You’re five months old and continue to get so big.

• You’re in the 90th % in height, 50th % in weight.
• You roll over from tummy to back and from back to tummy.

• You sit up by yourself for several minutes.

• You’ve been sucking your arm; it welts up and scabs over.  So, we’ve started putting you in long sleeves when you sleep to protect your arm.
• Sometimes, you have a bit of an attitude.

• But when you’re not upset, you’re really happy

• You sleep 11 hours at night.
• You grab for things, like Mama’s hair and your feet, to put in your mouth.



• You’re starting separation anxiety.
• You went to your first concert.
• You stopped being swaddled and started sleeping with a sleep sack.
• You had your first play date.

And you’re still our Joy.  We love you!

We’ve seen big improvements from you in the last couple of weeks.  You’re adjusting better to life outside of the womb.

• You weigh 11 lb, 11 oz (almost a 4 lb gain since birth).
• Not sure on your current height, but at your last check up (at 2 months, you were 23.5 inches), you were in the 90% on height.  You’re about to outgrow your bassinet.  Everyone always comments on how long you are.
• You rolled over from your stomach to your back.
• You’re still so fidgety.  You are only still when you’re asleep.
• You try to sit up and stand alllll the time.

• You track us really well with your eyes.
• You went swimming for the first time.

• You “talk” a lot.
• You seem to be the happiest baby these days.  What a change from your first 3 months!  You smile allll day long. You do still have a fussy time from about 9:30-11pm, but other than that, you’re happy.

• You laugh now!  Love it!  I can’t believe you’re laughing so soon.  Thank you for this!
• You’re doing soooo much better in the sleeping department.  You go 8-9.5 hours in between eating at night.  Most nights, you go right to sleep without fussing, but some nights, you pout for up to 5 minutes, and then, you settle down.  Also, your naps are great!  You have 4 one and a half hour naps.  No crying.  Love it!
• You always get comments on your big, beautiful eyes.

Here’s a short video of you at 9 weeks old.

We love you, and we’re so happy you’re a part of our family.

So, I’m late with this post, Lydia, because let’s face it, you occupy a lot of my time.  You’re napping now, so hopefully I can finish this post, instead of putting it in the drafts folder like I’ve done with the following posts: Easter update, Tutorials on a car seat tent, legwarmers, recipes, your birth story, etc.

Okay, so, you’re actually 5 weeks and 3 days.

• Last night, you went 7 hours (and 8 minutes) in between feedings!  SEVEN!  Praise the Lord.  For the two nights before that, you went 6 hours each, so hopefully, we’re getting you on a good sleep routine.

• I’m guessing those steroid shots I got really improved your lungs because you sure let us know (very loudly) when you want something.  Holy petes, girl, you can yell!

• You gave me your first definite smiles yesterday.  I really can’t put into words how beautiful they were.  Keep giving them!
• Your umbilical stump came off at two weeks, and you were left with an umbilical hernia.  It doesn’t seem to bother you, and the Pedi says it’s fine.
• The first 4-5 baths you had, you hated.  Now, you seem to like them!  Yea!  We’re still working on you liking the cold lotion afterward.

• Yesterday, you weighed 9 lb, 4 oz.  You’ve been gaining about an ounce a week, which is great!  Hopefully you won’t start slacking in a few months like your sister did and stress me out.
• You took your first bottle yesterday!  Words cannot express how wonderful it was that you didn’t fight it.  Daddy said he loved bonding with you during this time.
• We’ve also given you a pacifier a few times in the last two days.  I thought I would never do this, but the Pedi said since you nurse such a short time, you might need the extra sucking.
• You hate car rides.  HATE them.  You pretty much yell the whole drive from the church parking lot to our garage (10 minutes).  Please improve in this area, especially considering we have a 9+ hour drive to visit our Colorado family in a few weeks.
• You’re so unbelievably strong.  You can stand for around 5 seconds with our slight support.  During tummy time, you move about a foot forward.  I think you’re going to be an early crawler.  And your neck was super strong from day one.  You’re always so stiff though.  We can’t stretch out your arms, and diaper changes are super hard because you don’t let us bend your legs easily. 

Lydia, we think you’re awesome.  You’re a huge light in our lives.  We love you!

*I’m too lazy to doctor my image heading.  Sorry, there is no movie update.  But here are her weekly pictures:

We had planned to have Abigail’s birthday party at a really cool park, but due to dreary weather, we had it indoors at our church.  I wasn’t brave enough to invite tons of kids, so we settled on 3 of her friends who will all be turning two next month.  It went surprisingly well.

We had pizzas from Sam’s.  I made some yummy fruit dip to go with grapes, apples, and strawberries.

We brought 4 soccer balls, so the kids could each have one to play with during play times.

And the kids were so great when Abigail opened her presents.

I think the biggest hit was when Abigail got a tricycle; they all wanted to ride it.  Eventually, it caused a few tears, so we put it away.

Then, we ate the cake.

Then, it was time to pack up and take naps!

Abigail had fun.  When we ask her “How old are you, now?”, she says, “Ummm, I am two!”  Also, if we’d say, “What’s today?”, she’d say, “It’s Abigail’s birthday.”  It was neat that this year, she understood what was going on.  All day long, she kept asking for her soccer ball cake.

Here are some things she had learned before her 2nd birthday:

• She knows all her colors!
• She counts to 20 but forgets 13 and 16 sometimes.
• She can say her ABCs all by herself.  She also recognizes them, too.  And certain words, she can read, like, “Duck, Dog, Frog, Alright, Cowboys, Pig, Monster, etc . . .”
• She can almost say all the New Testament books by herself.  It’s amazing.
• She communicates almost like an adult.  The only question we think she doesn’t understand fully is “Why . . . ?”
• She blows bubbles from the bubble wand.
• She notices and comments on her shadow.
• She talks to and kisses my belly.  I think she really understands that there’s a baby in there.

Here are some of the things you’ve done this past month:

• Before I put you in your crib for a nap, we sing a few songs, unless you say, “Get in bed.”  Well, for the last few days, you’ve been requesting songs.  Like today, I said, “Do you want to sing a song?”  You said, “Yes, Blue Skies [and] Rainbows.”  So we sang that.  You help fill in the words when I pause.  Your other requests were: “Twinkle, Twinkle,” “B-I-B-L-E,” “Book of the Bible,” “Sunshine (You are my Sunshine),” and “A B Cs.”
• You can count to eight and then, you stop.
• If we ask you, “What color is this?”  You normally answer “Pink” to everything.  But if we say, “Bring me the red (or blue or yellow or green or pink or purple) cup, you do that!
• You always recognize these letters when I point to them, and you say: A, B, C, F, O, P, T, W, and you know a lot of the others, too.  I’m pretty sure W is your favorite letter.
• You don’t say your ABCs by yourself, but if we say A, you’ll say B, then we say C and you’ll say D on down to Z.  So you know them well.  (There’s a clip of this in the video below.)
• Same with the books of the New Testament.  It’s so cute to hear you say “Thessalonians” or Philippians” because they have so many syllables, but you pronounce them so well.  (There’s a clip of this in the video below.)
• In the mornings when I come to get you out of bed, I’ll say, “Is Abi awake?”  You say, “Yes.  Sleep sack off; humidifier off; get out of the bed.”
• You’re still not so great in the eating department, but we always make sure to get you out of your high chair on a happy note.  We taught you to say, “Thank you for the food.  Please may I get down” (which is what my parents made me and my siblings say when we were in elementary school).  When you say it, you can’t help but smile and bounce around.
• You help Daddy make and eat pancakes every Saturday while Momma tries to get a few extra minutes of sleep.
• Instead of saying, “You want the book/cup/toy,” etc like you used to do.  Now, you say, “May I have the book, please?”  I love teaching you good grammar so young!
• You’re starting to do imaginative playing: you’ll “squirt” us with your water faucet from your play kitchen.  You’ll let Mr Bear drink your milk.  You tell me you’re cooking pancakes in the morning.

Here’s your Monthly Video:

Every month we’re amazed at how much you learn and change.  We love watching you grow.