5 Months

Last week while we were in Colorado, Tessa turned 5 months old! I can't believe how much she is growing and learning everyday. I know, everyone says that constantly. She just is growing up so fast. She's growing so quickly and learning so much! It's so fun to watch her personality develop and watch her learn something new, which seems like almost every day! She's picked up a couple new tricks recently. She's a very active baby, rolling constantly all over her play blanket to get to whatever toy she wants.


 Lately, she's been rolling over and over until she runs into the TV stand then cries because she's stuck. She does a fake cough for attention and then when we ask her what's wrong, she smiles at us. She loves her exersaucer and although she hasn't figured out some of the toys on it, it's fun to watch her as she intensely tries to figure it out.

She has had some sleep regression lately, and I'm not sure if that's because she's a growing girl and is hungry, or if it's because she keeps rolling herself onto her stomach and then gets annoyed that she's there. Either way, it makes for one tired momma when she's up 3-4 times per night. I've resorted to changing her diaper and bringing her into bed with me. Joel's gone at night anyways, so she uses his side of the bed. It's much easier to nurse that way and I can doze off while she lays there debating what to do.

Usually, she'll stare at the muted TV and eventually fall asleep. Joel puts her back in her crib when he gets home from work. I know it's not a great habit to start, but it's so much easier on me than trying to get her back to sleep. I can't let her lay there and cry either because that just keeps me up and she gets so hysterical sometimes. So, we're both calm and relaxed in bed together. Plus, I get some snuggles in that way.

We've had to slowly start supplementing with a couple ounces of formula at night. I suppose we could have continued on just breast milk but I was starting to have to dip into my freezer stash almost every day for a couple ounces here and there. We decided that it would be better to give her a couple ounces of breastmilk mixed with a couple ounces of formula for her feeding before bed. Then, I pump before I go to bed. So far it's been working and we haven't had to use the freezer stash. I'd like to stop breastfeeding around 9 months and continue giving her the frozen breastmilk until about a year. So hopefully, I'll be able to keep with her until then and have enough of a freezer stash to last until a year. We shall see.

Tessa's also getting very good at exercising her voice. Some days she has a lot to say! She's also starting to imitate some of the sounds we make, which is hilarious. She growls at us sometimes and we'll do it back, she loves it. Of course, she's pretty stingy with those, just like she is with her giggles.

Hopefully in the next couple weeks, we'll be starting her on solids!