my littlest love.
Milk with a Meal 