5 months old already!

Here we are again - another month down the road.  I don't know how time keeps slipping away!  What I do know is that this girl is growing like a weed!  Over the last week Mark and I swear she has grown an inch.  The other morning after I fed her and we were laying in bed (Mark, Lizzie, and me) I told Mark that when God made her He must have said, "Well, that is as cute as I can get them!"  She is such a doll and I love her more each minute.  Her happy and cheerful personality is so contagious.  She smiles all day long and giggles constantly.  She giggles in her bed by herself, when I make silly noises at her, and of course when her big sister is entertaining her.  I keep telling Charlotte that Lizzie thinks that she is the best person she knows!

Here are some things about Elizabeth at 5 months:
- happy, happy, happy all the time
- she loves to smile and giggle and has a way of making everyone around her do the same thing
- favorite toys: spinning toy on the jumper, crinkle books, hanging toys that vibrate when you pull them, anything that she can put in her mouth
- she puts anything she can get her hands on into her mouth and reaches for everything around her.  I have to wear my hair up otherwise she would pull on it all day long
- She constantly has her hands in her mouth.  If not, then she is blowing bubbles and raspberries.  We keep a bib on her a lot of the times throughout the day.  If not, I have to change her clothes 2-3 times from all the drool.
- she no longer uses a swaddle.  She uses a sleep sack only at night.
- puts herself to sleep and is a side or stomach sleeper.  She also loves her mobile in  her bed.
- usually eats and goes to bed around 7:00.  I wake her up again about 10:00 and feed her one more time.  Then, she will sleep until about 6 or 7 am.  Hallelujah!
- She nurses in the evening and night, but takes formula bottles during the day.  She takes 6 oz bottles every 2-3 hours.  Like I said, she is growing like a weed!
- absolutely adorable how she kicks and grabs for her bottle when we are making it.
- loves being in the car!
- rolling all over the place.  She rolls from tummy to back and back to tummy and scoots all over.  No blanket is big enough.  We are constantly picking her up and putting her back on her blanket.
- not sitting on her own, but we are working on it
- won't stay long in her bumbo chair because she starts falling out trying to reach for things
- we put her high chair at the table a few days ago, so she can sit up there with us while we eat.  She seems to really love being up there with the family.
- has starting making a high pitched squeal that cracks us up.  It can mean she is happy, tired, or hungry, all depending upon the context.
- has starting figuring out how to jump in her jumper and can spin herself all the way around to get to all of her toys


I go back to work tomorrow.  If I think about it too long, I get sick to my stomach.  I know that I have been so unbelievably blessed to have been able to spend the last 5 months at home with my sweet baby girl (and her sister).  This 2nd experience with mothering a newborn has been incredible.  I have enjoyed all of the hugs, snuggles, kisses, smiles, laughs, and milestones.  I love waking up every morning to that sweet face and cuddling with her every night just before she goes to sleep.  I will miss my precious Elizabeth during the day so much my heart aches.  I would not have traded all of the quiet, cozy, and lazy days we got to experience together (just her and me) her first 2 months for anything.  Lizzie - God outdid himself when he made you, and your Daddy and I could not love you more!