Babies Make Four: 5 Months

5 Months?! How in the world has it been 5 months since I harassed my doctor's office to admit me to the hospital because I was fairly certain I was in labor?

I feel like this has been Charlie's biggest month in developments. It seems like her little personality has just exploded into life and she's trying all new things. In the past 30 days, she has begun rolling over, trying solid foods, sitting up (almost unassisted), wearing 6-9 month clothes, and sleeping in the pack n play because she outgrew her bassinet. She also took her first trip to Dollywood this month and tried out the swimming pool for the first time. She laughs now at things she thinks are funny and she is absolutely in love with Luke. The other morning, I was feeding her a bottle before heading out to work and Luke woke up and came in the living room with us. I had to re-position myself on the couch so that she could watch him while she ate.

She is growing so big. She's heavy in my arms so I know that I am building some muscle because I carry her everywhere. When she eats her bottle or is being changed, she squirms everywhere and it's hard to keep her in one place. She constantly wants to be looking around and taking in new things. I can't believe that in a month, it will be her half birthday and she'll be 6 months old. Why, oh why, does this have to go so quickly?

Things that Charlie likes at 5 months:

* Solid foods: Oh man. This child can put some food down. I was going to try and wait closer to 6 months with her to try out real food, but this kid will pull the plate towards her to get her hands in what you're eating. Dillon had a sandwich the other day and was holding her while eating and he couldn't even get the food to his mouth because she was tugging on the sandwich to see what it tasted like. So far she's tried sweet potatoes, avocado, bananas, oatmeal cereal and carrots with a real affinity for the carrots. I've also let her taste some real food like biscuits and pickles. The biscuit she had such a small piece because I didn't want her to choke and I just let her suck on a pickle chip. I'm trying not to be so paranoid about the food I feed her. Luke is so picky and I'd like to have one child who will eat anything.
* Sleeping in her pack n play: I had her in a bassinet by the bed and when she started turning over, she would wriggle herself crooked in the bassinet. I woke up one night to her whimpering as she had turned herself all cattywampus in the bassinet and her legs were almost hanging over the edge. It was either put her in the crib or set up the pack n play. I decided on the latter because I'd like to keep her in our room until she's at least 6 months old.
* Rolling over/sleeping on her tummy: She's really good at getting over to her tummy and not being able to turn back over. She sleeps on her tummy now and sometimes I try really hard to wake up and flip her over in the night but she always ends up the same way so I've given up. I just check on her several times to make sure she's still breathing.

She's a good little baby and I'm sad and happy at the same time to see her grow so fast. I'm trying to enjoy every second of her being little and she makes that easy to do.