Norah is 5 months old!

Norah is 5 months old today! Ok you got me....yesterday! (I was close though) ;)

Happy 5 months baby girl!!! You are truly AMAZING!!!

Weight: 15.2lbs.

Length: ~25inches long

Major Accomplishments thus far: rolling over (both sides & both ways), sitting up assisted and unassisted for brief periods of time & eating rice cereal & sweet potatoes

I can't believe the wonderful amazing changes that have taken place in Paul and my life over the last 5 months. Well + the pregnancy time so 14 months. Here are a few milemarkers that we've seen/noted since she was 5 weeks old.

• Back to work :(

I went back to work when Norah was 8 weeks old. That was a HUGE challenge. Just ask any mother who's been in the same position. I tried to come up with any and every way possible to justify staying home with her. I tried to make it work. Even thought about owning my own daycare so that I could take care of her full-time. It just seemed like I was forcing a round peg into a square hole. Right now, working is what is in the cards...only time will tell if that will ever change. I just told myself that I have to live in each moment and relish the moments I get to spend with her. Like when she holds my fingers so hard so that I can't leave her...

• Daycare/Breastfeeding: Going back to work also meant that baby girl had to start daycare. Mrs. Alex, Mrs. Cookie & all of the staff are really sweet and take good care of baby girl. They give us newbie parents some much needed advice about babies at times. I think they're a great sounding board considering they 'raise' babies for a living. Although it was incredibly hard at first, for Paul and I, I'm not ashamed to say that I balled like a baby the first time I dropped her off at daycare. That was not fun! God creates such a strong bond between a momma bird and her baby bird that it just SUCKS to have that bond stretched ( I REFUSE to say break because our bond definitely isn't broken). ;) I can honestly say that breastfeeding has been an amazing experience after going back to work. It definitely keeps our bond strong and helps momma feel like Norah still reallyyyyyyyy needs me! (see pic below ;) )
  

• Playing: She's been rolling over for about 7 weeks or so now from her belly to her back. She's also learned how to roll over from her back to her belly (seemingly more difficult) in the past few weeks. So now she's able to 'chase' her toys when they are put out of her reach. I tried not to type this as if she was chasing a ball like a puppy but hey...

Video of me making her giggle (one of my favorite things she does) & her rolling over

She's been rising to a sit position with minimal help and sitting up on her own. It's a whole new POV for her and she's able to play for a lot longer on the floor because of this. She loves her bumbo and so do we... ;)

• Food: Norah's become soooooo curious about us eating lately. I can't even eat and nurse her anymore or she just stops to see what I'm doing. She looks at daddy as if he were performing a magic trick when he makes a chip disappear into his mouth. We've given her rice cereal a few times in her bottle, mixed with breastmilk, and she's taken it no problems. We've tried to spoon feed it to her as well which she seemed to handle ok, except for the awful face she made, but to her credit it was absolutely disgusting (yes I tried it...it was only mixed with formula...calm down!) ;)

SOOOOOO.....we gave her the first taste of real food yesterday. She had pureed sweet potatoes. YUMMM! Not sure if she completely liked it but she ate it :)








Here's a cute video of her very first feeding!

Sleepy Time: She's doing awesome at going to sleep these days. I used to have to nurse her into a deep sleep every time. Now most days I can just lay her in her crib when she gets tired and she falls asleep. We've figured out now since she can roll over on her own and has in order to go to sleep that she REALLY does want to sleep on her tummy so we've abandoned the idea of swaddling/sleeping on her back altogether. We're still getting up a few times in the middle of the night for nursing/cuddling mommy time but otherwise we are getting MUCH more sleep than before. It's wonderful!

I think the most impressive things that we've experienced however, is the confidence in having a baby out in public or just in a place that is not our little house sanctuary where we've got all the toys/gadgets that help entertain, calm her etc.

 

Like her new swing we affixed to the house (for lack of large trees in our yard)

I think this was one of our biggest goals in parenthood - make sure that you have a life (modified of course) outside of having your little one. We didn't want to be hermits, confined only to our quarters. We've made a huge attempt in this and have hosted dinner parties, had friends over several times, been out and about several times. We make sure we're on a good solid schedule for her, always maintaining the same consistencies with when we put her to sleep, etc. However, we are living our modified lives and loving it. I guess it helps and is a noteworthy point to say that Norah is an AMAZING baby. She loves people and doesn't have a problem being passed off to the 7th person in the same hour. She's a trooper.

How I see things overall...

...how I phrased it to Paul just recently seems fitting: "during baby bootcamp she was training us. Rightfully so. We knew NOTHING! But now as we've learned our little girl and what she likes and dislikes it's time to train her to be our little girl too. We have to show her that traveling, spending time with people, going to and fro is all a part of our lives. I can only imagine how much more difficult this will be when there are multiple kiddos but for now our little family is happy, healthy and thriving!!!