5 Months - Please Slow Down!! :)

Pumpkin is 5 months old today - can you believe it??

She is doing so well - and as you can tell by her pictures - she sure does love to eat!!  Don't you just want to reach through the screen and squeeze that babe!

Look at those feet!!  She loves to put them together.  I think she will learn to clap her feet before her hands! :)

Each month just gets even more fun and with this weather that we have been having - it is so much fun to be with her outside.  She loves it - and getting hot playing outside makes for a really good afternoon nap!!

Here are some things about her:

We have started eating solids.  We are just at one meal a day, but she loves it.  Each day is getting easier.  She liked eating her cereal, but she likes her butternut squash better.  We just started green beans yesterday and she loves them more than the squash.  She opens her mouth ready for a bite of those and even says "mmmmm" after some of the bites!

She has discovered her tongue - perhaps due to the new skill of eating.  There are many times during the day you will find her just sitting around with her tongue sticking out and she has even started chewing on it.

She loves her stuffed animals right now.  I guess it's their faces, but she always smiles when I bring them out.  She has some favorites.  She loves Winnie the Pooh, a sock monkey, a giraffe that moves it's head and a little puppy dog.  She loves getting kisses from her stuffed animals, but mostly after she smiles at them they just go directly to her mouth.

She is gaining more and more balance and working on sitting up on her own.  If she is on center she is good, but once she starts to lean she can't hold herself up.

She still loves being read to.  She smiles most nights when we start reading I Love You Stinky Face.  It's my favorite to have her smile at me when we are reading.  She loves Goodnight Moon, Flip Flap Fly, Guess How Much I Love You and a bunch of others that we like to read.

Her hands are still one of her favorite toys right now.  They spend most of the day in her mouth or holding on to a toy that's headed to her mouth.

Most days she smiles at me every time I lay her down for her naps.  I love that she goes to bed happy and wakes up happy.

She does smile!!  But not at the camera yet.  Her daddy walked in halfway through the photo shoot and got her to smile.  Anytime you see a pic of her smiling the rest of the time she is looking at her daddy.

She is beginning to smile at strangers.  It's still pretty rare - she is still solemn, but certain strangers she really likes.

Her daddy had just walked in the room.  I love the looks she gets when she first sees him come home from work.

She still loves her daddy.  He is the one right now that can get her half laugh out of her.  We have still yet to hear the belly laugh, but she is on the verge and we are just waiting!!

My little monkey!  Hilarious!!

She is starting to investigate objects that she holds in her hand.  She looks at things for awhile before they go to her mouth, but right now everything ends up in her mouth.  She has upped the amount of drool - so we might be seeing a tooth in the next month or so.  She also has started to notice Lucie more.  She will reach out to touch Lucie when she is in her Johnny Jump Up.  Lucie is still pretty good around her so far.

Her reflux is getting better - the chiropractor seems to be working.  We are still on meds, but we are actually starting to gradually decrease them today.  The chiropractor says that she is responding to the treatment and that her spine feels good.  She loves going now and seems happy when we leave.

This was taken in a flurry of excitement.  She gets excited and starts flailing every now and then.  I love it!

She is still so content - I love that.  She rarely cries anymore.  When she does, we know something is wrong.  She is starting to show that she might have a bit of a headstrong personality though.  It will be interesting to watch as she gets older!

She is still cooing.  Not really into consonants right now.  It's so cute though - when we go in to get her up from her nap she opens her mouth and moves it with barely any sound coming out like she is trying to tell us all about her nap.  I'm waiting for the day when she starts babbling away because she is saving it all up right now.

I think she would walk right now if she could.  She still loves to stand and loves the Johnny Jump Up.  She also would like to be able to sit up on her own right now.  She is getting closer - she just needs to get a bit stronger.

She still loves tummy time and is even moving her legs like she is trying to crawl.  There will definitely be no stopping her once she starts.

Uhhh, mom - can we be done with pictures please!

She likes to go on walks in her stroller and likes just being outside.  She just looks around while we are outside - just taking it all in.

Baby Girl - mommy and daddy love you so much.  You continue to be a blessing to our lives daily.  What a joy you are.  Just looking at you this morning I was overcome with happiness that you are in our lives.