5 Months!

It is so crazy that Ellison is already 5 months old! I find that every month I think the same thing...I can't believe how fast it has gone, but I also can't really believe we ever lived without her! Every day she seems to learn something new and get more adorable and fun than the day before. Jay and I are absolutely loving being her parents!

Solid food is going a bit better than it did the first try. The little lady likes to slow the process by sticking her hands (and sometimes feet) in her mouth between bites. She also really likes to try and get the spoon away from me. I guess she wants to do it herself! Unfortunately that coordination is not quite there yet so it becomes quite a mess. I feel like you need to be an octopus to feed a baby without making a huge mess! Besides cereal, Ellison has tried peas and carrots so far. I am planning to make baby food at some point but haven't gotten around to it yet...there just isn't enough time in the day for all the things I want to get done!

Ellison is still really obsessed with rolling from her back to her belly. She has decided that she will only sleep on her belly, so even though we put her on her back to sleep she ends up on her belly within minutes! She rarely lays on her back anymore unless she is really interested in a toy, or chewing on her feet! She is starting to look more and more like she wants to crawl. She gets her butt up in the air and is pushing up even higher on her arms. Daddy is encouraging this...but I am definitely not ready!!! She is so little still, I'm not prepared to chase her everywhere yet! I'm sure no matter how much longer it takes before she is mobile, I won't be ready for it...

 Always on her belly...today she found a spot of light and was mesmerized by it!

Naps are becoming less of a struggle. Ellison has never been one to take several naps a day for a few hours at a time. Her "naps" usually lasted about 30 minutes, unless we were in the car for a long time. Since we started putting her in her crib to nap, they seem to be stretching out longer and there is less fuss before she falls asleep. She cries a tiny bit, rolls over, and she is out for an hour or maybe a little more! I am finally starting to understand how some parents have a little time to get things done (or catch up on their own sleep). When she wasn't napping, nothing was getting done around the house, and I was never able to rest after a long stretch of days at work. I was starting to feel like we were going to need more child care just so I could rest after a 3 or 4 night stretch of work! Hopefully the house will be a little cleaner (and I will be better rested) if the naps continue!

Happy, well-rested baby!

Other recent happenings...we took Ellison on her first trip out of Wisconsin last weekend. We went down to Illinois for a few hours for a birthday party of a former patient of mine. It was awesome to see her and her family, and Ellison rode on a carousel for the first time!

The birthday girl (Ellie - 3 years old!) and I

 Ells' first carousel ride (she was not super excited as you can tell!)

 Ellie, me, and Ellison

 Not thrilled about becoming Hello Kitty...

We also went to our church picnic last weekend, and Ells learned to play Bingo...we didn't win, but Jay did.

We have been going to the zoo quite a bit with our zoo pass, which is awesome! This crazy hot weather has kept us inside a lot, but I really like just hanging out at home with Ellison on my days off! We keep ourselves entertained. My mom introduced Ells to Sesame Street, and she seems to loooove watching it. I watched it with her for the first time today and she laughed and smiled at Elmo whenever he was on! This is her when he was talking about sleep...

Last but certainly not least, Ellison received her very first Vera Bradley purse from her Auntie Kon last week. The pattern is called "Ellie Blue" and it has little elephants on it. How fitting! All the ladies in our family are obsessed with Vera so obviously Ellison needed to get one of her own. She loved it and of course tried to eat it...

I can't believe in a month my sweet little girl will be half a year old! Time really needs to SLOW DOWN!!!

 These picture are getting a lot more difficult to take! Haha...

She's all over the place!

Hope everyone is enjoying SUMMER...can't believe it's already the middle of July. How crazy!

Ellison's First 4th!

 

Another holiday has come and gone! I can't believe how fast time is flying. We didn't do anything real major for Ellison's first Independence Day, just hung out around the house (and Mom and Dad had some delicious brats for dinner). I would have loved to take her to a parade, but it is just too hot out for a baby right now. I'm wondering if I will get to spend any time outside this summer, since Ellison can't be out in the sun (no sunscreen until 6 months old takes us through mid-August!) and I can't justify having my little one sit outside, even in the shade, in 100 degree weather so I can try and get a tan! She's definitely worth being pale.

We did set up her little pool yesterday though and she got to go in twice in one day! I don't think she knew what to make of it, but she was very cute in her little swimsuit and I got to be outside for a few minutes. Mostly just to say I experienced the heat wave...I don't like this hot, humid weather anyway and would prefer 75 degrees or so! Which is about what it is in our nice air-conditioned home, so l am content with being in there.

 

Ellison had quite a few 4th of July outfits and we managed to get through all of them! She is such a trooper with some of the crazy things I make her wear...specifically the tutu and giant bow. She tolerates it all very well and actually was pretty interested in the tutu. I think she wanted to eat it...yum?!

Overall, a nice relaxing day! Hopefully next year we will get to do the whole parade, fireworks, etc. She will appreciate it more by then anyway! Hope everyone had an enjoyable day!!!

Ellison's 4 Month Appointment

Ellison finally had her 4 month appointment (at 4.5 months) today! It is so weird to think we were at the pediatrician four times in the first 2 weeks of her life (due to her need for some extra weight checks) and now she hasn't been there in 10 weeks!

Her "stats" today were a weight of 12 lbs, 10.5 ounces (50%tile) and 25 1/4 inches long (90%tile). She has been in about that same range for length from the time they started plotting on her growth chart (I still think her length at birth had to be at least an inch off based on the one at 2 weeks when she was already 2 inches longer!). She has been a little higher on the weight curve in the past but her doctor isn't worried. Ellison sleeps through the night most nights and has been since shortly after her 2 month visit, so her weight has obviously leveled off a little since she's not eating as often! Based on her parents' body types, I think we should probably expect her to be a tall, skinny kid. Jay and I were both pretty gangly as kids! Her head circumference continues to be 90%tile as well. She is growing big and strong so fast!!!

Development-wise, Dr. Grunske was VERY pleased with Ellison. She is doing all the "tricks" she should be (laughing, rolling, being up on her elbows when on her belly, chewing her hands) and even some that usually aren't seen until a little later (I guess grabbing your feet and pulling them up to your mouth is a 6 month old thing...go Ells!). I have to give Jay and his strict adherence to tummy time credit for a lot of her skills! It's so nice to live with a physical therapist :) Basically, the Dr. told us what we already know...Ellison is doing awesome! She seems to expect Ells will be scooting around by the next time we see her!

Our main discussion with the doctor today was about Ellison's napping. She currently only really naps if we are holding her, and that doesn't allow us to get anything done, and even worse, messes with her ability to fall asleep without us at night. She absolutely hates bedtime. Our usually happy, smiley baby turns into a frantic devil when bedtime rolls around! We were basically prepared for the doctor to tell us we need to put her down in her crib and let her cry at naptime just like we attempt to do at bedtime...and that's exactly what she said. We are finding it's hard to get a baby on a schedule when Mom and Dad have such differing schedules from day to day and week to week! I am sometimes home for many days in a row, sometimes Jay is with her during the day, sometimes my mom is, sometimes she is at daycare, etc. Almost every day there is a different situation, so she has never gotten into a real routine. We will continue to work on it!

The only way Miss Ellison wants to nap...

The other big thing today was we got the go ahead to start feeding Ellison SOLID FOOD! She has seemed very interested in watching us eat for weeks now, and had all the other "signs" that supposedly mean babies are ready for solids. And I am ready to add some variety to her diet because she is getting so distracted while eating that nursing takes forever now! I used to be able to watch TV, make phone calls, pretty much do anything I wanted and she just focused on the food. Not so much anymore! If I try to do anything that involves noise or talking, she detachs herself from her meal to check out what is going on. What a stinker! Let's just say our first attempt at rice cereal didn't go as well as we had hoped. I think it all came back out at us and Ellison screamed the entire time. I am going to chalk it up to her being a bit "off" from the shots she got today, and we will try again very soon. She did look very cute in her high chair for the first time, though!

Better luck next time!

As for her shots, Ellison was a trooper and barely cried. The nurse seemed pretty shocked at how she sucked the oral rotavirus down! She loves to take her vitamin D so I am not surprised. However, the poor girl has not been herself since getting home. Very cranky and whiny! Poor baby. I worked last night and have yet to get any real solid sleep since getting home this morning. At least we have almost 2 months before we have to do it again...