Lila- 5 Months

 This darling girl is 5 months old! 5 months is always a magical baby stage for me. They seem so much more content and easy at 5 months, but still tiny and won't move if you set them down! She's starting to get better about being set down and will play with her little gym or jumperoo for a few minutes and stay happy.

 This past month, her mommy-love deepened. She's a pretty content little thing, but definitely prefers mom. She'll be fine when someone else is holding her, until she sees me and then she cries. If she's happily playing in her little gym and looks over and sees me, she cries until I pick her up. I think it's safe to say we've bonded! (Feeling is mutual little one, I love holding you just as much as you love being held!)

 She started to like the pool more this month! She doesn't get in that often, since she's too little for sunscreen, so I only let her swim if it's late in the day. But she'll hang out in the water with us for a good 20-30 minutes before she's done!

She's still a tiny little thing- at 5 months she still fits in her 0-3 clothes and can wear some of her 3-6 month clothes, although they are still pretty big on her. She's been a better sleeper after that dreadful 4 month sleep regression and has started occasionally sleeping through the night again! When she does get up to eat it's generally just once. She's settled into a good routine with three naps a day.

Feeding her has been the source of a little stress for me. She's been exclusively breastfed since birth, and luckily I pumped a lot early on to build a freezer supply. She gets an extra bottle of breastmilk from the freezer before bed most nights. For some reason, that last feeding of the day she mostly refuses to nurse! Or will nurse for 2 minutes and then refuse and I just give her a bottle. I am really not sure what's been going on with her and why she's doing that, but I've been trying to just be flexible and meet her where she's at. 

I really wanted to make it to 6 months before starting solids, but shortly after she hit 5 months she really seemed hungry and like she needed more. So we started with some pears and she did great! Besides a look of weird confusion on her face, she could immediately swallow like a pro! So far she's tried pears, oatmeal and squash. I think it was the right decision for her, since we started solids she seemed happier and less fussy while nursing later in the day.

I love this little sunshine so much! I love holding and cuddling her, just soaking her up. I have not wished away one minute of her life and have tried to just embrace every second. Time is just going too quickly! I love having a little girl! (Also I love dressing her, and at 5 months old she's still worn a bow every single day of her entire life)