5 months

Five months old - wow, time continues to fly by.

Caroline, you are such a happy and content baby. In the morning you usually wake up and I can hear you happily playing in your bed. You will play for up to half an hour before fussing for me to come get you. As it has gotten colder, I bundle you up at night and one morning went in to find your swaddle blanket all undone and your hat over one eye. You still did not register a complaint. This month you have started doing a lot of new things. You learned to roll over though you only roll from your tummy to your back and you always roll over your right shoulder. You roll so fast that it is impossible to get you to have any tummy time. You have begun laughing though you don't do it often. Most often I can get you to laugh by tickling your chin. You are very vocal though with all kinds of squeals and noises. Just this week you started "blowing raspberries".
Your fine motor skills are developing. You love to grab things and just study them. I make sure you always have a rattle, blanket or other toy in the car and when you have no toy to play with, you will take your pacifier out of your mouth to study, chew on and play with. Sometimes you can even get it back in the right way. This interest in things means that you also try to grab whatever I am doing. You have discovered the computer keyboard and seem to get your hands in my food a lot. You also love to grab onto my hair so it is usually in a ponytail. It is a lot of fun to see you show more interest in your toys but Katherine does not like it. She often steals toys from you. You usually don't mind because you are watching her but we are working on her sharing. You absolutely love your big sister. If you are in the same room you watch her. She can make you smile and I have heard her go into your room when you are crying to talk to you and tell you that "it's OK baby sister." She loves to hold you and you are pretty content to sit in her lap or next to her on the couch. It is so fun to already see what great friends you will become.
You really enjoy your exersaucer, I think because it allows you to be upright. You enjoy both sitting and standing. Before long you will be sitting on your own I am sure. When you are fussy your daddy calms you down by bouncing and spinning you. He stands you on his lap and does, "bounce, bounce bounce, twist twist, twist." You will just smile and coo.
You are still sleeping very well at night. Rarely do you not sleep through the night. If you do wake up, it is usually at least 5:30 and you go back to sleep after I nurse you. Your naps though are a different story. You are going through a phase where you want to nap in my arms. If I put you in your crib you will just cry and cry. I do not want to get in the habit of you sleeping while I hold you but there are some days that Katherine is asleep and I do not want you to wake her up with your crying. I do let you cry to try and soothe yourself to sleep but have not had much success. Your Dr. does not suggest letting babies "cry it out" indefinitely until 6 months (and I am not a fan of that anyway) so if I let you cry, I set a short time limit.
You are a great nurser. I have no idea how many times a day. Sometimes you want to nurse after only an hour and other time you go 5 hours during the day. You also will take a bottle easily. We don't have many occasions to give them to you but it is nice that you will take a bottle.

You get more and more fun every day as you learn new things. This next month will be fun with the excitement of Christmas, probably learning to sit soon, laughing and getting ready to start eating solids.