Allie at 5 Months

In the blink of an eye, Allie is somehow 5 months old already. Time really does fly (insert all the other appropriate cliches here too)  [As a side note, I was prepared for this on Jan. 13 but we didn't see the doctor for our check-up till the 21st. So I am not already neglecting the poor second kid ;)]

Stats:

Weight:  19 pounds, 14 ounces
[Anna was 16 pounds, 4 ounces]

Height:  25.75 inches
[Anna was 25 inches]


Likes: baths in the big tub!  When mommy or daddy dance and sing.  Pretty much anything Anna does. Eating. (clearly)
Dislikes: boogie sucking. being left alone for too long.  Also, apparently SLEEPING WELL.

Wearing:  Size 3 diapers.  Nothing smaller than 6 month clothes. Mostly 9 month jammies. Will likely move on from those soon too if this crazy growing continues.


Full disclosure: I wrote 90% of this blog just before her actual "birthday". Things have changed a bit on the plus side, but I want to leave it so I remember what was happening at this point.

Much like in Anna's 5 month update, I also feel like Allie's hair is growing overnight! She's got a bunch of longer hairs on top and it seems to be filling in a bit on the sides and back where she had rubbed herself a good bald spot. I can't really tell the color, some of it looks light brown and some of it looks blonde!  We'll see, I remember Anna's hair really started to come in around 6 months.

We haven't slept in a month. I don't know what's going on with her but it was like a switch flipped and she stopped being the excellent, easy sleeper she had been for 4 months.  Up multiple times a night, wanting to nurse 2 times, being awake for 1.5+ hours at a time. I AM SO TIRED. I somehow am able to get up every day and continue on (and I never nap, somehow) but I am so sick of it.  What am I doing wrong that makes the kids act this way??
(as you can tell, this was written in a dark period of sleep deprivation.)

All that being said, she is SO much more alert than she's ever been. She is taking in every thing she sees, really is recognizing people she knows (with BIG smiles), is having a hard time focusing on nursing (everything else is so much more exciting!). She is also giving what I like to say are hugs and kisses! She pulls my head in (around my neck) and open mouth kisses my face. It's amazing and I love it.

She is rolling over consistently from belly to back. Trying desperately to roll back to belly, but not there yet. We're working on it!  Starting to really watch us as we eat and drink. Starting to do much more swatting at cups/food than she has ever done. Anna was much more aggressive (shocking, I know)  Really, really trying to sit up constantly. Straining in her car seat to sit forward, always in every contraption we've got trying to sit up. I am always trying to give her the chance to practice. Sitting on her own isn't very good yet, she kind of leans forward and then will topple over but it won't be long!

I say she is a bit more "lazy" than Anna, where at 4 months Anna was putting her pacifier back in her mouth, Allie is more like "...meh, okay" and just leaves it. She is definitely more laid back in general so I guess this goes hand in hand with that.

Just before her official 5 month "birthday" we moved Allie to her room to sleep. Since we had been having so many issues, I got her this new "suit" to transition out of the swaddle and she needed full arm and leg room, which she didn't have in the co-sleeper anymore. Basically on the same night we changed Anna's bed to a "big girl bed" and moved Allie to her own room. Go big or go home I say!! (Everyone survived... mostly)  Like Anna, she didn't really have a problem being in her own space and I can't say one way or another how it affects her sleep. It's just nice to have our room back again, even if occasionally we end up with another passenger in bed before we wake up.

the merlin magic sleepsuit
 aka the marshmallow suit aka starfish suit

Even when grumpy, she really is a very happy baby. I can't wait to see what the next couple months bring as she gets more mobile (and maybe thins out a bit, but don't lose those cheeks miss!)

Next checkup on February 20. We'll likely move forward with solids then, I'm not in a rush this time & know she'll let us know when she's ready... already starting to get more grabby for our food/drinks!


Outtakes are the best. Anna cannot help herself.

Christmas and New Years Update

I know I am way behind on this, being that it's already well into January but I am working on minimal sleep and going back to work has thrown me for a loop! (always with the excuses)

This year we were all really looking forward to Anna's Christmas, as she "gets it" now and had so much fun with her birthday opening presents. I knew it was going to be so fun. As with her birthday, it felt like we were celebrating Christmas for at least a week! Parties at Miss Sandy's, the Yacht Club Christmas party, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day. So much fun.  (So fun in fact, that both girls came down with a cold on Christmas Day/the 26th. Yay! At least we made it through Christmas proper...)

Kids Christmas Party at the Yacht Club.. a Pedersen tradition

Allie and Grandma

Sassy Simmons DePerry with Santa

me and little Chubbers

first visit with Santa

sisters!

heavily decorating the bottom part of our tree

putting the star on our tree

helping Grammy and Poppy decorate their tree too

making Christmas cookies

We had Christmas Eve at Gram & Pop's house with my whole family and Doug's parents. It was a really nice (loud, crazy) night and Anna had a great time playing with her cousins Matthew and Jackson. It was fun to see them together, much like Nick and I were when we were their ages. They ran and played together all night. As is the case with kids, things go from 'okay' to 'let's evacuate immediately' in 2 seconds. I knew we'd be playing with fire when it came to Allie and her bedtime, etc. and I was right. She fell asleep in the car on the way, woke up when we got home and decided she didn't want to go to bed. I ended up not sitting on the couch till 10pm just feeling OVER IT. I know it really isn't a big deal when looking back on it, but I just wanted to sit and watch "It's a Wonderful Life" and relax and I was just feeling like I couldn't catch a break (little did I know!)

everyone looking good before leaving the house

best buds

Grandma, Allie and Baba

Anna in a present flurry

Nick snuggling with baby Al

hangin with Grammy

just chillin

Christmas morning was fun. Anna was prepared for Santa, although still really grasping the idea of what was going on. We put her special Santa presents out and she went to town on them, loving each one more than the next. She then wanted to open every other present in the room in rapid succession, which is just par for the course. I think I didn't actually open one single gift on Christmas thanks to my little helper. She also loved every gift for Baby Allie too. Every single wrapped gift was a target for her. We had our traditional mimosas and cinnamon buns with my parents, hung out, opened gifts, listened to Christmas music. Auntie Christina came over (all the way from California!) and brought wonderful gifts for everyone. We visited and had a really nice, relaxing day. I could tell Anna was off (she kept sneezing, acting a bit whiny) and I figured we were due for a nice cold.

I got a halfway decent shot of the original stocking & Anna!

SANTA!

going to town on the ridiculous packaging dolls come with

happy little chubbers

Is that Cinderelly?

AUNTIE CHRISTINA IS HERE!!

snuggling both kids in bed. a great day!

and coloring!

Anna sporting her new Auntie Christina finest, while putting on a Frozen show

Christmas dinner was at Doug's parents house with his brother and his wife and my parents. Allie and I kind of breezed in later, as she was taking a good nap and I wasn't going to disturb her after the night before's weirdness. We had a delicious dinner and watched Anna open a few presents before hitting the road again, so I could get home and put her down at a normal time, thus hopefully ensuring a better nights sleep. Anna and Doug got home a bit later and everyone was asleep by 8pm and I was able to sit back with a glass of wine and watch White Christmas before the holiday was officially over.

But by the 26th, everyone had full blown colds. YAY. I was battling it with Zicam to stay healthy. Anna was just a big walking, whining booger and Allie just could not breathe, stay asleep, get comfortable. Over the course of the next few days I think Doug and I slept about 4 hours total. We had plans to go to Christin & Mike's parents "shore house" for NYE (so Doug and Mike could hunt, mostly) and I was 100% going to back out. There was no way I was bringing this sick, miserable, non-sleeping baby to a house full of kids and people, etc etc etc but I got talked into going just for NYE so I wasn't alone, which I really didn't want anyway.

poor little sickie

For the sake of posterity, I will just say it was a mistake and I knew I should have stayed home and I couldn't have been more right.  Anna wouldn't sleep anywhere (she was the major wildcard in this), Allie wouldn't sleep in general. Lots of tears. A HUGE barf incident (Allie). No dinner for myself on NYE. A major poop explosion. More tears. Just a downright awful mess. I went home on New Years Day and left Doug and Anna behind. Allie and I had baths, got cozy, had a quiet evening and went to bed early (and for the first time in a week actually slept well. Thank God for 1 night of a re-charge). Thankfully though, I do also have good memories of the weekend and I hope (in the near future) those will outrank the bad ones in my memories.

best buds embarking on a fabulous few days together

princesses enjoying "painted nails" and "cocktails"

The 3 amigos.  Allie too busy barfing and half sleeping to join in

Anna and John taking in the day

we've survived 4 kids so far, somehow (wine)

Then Doug's boat got stuck while hunting for over 4 hours and he and Anna didn't get home till 7:30pm on Friday. It was a weird, weird weekend to say the least.  We joke a lot with the Babic's about how 5 years from now we'll all look back on this and laugh. This will just be part of the story, for sure!

So that's how we rang in 2015. Let's hope it all goes uphill from here.......

More to come on our other fun Christmas project.... totally re-doing the kitchen!!!