Ellie the 5 Month Old

Wow that month flew by!! Our precious Ellie Grace is 5 months old!

She is still the happiest little thing we know, smiles all the time, loves her brothers and her dad most of all, cuddles and hugs a lot, and now grabs at everything: my hair, nose, lips, toys and anything else she can get a hold of! She is such a sweet little girl!!

Sleep:

Ellie has been sleeping better this month than last- whew! She still gets up a couple times for the paci, but much fewer! She usually only nurses once in the middle of the night (occasionally twice). And otherwise, she sleeps from about 7:30 pm to 8 am on average. 

Eating:

We are at about 1/2- 1/3 breast milk and the rest formula (my supply did not survive me getting sick 3 times last month!). She will hopefully get at least about 6 months of breast milk (at least one bottle a day)- but we will see how the month goes. About a week ago I cut out my middle of the night and morning nursing sessions as she was really not getting full from it, so I am only pumping now and giving her bottles. It was a little sad to stop nursing! I am dropping pumps now too- only doing 2 a day and will be done in a couple weeks.

She has had rice cereal about 7-8 times, and done ok with it! She mostly spit it out at first, but the last 2 times, she actually ate some! This month I will start focusing on feeding her more regularly, and we will start introducing vegetables and fruits! Yay!

Milestones:

Her biggest milestone for the month was rolling over - from back to front only so far (which is opposite of most babies!). She is sitting up for about 15 seconds now, and getting more active during tummy time! She can scoot herself about 5 feet during tummy time by pushing with her legs!

She is also starting to show a real interest in her toys, grabbing things, reaching for them, putting them in her mouth, etc. In fact, her rolls started with an attempt to get a little cow!

Other notes: 

Her white streak of hair is moving a little further back in her hairline as new hair growth comes in front. Her eyes are a beautiful and bright blue! We still think she looks the most like Granny's baby picture! She has flown on a plane 4 times now, and done great each time. Ellie did get her first cold this month- no fever but she was congested and coughing for about a week. 

Evan is 2.5 years old, and LJ is almost 4.5 years old! They are getting ready to sing to Uncle Joe here (it's his birthday today!).

Here are several photos from her 5 month photo shoot for anyone who wants to see more :)
Her hand is in her mouth a lot these days!!