Cara is 5 months old!

It's been a month since I've blogged... I thought January would be restful since our holiday season was so busy, but last month filled up pretty quickly. We didn't do much, but we just seemed to always be on the go.

In the last month, Cara has grown by leaps and bounds, and she's had tons of milestones and developments. We're having so much fun with her, watching her learn and grow.

Stats: She's our growing girl! At her 4-month checkup on 1/4, she weighed 14 lbs 7 oz and measured 24.5 inches long. We went back to the doctor when she got sick (more on that in a bit) just 3 weeks later on 1/23, and she weighed 15 lbs 15 oz!!! Yes, that's 1.5 lbs in 3 weeks. Holy moly, she's getting big. It's getting really tough to carry her in her carseat around. I got "mommy shoulder" and "mommy wrist" from hauling her in and out of the doctor and pharmacy that day.

Milestones: It feels like she's hitting so many milestones at this age, and I know they'll just keep coming. She rolled over from back to tummy last month, and finally showed that she can roll from tummy to back. It's not her favorite, and she was doing it at daycare for a while before she showed off at home. Silly girl. She's getting close to sitting on her own, and is managing the tripod sit fairly well. She also had her first rice cereal this month! She is reaching and grabbing for toys really well, and she tries to get objects out of her reach. If she's on her tummy, she'll look at a toy and then flail her arms, legs and head simultaneously like she's trying to move to get it. It's really funny. She has also REALLY discovered her voice, and makes tons of noises: squeals, shrieks, grunts, coos, giggles, belly laughs, raspberries, etc. She's really vocal! Cara had her first sickness this month. I got the dreaded call from daycare that she'd spit up everywhere and wasn't feeling good. Luckily, I had a sub for that afternoon who just came over earlier. We went to the clinic, discovered she had a tummy bug and a slight ear infection, and we left with her first antibiotic. Of course that would be the day that Chance left to go skiing, so I had to be supermom and do it all on my own. It was stressful, but she felt better after a couple of days.

Feeding: This is a never-ending process. Each time I think I have a schedule down with feeding/pumping/nursing, I'll think I have a better way. Right now, she's eating 24 oz a day (12 oz at daycare in 2 meals), and I'm pumping in the morning to feed her a bottle before we leave. It's much quicker when we're trying to race out the door. We started rice cereal on 1/22. I had thought about holding out until 6 months, but her teacher at school said she seemed like she was getting more hungry between feedings. Our first try was a giant mess, but she took to it. Most of it comes out of her mouth still, but she's perfecting the swallow. Now when she sees the spoon in front of her face, she pops her mouth open, and if I don't feed her fast enough, she gets FUSSY! This is a little girl who likes to eat. She eats milk at 7, 11:30, 4 and 7:30/8. I'm pumping at 5:30, 8, 12:30, 4 and 10 (whew!!!), and I'm going to have to find a couple of extra ounces a day in there somewhere to make the cereal. She's going to start eating cereal at daycare next week, probably between her bottles. We'll wait a couple of weeks for her to get this down really well, and then we'll add in vegetables and fruit! She's growing up so fast.

Behavior: Cara Beth is such a doll baby. She is exceedingly happy and smiley, and she loves to be social and play. I took her on a school trip with me (overnight Academic Decathlon competition) while Chance went skiing last week. Mom went with me to help take care of her during the day, and she was so sweet and easygoing. Mom, Nana and Grandad took turns letting her nap on them (spoiled much?) and playing with her. She traveled well and was flexible. My favorite times of day with her are first thing in the morning (smiles when we wake her up), daycare pick up (squeals and giggles when she sees me) and right before bed (reading books and cuddling after she eats). She is so sweet, interactive and fun. I love this age. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, her meltdowns have gotten more intense too. When she's overtired or super hungry, her cries have taken on more of an urgency and misery. There's no way to ignore her without your heart breaking. Thankfully, we're able to manage her upset times a little better.

Sleep: She still does really well sleeping. She goes to bed around 8 p.m. each night, and she wakes up anywhere from 6:15-7. If she wakes up before 7, she's usually OK to hang out with us while we finish getting ready before she eats breakfast. Oftentimes, I'll let her babble and coo in her crib until we're ready. She's doing great in her crib, too. We put her back in the Nap Nanny when she was sick because she was pretty congested too, but she loves her crib. She rolls around, rotates in the night, ooches into the corners. It's always a guessing game where she'll end up! She takes a morning nap from about 9/9:30 until 11:30/12 and then eats. Her afternoon nap comes around 2-4, and she sometimes will catnap at about 5:30--usually on the floor at home as she falls asleep playing! :) I'm continually thankful for a girl who likes to nap and sleep, and does so reliably.

Clothes: Still fully 3-6. She's been very consistent with sizes so far. She loves the fleecy jammies (as do I!), and I've got a lot of cute pants and shirts and onesies in this size. I don't have many 6-9 month clothes, because that splits the season, so I'll need some long-sleeved rompers and some tanks/bloomers. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. I have been buying some cute dresses and bubbles for her this summer that I can't wait for her to wear! (Notice a trend in her picture posing? I'm ready for her to sit up to give some variance to our photo shoot locations!)

Likes: bouncing (on the bed or on your lap), sleeping on her tummy, babbling, giving us a crinkle-nose smile, blowing raspberries, sleeping on someone's chest, clapping her hands to the chant of "Let's go, Bears!", sitting in her purple chair, running errands with Mommy & Daddy, chewing on all of her toys, watching sports with her Daddy, reading books in the rocker before bed, playing in her exersaucer, trying to pet Po (though he doesn't feel the same way!).

Dislikes: waiting too long to eat, being "forced" to flip from tummy to back (she'd rather have you flip her yourself), when we don't let her suck her thumb, being put down to sleep--really not that much!

Favorite moments: seeing her smile each and every time--that crinkle nose just warms my heart until it wants to burst. I love SEEING her learn about things as she develops. I can tell she's learning things like cause and effect and dependability. She has also started to cling to me or Chance for comfort or when she's sleepy, and that's about the sweetest thing ever. I love playing with her and interacting more that she's mobile now. It's also really great to see her having fun with her cousins Mase and Murphee, Aunts Cayce and Cari and Mimi & Buck. She is one loved little girl, and it's sweet to watch our family love on her.

{apparently she wears those cloud pjs often!}

Most challenging: seeing her sick and knowing I couldn't fix it for her. Thankfully, she didn't get TOO sick, but I worried about her constantly and wished I could make it better. That week gave me a newfound admiration for single parents and parents of critically sick children. It is also tough to keep her entertained. She's a girl on the go and likes to be active all the time. I'm trying to switch her toys up or her bouncer/jumper/activity mat/swing/floor combination. It's a challenge to make sure I'm helping her learn and develop enough.

Looking forward to: I'm really ready for her next milestone of sitting up. I know I shouldn't wish away this time because as soon as she can sit, she's not far from crawling/scooting/cruising/walking, but I'm excited to have her sit and play with her. And I'm looking forward to hearing her voice develop more and more. Words will be so fun!!

For a treat, Mom sent me some baby pics of me when I was around Cara's age. It's so funny to see them now and realize that she looks more like me than I thought! She's definitely a Connell and resembles Mase and Murphee so much, but she has a lot of my features as well. Enjoy these!

We love our sweet Cara Beth more than words can say and feel immeasurable happiness to spend each day with her!