Happy 5 months!

My baby girl is five months old today!  Hard to believe, I know!  I keep thinking that before long she'll be sitting up on her own (something I look forward to) and then she'll be crawling and walking and talking.... She's such a delight.  She squeals and jabbers (but though she can make consonant sounds, she often doesn't).  She's chewing on quite a few things and we think she is likely teething.  She's fussier and having a hard time sleeping; you can see the buds of her two front teeth have moved down and her gums are a little red, though not swollen.  She is more willing to stay on her tummy longer and pushes herself up on her hands, something she could do before but refused to.  She hates her Tummy Time.

But she is a great deal of fun.  She loves to play, especially with her daddy, and she's warming to peek-a-boo.  You smile at her, and she will grin right back.  Her nose crinkles when she smiles really big, just as I did when I was little.  Her hair is growing and growing!  It curls around her neck, so it is hard to see that the back actually reaches past her shoulder blades. 

She has begun to eat cereal!  After weeks and weeks of trying! (We actually tried before the four month mark because she was never satisfied for long just nursing.)  She will only take it if there's something mixed in, so I've started making homemade baby foods.  I'm no super mom: I usually make up one vegetable or fruit at a time, puree it and keep it in the fridge, etc.  So far we've tried sweet potato, avocado, and plum.  She was a big fan of the plum and sweet potato, but we suspect the avocado didn't agree with her, so it was "canceled".  We've tried one new fruit/vegetable a week, falling back on the sweet potato because we know she'll take it.  I, like so many moms, hope to encourage her in her vegetables, but she is a big fan of the plum.  She enjoys her cereal so much now, if I take too long to mix it up, she lets me know about it!

Here's a picture her daddy and I can't quit looking at: it's a great pick-me-up when you're down.