Five!

Five months old! I have a little boopa baby who is 5 months old!

And if I may, I'll tell you what it feels like. You know that feeling that you get when you are so happy, your heart can barely contain it? For me, it really feels like someone kicked me in my stomach, like a short roller coaster tummy flip, and it just makes you laugh right out loud. Or maybe cry, your body doesn't really know what to do it's so happy. It's the feeling that you get when you're really excited for something, like Christmas morning when you were a kid, or the night before a big vacation. Or, if you've ever had a long distance relationship, the feeling that you are going to see the person you love that very day after weeks apart.

Well, I get that feeling every day. At some point every day, I laugh out loud for no reason just looking at her. And I get that roller coaster happiness in my heart. That's what it's like to have a 5 month old little banana.

Before I tell you the Things About Reilly this month...the photoshoot. OH, the photoshoot. I realized one thing this month while taking her picture...

We. Need. Daddy.

Mama just cannot do these things at one time:
1. Make baby smile.
2. Put little "I am this many months old today!" sing next to baby.
3. Keep baby from putting said sign/everything else in her mouth.
4. Take picture.

I thought at first, that I could achieve these things by using my camera timer.

And by quickly placing the sign there before she could realize there was something new available for chewing.

I was wrong.

Mama's not fast enough for such things.

Oh! Got one! :) And now, a list.

1. This month, on precisely the day of the anniversary that she fell out of me, Reilly started singing. Singing sweet little baby musical notes.

2. Reilly is an observer of everything in this world. But not just an observer, a participator. She smiles when she thinks things are funny. She laughs when we are silly. She blows bubbles to tell us that she wants to play. She anticipates games when Daddy and I want to play. She watches our mouths as we speak and imitates the movements it makes. She gets excited when she is in her high chair, because she knows food is coming. She grabs for familiar things and follows people as they move around her.

3. She looked out the window the other day, just staring in a trance. Hubby asked, what do you think she is thinking? I said, I don't think she is thinking about something, as we would when we look out the window. I think she is learning for the first time. She has never seen leaves this red. Or seen then flutter in the wind like this. Or watched them fall and float around. Everything is new - so she is not so much thinking or remembering, she is watching and learning.

Or else, that's what I presume her little brain is doing. She could very well be thinking about what she had for breakfast.

4. She found her feet! And she loves them. She plays with them in her crib and sucks on her toes like they are fingers. She is very proud of this foot discovery.


5. She grabs and holds and sucks things with much more proficiency than last month. She is less frustrated with certain toys because she can handle them better. Her favorites right now: soft soft blanket, little orange elephant, Ellie the elephant, and her activity ball. And of course, her bouncer. And her little frozen apple sucker! She loves that now.

6. She now eats apples, butternut squash, carrots, peaches, and bananas. And oat cereal. We tried green beans, and had a negative reaction, so we'll try again in a few months. Yay for eating!

7. SHE SLEEPS ALL NIGHT NOW! As in, 12 hours at least. And she wakes up without crying, and just lays in her crib and coos. God just plucked her out of heaven and into our house, if you ask me.

8. She is still obsessed with being changed. Wherever we are, it's like she is meditating during changing time. So at peace, so happy, so content. I feel like she is saying, "Thank you! I love being clean!"

9. She raspberries now! It's very fun. And funny. Cracks me up every time.

And just for good measure...some new bouncer pictures.

For those of you who don't know this, she is pretty much my sister reincarnated into a little baby. She looks JUST like her Aunt Mimi when she was a baby.

And look at those little froggie legs.

Mama, could you scan come photos for a split-screen?? We have to do that!


Love times Five,

Dirt Road Mama