Miss Fliss - 5 Months

Has it really already been a month since I posted? Or close to it?

Felicity is sick this week. She had a very snotty nose over the weekend, and now has a barking "seal" cough. Second time she has had this seal cough, maybe its her thing.

SIZE: She is growing fast. We will need to switch her to a crib (from her mini-pnp) soon. I don't have actual measurements though. She is wearing size 6m, except sleepers need to be 9m (when they are her full length), and a lot of 6m pants are getting tight.

GROSS MOTOR: She still isn't really sitting, like if you put her in a sitting position she topples over, but I really think its more because she wants to reach something always, can't just sit there. Her goal is to get something in her hands, not to sit up. She likes to be in a standing position and likes her bouncer OK. She is finally tall enough to take the calculus book out from under it. Daycare tells me she is a roller. I have yet to see her go back to front, but thats because we hold her so much at home, she isn't on the floor much.

FINE MOTOR: She loves to grab things, and doesn't really miss when she reaches for them anymore. She is obsessed with having something in her hands and wants to get it to her mouth. She often ends up with it on her head instead of in her mouth, which is also adorable. She will grab anything you leave in her reach, including your hair (which she pulls), your plate/glass, etc. She likes to lay on her back and grab her toes or to take her own socks off. She throws things a lot now when she is done with them (or on accident? Its hard to tell sometimes).

VERBAL: She is a "talker". Lots of noise and babble all the time. Sometimes when she is fighting going to sleep she just murmurs babble really loudly, it is adorable.

SOCIAL: She is a pretty happy baby, its rare for her to cry and when she does its usually pretty easy to identify the cause. She is happy at daycare as well. She watches everything around her intently. She loves watching her brother bounce around and be crazy. She recognizes us, especially me (mama), and flails a bit reaching for me when I come into a room. She doesn't like to be left alone. If you are out of her site and she is not otherwise distracted she will start to fuss a bit, but this can often be alleviated by singing so she knows someone is still around (I like singing A Thousand Years to her, its her song in my head). 

EATING: Still exclusively breastfed (bottles of Breast Milk at daycare). She has become a distracted nurser, if there is a noise elsewhere in the room she has to detach and look, its rather annoying. She is interested in food but isn't quite ready yet.

SLEEP: She is not a great sleeper. On an average night she would wake up every 2-3 hrs. Sometimes if I am lucky she will go 4-5 hrs before the first wake up, but that has been rare recently. Sometimes if I am unlucky she will be restless and not settle well and be up more. She still is sleeping in a PNP within arms reach of me at night.

HABITS: She uses a pacifier, but mainly for sleeping. She is a gassy baby. She is fascinated by the television, especially soccer it seems, or things with green/solid backgrounds. She laughs when you make noises at her, and its pretty easy to get a smile out of her w a little effort on this front. She will use her bouncer, sit in a bumbo, or her reclined baby seat, or lay happily on her back, as long as someone else is around and she isn't hungry/tired. Somestimes she just wants to be held. She of course likes sleeping in someones arms (who wouldnt?) As for toys, she seems to especially like that crinkly/plastic bag noise, and chewing on books. But better than any toy is whatever you have... your phone, the remote, your container, your plate, the table, etc.

APPEARANCE: She has thin but growing hair all over her head, rather wispy. The bald spot she had on the back is filling in. Her eyes are slate grey. Her eyelashes are ridiculously thick. She still has a chronic "milk blister" (really a callous) on her top lip from sucking. She has kind of dry skin so we use lotion a lot.

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I know baby's grow up fast. I was totally prepared to sit back and let this happen with Felicity and not stress over it, and I am enjoying every second with her that I can. When you think about it in the grand scheme of things, 6 months pinned to a couch because your baby is sleeping on you really isn't so bad, actually kind of amazing in its own way. I snuggle her as much as I can, and try to keep taking pictures to capture what I can of this time.

Life

Benjamin is a threenager, he is moody, selective and demanding. He is obsessed with candy. Left to his own devices, he would eat corndogs twice a day. With encouragement there are a few other things he eats. His interests have branched out and are in constant flux. His "babies" change from dinosaur to dragon to human in the blink of an eye. In the same sentence he will tell you to hoist your sails and ride your Dragon (and perhaps add that your building a crane). He only pees in the potty to get a sucker, not out of any desire to potty train. He likes dad's bedtime stories more then mom's.

Felicity changes so much day by day. She pays attention to everything now. She reaches for everything. She grabs everything. If you are handling something (for example, I was washing a coffee cup last night), she wants to see what you are doing and if possible grab it. She will examine the same toy for quite some time (good attention span at this point!). She also has been trying to sit up, working those core muscles. She has been a bit fussier lately, and does not like to be put down at times, plays a some "not the mama" if I walk away, all very age appropriate. I am just amazed though at her growing awareness. (I'm her mom, I am supposed to be).   [[I wrote this draft a week ago around 2/4. Now its 2/12 and I need to add that she is practically sitting up on her own, if she wanted to I think she could sit, but she frequently straightens her waist instead of sitting. She also grabs grabs grabs everything, your jacket, your face, anything and everything]]

The 2 weeks ago was a health disaster. Ben and Aaron had a stomach bug, then Felicity and I Had a cold. Felicity's was bad enough to have us get her checked out at urgent care (all is well), but she still is coughing quite a bit. Then, at the beginning of lastweek, I got ill, the kind of ill where I was in the bathroom for 8 hrs and lost 4 lbs. Even though I was "better" on Tuesday it really has taken all week to feel at full strength again. I am hoping we can all stay marginally healthy for awhile now.

The sickness has resulted in the house being a total disaster. We are trying to catch up. Also, it sadly means that I fell behind on my Declutter 365 challenge (the 15 minute daily task to get your house clean/organized). I am having a very difficult time geting it back together, getting back on track. I feel like I am playing catch up, again. I feel like I spend 75% of my time playing catch up because something "disrupted" progress I was making. I am beginning to wonder if there will ever be a time that I won't be in catch up mode.