Five Months Old

We are in exciting times, family and friends. Miss A turned five months old last week and she's got momentum. Breaking news is that we have, suddenly and surprisingly, a tooth busting onto the scene. I mean, I don't think she was even teething and yet here's a white spec poking through her bottom gums! A little drool here and there, but she hasn't needed to wear a bib yet. Maybe that explains her fussiness on Mother's Day? Who knows. Angela, who watches her twice a week thinks there could be actually two teeth coming through on the bottom. I first felt the one on Saturday. She does like everything in her mouth but I had chalked that up to exploration and curiosity (which it must be too).

Miss A ate rice cereal for the first time Sunday night. She smiled and ate up the entire time. There was a bit of a mess, of course. We need to assemble her high chair. The bumbo seat is decent for the interim as we sit with her at the table, but she only handles the bumbo in doses.

What other developments can happen at the start of five months? Well, on the very date she rolled over for the first and only time! She went back to tummy. I was working while she laid in her activity gym and then I heard some crying. I looked over and she was in a total different position! Hasn't happened since.

 "My polar bear tipped over! How could that have happened? I couldn't have caused that, could I?"

 "Sweet. I realized there's a sticker on my onesie. Can I taste it?"

 "Lick. Lick."

 Paper sticker distressed from prolonged contact by baby's mouth.

And, the tousled hair look. Maybe the length of her hair is an inches-to-months-old ratio.

She's also been sleeping in her crib for a week and a half now! We moved her from the Arm's Reach Co-sleeper in our room to the crib in her room downstairs. That's right, she sleeps on a different floor from us now. I was sad at first but have actually enjoyed reclaiming our area upstairs for getting ready in the morning. Miss A doesn't fight the crib (just going to sleep sometimes) and continues to wake for food throughout the night. I was worried we'd be called down for comfort (doesn't she miss us?!) or fixing a pacifier, but she doesn't seem to want or need it as much anymore.

A couple of weeks ago, at 4.5 months & while visiting Nome, she started lifting her head off the floor. She's trying to sit up regularly and lifts her head anytime she wants a better view. Miss A is also a good supported sitter. So much happening all of a sudden!

I must say, Month 4, and 5 so far, are really, really fun. The interactions as she recognizes us more, exchanges, laughter, smiles, talking, playing are all such good stuff. Last night she didn't just play in her Jumperoo but she started jumping! Her hands are more coordinated with moving items around where she wants them. Manual dexterity improves daily, says Andy. Her gas pains of Months 2 and 3 seem to be all gone.

She's still petite, weighing 13 pounds.
Her two flights to Nome and then return last month were flawless. Let's hope that continues as we soon fly to Dilligham in the Bristol Bay region for another week-long work trip. We're staying in a B&B with my supervisor and other co-workers and colleagues. It's going to be fun times with the gals!

*Amy

Nome-Such

Goodness, it's been awhile! Lots of misc. happening, mostly to share with Miss A of course. A couple of weeks after New Orleans, in early May, her and I journeyed north to my old home of Nome. I'd been looking forward to this trip since I found out about it last summer. There would be an annual conference happening there and I coordinated the Youth Track portion of it. That meant Miss A got to meet her Uncle, Aunt and cousins, along with very special friends.

Of course my camera battery died early in the week-long trip and I forgot to pack the charger. Small items like that were forgotten as I focused on the quantity of diapers to get us through the trip (buying them in Nome is not economical). You can see here that she got to meet her friend, Victoria! I loved seeing V crawling around and talking away.

We settled right into the family home and am so grateful for the hospitality in giving us niece Taylor's room and just having us around for quite awhile.

Uncle Tony took this picture of a splish-splash bath in their kitchen sink!

 Cousin Tay helped her play dress up. Lots of accessories for this fun.

A couple of pics. were taken of Miss A and I in KNOM. I hope to get a copy. It was quite something to be in the radio station with my daughter. As I think about moving to Nome and working there for years....to having my daughter in that actual building, with very special people was emotional for me. Here, she's playing around with KNOM's talented News Director in a hub for Western Alaska's information: the Newsroom! I think they're editing some sound files here. I was in the studio working on public service announcements with one of my teen travelers to the Summit.

Here are some of my teens representing nearly every region of the state. The Summit was focused on tobacco prevention and control. Our Youth Track was titled: "Tobacco: the REAL Deadliest Catch." As an icebreaker to get everyone bonding with one another, I initiated the Human Knot. Except that it was framed as a crab boat net of the tobacco industry trying to "hook" teens into a lifetime of addiction. I needed them to break free of this net/knot and in order to do so they had to work together, think outside of the box, stay united and committed to their cause. Captain "Cig" (cigarette) rooted for them to fail. But alas, after nearly an hour working together, and no one quitting, they made it out of the net/knot. What a team. We had a great experience. I miss this group, but thankfully we're working together long-distance via our tobacco-free coalition.

It snowed while in Nome! And the mornings were around zero with windchill. Good thing I packed the winter gear to use one last time this season. I'm so glad for the trip.

Even as Miss A gets bigger and more independent, its still nice to cuddle with Dad.

 And it's fun to play with the hallway mirror while Dad's on his lunch break!

 My first Mother's Day, with a gift of outdoor flowers. She was actually fussy for most of the day.

 Like I said, fussy. She doesn't smile all the time.

And now tummy time happens more often, in different places and with more positive results.

Whew! That's a lot. More to come as Miss A turned 5 months old Thursday. And more from the Cajun Queen. Andy took her out for an overnight while we spent time with his brother in Nome. He caught an eel. Maybe if Andy ever blogs again we'll see it (nudge, nudge). haha!

*Amy