~ 5 Months ~

Yet another post left slightly unfinished until now - this one was written a week and a half ago and was just waiting for some pictures to be uploaded. 

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Lola turned 5 months old this week!

The changes we have seen this month have been incredible. Lola is SO engaged with the world. She’s discovered so much these last few weeks. Its almost as if her eyes are really open to our reality for the first time.

I mentioned in a previous post how Lola has discovered Charlie. Well, that is an ongoing discovery and their sibling relationship is really starting to unfold. Sean and I couldn't love this more.  

Lola is also really into textures lately. She loves exploring how things feel and is delighted when theres a contrast between materials. This focus on texture has made her even more excited about Charlie so that now she not only wants to look at him, she wants to pet him too. Charlie has been a great sport, lying down next to Lola while she swats his paws and pulls at his ears.

 Lola’s developing in a ton of other ways too. She hates being on her back lately, I think because she finds it so restricting now that she’s discovered she can move her body when she’s in a different position, like when on her stomach. She also loves sitting up and this past week has gone from sitting up (with the help of pillows) to folding herself over and getting on to her stomach, all in the name of reaching for a toy or something interesting just beyond her reach.

The preference for sitting up has been great for me as it means now Lola likes being in her bumbo chair. I set her on the counter as I cook and as long as I keep talking to her about what we are cooking (and sometimes stopping to sing and dance quickly, she’s a bit demanding), she stays happy. This has made evenings infinitely easier and I am so grateful!

Lola isn’t sitting up on her own just yet but every day she gets a bit more sturdy. Its exciting but also terrifying – how is this all happening so quickly?? Her muscles are more and more developed every day. I remember being so astounded when she first started grasping. This month? She's not only grasping with both hands, she's pulling objects towards her and sticking them right in her mouth! The kid is getting skilled!

But the biggest change of all this month is something I already wrote about briefly: Lola is now sleeping in her crib. I was not at all ready for this but Lola sure was. It all started on the long weekend when Lola had her worst night in months. She was restless starting from 2am and wide awake by 4am. I finally gave in and fed her at 6am. Then she (thankfully) slept solidly until 9:15. The next night, same thing. And though she happily ate when offered a meal, I could tell her heart really wasn't in it. She was eating just because not because she needed it. She was also starting to wake up exceedingly early. I thought maybe it was another growth spurt or maybe she was getting sick or maybe this or that but nothing helped her sleep better, not even feeding her! 

One morning I thought hmmm I wonder what would happen if I put her in the crib...well lo and behold, little girl fell back asleep and stayed that way for another 3 hours! Success! Also, she turned herself so much in her sleep that she ended up perpendicular to how I had left her. Poor thing, she was probably just feeling cramped and claustrophobic in her tiny little basinet! Not to mention, I think she was starting to get annoyed with us moving around in our sleep. Miss Lola was ready for some independence. 

Since the move to her crib Lola has been doing great and I've adjusted okay too I guess. At the very least I'm checking the monitor less and less frequently throughout the night. And I have to say, even though I was SO sad that first night and missed her presence so close beside me, I'm kind of loving it now. Lola and I were side by side for over a year so of course it was an adjustment but its nice to have my room back again and nice to have the lamp on or the computer loudly playing Netflix. Lets be honest though, I do go in to check on her before I go to bed myself and its incredibly hard to pull myself away from watching her sleep. And Sean's not innocent in this area either - I always see him peeking in on her too. 

Oh AND, remember last month when I was writing about how I was kind of nervous about Lola's binky addiction but figured it would even out eventually and thus I would not worry about it and just go with the flow. Well, half of that was true. I fretted about it, worried about it, obsessed about it (despite my writing that I would not) but it did indeed work itself out. So much so that Lola doesn't even really take a binky anymore. She's back to spitting it out with distaste and looking at us like please, you think that's going to shut me up?

I also didn't ever think her naps would become consistent but thanks to our nanny, Lola is now taking two 1.5 hour naps each day - one around 9:30am and another around 1:45pm. It is heaven to know exactly when to expect a break!

So yes, from 4 months to 5 months there were indeed great changes. Yet somehow it feels (and I've been told) that this is just the beginning. I am so happy to have this little blog to chronicle all of this. It lets me relish the little changes as well as the big ones and has been a great way to document evvverrryyythhhiinnngg. I was always that kid that kept a diary or journal - I probably kept one on and off for the better part of my life. I've always had this need to write things down - I love memories and the way they morph and change the farther you get from the actual event. But I also love comparing these memories to what actually happened or to what it was like for me in that moment. That contrast has always been so fascinating to me. So thank you to all of you out there reading this. For humoring me, for keeping me going so that I have this to look back on, for sharing in all of this with me. If this is 5 months, I can't wait to see where we go next :)