The Simple Life: Five months

I feel like I just sat down to write one of these blog posts, but my calendar is telling me that it's that time again. The days sure have been going by quickly! I can't believe that it is June and that summer is officially here. We have switched over into "summer mode" which means nothing really other than our activities have somewhat changed. During the summer months there is less activity in my mom's group, mostly because lots of people go on vacation and there is less interest in some of the reoccurring events. I have been looking into summer classes to enroll Ellie in to keep her busy. We are still enjoying Jugemos en Espanol on Fridays. She loves going and knows how to sing some of the songs. She comes to expect each activity in class (its basically the same every week) and especially loves the Oso (bear) song. Abby is now usually awake during class and although she can't participate in anything, seems to like to watch and listen to the singing. I'm sure she's getting something out of it by proxy. I am also thinking of enrolling Ellie in a soccer class. We are going to take an evening class so Tom can come with us. I think at her age it's mostly learning to kick the ball and playing one on one (parent & child). I'm sure she'll love it and it will be good to get out some of her energy. I am also look forward to getting them both in the pool. Last summer Ellie was just one and she wasn't a big fan of the kiddie pool. I'm hoping that things have changed and that she'll like being in the water. We are planing on taking her to my aunt & uncles heated pool and if she likes it we will find a local place.

Abby is now five months old. She is really starting to move towards some of the bigger milestones like sitting and rolling. Just this afternoon she rolled over from her back to stomach for the first time. She is starting to lunge forward a lot and prop herself up with her hands. She mostly flat lines but you can see that she's staring to get the idea. The last couple of times I've put her in her swing, she's grabbed onto the polls on the side and pulled herself up (and almost out!) of the chair. When she is in her bathtub, she grabs onto the sides and pulls herself halfway up. We haven't started her on solid food yet, but she's starting to show an interest in food. She tries to grab at whatever we are eating or drinking which is one of the signs that babies may be ready. I feel like I have been bad about giving her enough floor time but it's hard when Ellie is around and wants to squash her like a bug. We had our friends Julia and Brian over a few weekends ago and Brian was telling us that he and his brother are a similar distance in age. Apparently his younger brother was slow to walk because when he would try, little Brian would push him down! I'm afraid that this is what Ellie is going to be like with Abby. Not because she's trying to be mean, but because she's so curious and excited when Abby is down at her level. Abby loves books and enjoys when I read to her and Ellie. She swats at the pages like she wants to grab at whatever the picture is and hold it. You can see the little gears moving in her head.

She is growing a lot and feels a lot bigger than she is. Here are her five month stats:

Weight: 15lb 6oz
Height: 27"
Head circumference: 43.25 cm

We started sleep training Abby last week because she had gotten to the point where she wouldn't nap unless one of us was holding her and I just can't do that anymore with Ellie around. She had also gotten used to sleeping in bed with us, which was fine, but I didn't want her to get too used to it and then have a horrible time trying to get her out of our bed. To be fair, it was mostly our fault since she was sleeping in our room. It was much easier to pick her up and scoop her into bed than trying to soothe her back into her own bed. We bought a cute mini crib and her own musical seahorse. It just took a few days (and pretty limited crying I might add) and she's really good about it now. She goes to sleep with no crying and last night she only woke up once to eat. Life is so much easier when we aren't getting woken up constantly.

There isn't too much else going on with us right now. Things are kind of status quo. Our days are pretty much filled with work for Tom, watching the kids for me and keeping up with everything in between. I've have been trying to establish some regular kid free time which usually consists of me going to the gym before everyone gets up. It's hard to get up so early (especially after a sleepless night) but I find that it's worth it to get in a little "me" time. It's not always so easy and I've only been able to average 2-3 times per week. I'm sure things will get easier as Abby falls into a predictable routine. Tom has been diligently working away in our backyard to prepare the dirt for some grass and building a little fence so the little girls can't escape. It will be really nice to have a place to hang out in our backyard once he is done. We bought some cute Adirondack chairs for ourselves and two small ones for Ellie and Abby. Ellie loves hers and we sit out on the porch a lot now just hanging out in our chairs. It's also a great perch for waiting for Papa to come home from work. That's all for now- here are some pictures of cute little girls.