Five Month Snapshot: Alexandra

How is our baby Alex already five months old!  The time is flying by so quickly, and she is changing and developing all the time!  I swear sometimes that she looks bigger in the morning compared to the previous night!  The theme for this month summed up in one word is patterns.  Doug and I have found patterns to most of our days with Alex.  This month, Alex is intrigued with holding her feet, as shown in the second image below!  We find her, many times, in the happy baby yoga pose!  She loves it.  She is also sitting up with the use of her hands to hold herself steady.  Alex’s sleep during this month has been a bit erratic.  Some nights she sleeps through the night and others she is up multiple times, as she has escaped her velcro swaddle wrap.  We are now using the Ollie Swaddle, while continuing to use the Dock-A-Tot, which is helping us get more sleep, which she has not, yet, escaped, which results in her waking up and waking us up.  She is still a morning girl, and the mornings are her best time of day!  We savor morning time with Alex and Victory.  Victory is still doing well having a ‘little sister.’  Victory makes her ‘morning rounds’ with Alex every morning and licks and cleans Alex, a daily ritual!  Sometimes, in the early evenings, before bed, Alex does have a rough time, some melt downs, which are not fun for anyone.  She still fights sleeping, at times, since birth, especially, in the evenings.  She is usually in bed and asleep by 8:00 p.m. most evenings.  She continues to grow, grow, and grow.  She is in 12 month clothing already!  She is really quite long, and I still continue to pack away her clothes that no longer fit each month!  This month we took Alex out to eat with us several times and she did well!  We also took her to her first Navy football game!  It was fun!  We also took our girls to see Santa recently and everything went pretty well!  Most of all, we look forward to celebrating our first Christmas together with both of our girls!  We are just about ready for Christmas and we are doing our best to stay in the present moment!

A few highlights from Alex’s fifth month include:

-the Ollie Swaddle is a life saver.  I highly, highly recommend it, if your baby needs a reliable swaddle!  It is the best swaddle we have found after trying a variety of swaddles since Alex was born.

-she is having erratic sleep at night this month; some nights she sleeps through the entire night and others she is up multiple times.  The new Ollie Swaddle is helping to keep her asleep during the night.

-she loves to grab her feet, her new favorite position, and she is trying ever so hard to get those toes in her mouth — most of the time, she is usually successful getting her big toe in her mouth, which she thinks is great!

-she is still putting everything in sight in her mouth!  We are still using the teething glove!

-she is drooling a lot, but no signs of any teeth yet!

-she likes to spit sometimes!

-she is a pro at rolling over from both her back and stomach!

-she still loves to play ‘peek-a-boo!’

-she still loves tummy time — she is so close to being a mobile baby!

-she truly found her vocal cords — she can screech for long stretches and she thinks it is humorous!

-she absolutely loves the mirror and loves to look at herself in the mirror, which she finds very captivating right now!

-she has started to hold her bottle a little bit during feedings!

-she loves to touch her hair with her hands while she eats!

-she tried rice cereal for the first time, but it did not go over all that well!  (We are going to try giving it to her in a bottle and see how that goes!)

-she also loves it when you rub your nose on her nose — she thinks it is the greatest thing!

-she is touching Victory’s fur more and more.  (We can’t wait for her to fully understand who Victory is!)

-she still loves play time and story time — she loves to be read to!

-she is still very alert and observant!  We take her out to eat with us and she loves experiencing new experiences, thankfully!  She continues to do well when we go out to eat; and she did well at her first Navy football game where the Navy won!  She is now going to the gym with us in the evenings and she seems to like the care center, so far, so we can get a work out in several times a week!  We plan to take her swimming soon!

-she still loves her swing, and she takes at least one nap in it daily, typically!  (I am not sure what we are going to do when she outgrows her swing!)

 

A few highlights I would like to remember:

-photographing and making videos of Alex — I want to remember and capture as much as I can!

-greeting Alex in her nursery in the mornings!  One of my favorite times!

-loving on her long, chunky body along with all of her folds and rolls, which are mitigating some!

-loving her smell and her velvety smooth skin — it is so soft!

-loving how she smells after a bath!

-loving how her hair is so fluffy and soft against my skin!  It keeps growing, and her hair appears that it will be relatively thick!

-loving her chuckle — it is so adorable.

-loving her ‘baby talk’ and ‘cooing.’

-enjoying our morning time consisting of: play time and story tine together, a time when baby Alex is very animated and she is generally in a really good mood, and now Victory joins us, which makes it even better!

-enjoying watching Alex playing in her jumper!

-rocking Alex to sleep at night in her swaddle!

-marveling at her smile — she has the most wonderful smile that melts our hearts!

-admiring her eyes — they are the prettiest deep blue eyes I have ever seen!

-enjoying the beautiful morning light in Alex’s nursery each morning!

-knowing how much our little Victory loves her ‘little sister!’

-watching Alex play with her Daddy!

-remembering when Alex first listened to Christmas music, which she loves!

-knowing on the days that I feel totally exhausted, that I will someday really miss these early days, and I need to remind myself, at times of this fact.

-still asking myself what will I miss about this time of my life when it’s all gone?  This question keeps everything in perspective.

-most of all, we are cherishing getting to be Alex’s parents!

Doug and I are very grateful for our little girl and our little family!  We feel so fortunate.  We look forward to seeing Alex’s little personality continue to develop and unfold.  Below are a few images: Alex’s monthly portrait; Alex and Victory’s monthly portrait; followed by photos of Alex throughout this month; and some iphone images during her fifth month with us!  You can read our birth story along with viewing images from Alex’s birth here; you can read Alex’s one month snapshot here; her two month snapshot here; her three month snapshot here; and her four month snapshot here.

 

 

See how much Alex has grown as compared to last month!

 

 

See how much Alex has grown as compared to last month!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few iphone images from this month!