5 Months...

Dear Ellianna,

You celebrated your 5 month birthday by celebrating your first of several Christmas'!  You did great with Santa visiting and you met your cousins, 1 year old Abby and 7 month old Demi.  You received your first Mickey Mouse stuffed animal and you enjoyed chewing Mickey's ears.

You remain a great little traveler!  You went on your second plane trip December 20 to fly home to the Midwest for Christmas. Your daddy and dogs drove 2 days before we traveled and we were all happy to be reunited.  Our travel didn't quite go as smoothly as planned due to a winter storm in the Midwest called Draco.  We flew from McAllen to Houston without trouble but once arriving in Houston, we learned that we had a 2 1/2 hour air traffic delay, which may or not turn into a cancellation.  We were instructed to go to customer service for re-ticketing.  Due to the Christmas holiday, we were very limited on possibilities.  We had the decision to fly standby into Indianapolis or keep our current flight plan Chicago to South Bend.  I tried to get us into any airport in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio but there were no seats available.  We kept our seat on the Chicago flight and were finally able to board our plane!  Your daddy and Grandpa Bob were left to make the decision whether to come pick us up in Chicago or chance us flying into South Bend.  Fortunately, they decided to come pick us up in Chicago as once we landed in Chicago, we learned that our flight into South Bend was canceled.

Before we left, you spent a day with a new nanny.  In January, we plan on taking you to my former co-worker's house where her daughter is in school until 3 p.m. and they have a live-in nanny.  Overall, the day went well.  You cried off and on in the morning but were very happy in the afternoon.  The nanny only speaks Spanish and was so sweet that she felt you were overwhelmed by being in a new house with a new face.  We are looking forward to this new arrangement for daycare and hope it works out well!

Developmentally this past month, you have slowed down on rolling.  You are still rolling yourself from tummy to back but rolling back to tummy doesn't interest you any longer.  I think this is because you have discovered your feet!  Last month you were just beginning to explore your feet but this month, your feet have become your best friends.  Grabbing your feet with you hands and rolling from your back to side is the most common movement we see.  Putting your toes in your mouth has reminded me to keep an eye on those toenails!  Tummy time continues to improve with you lifting your head so well and following objects.  You are also starting to use your tummy muscles to pull yourself into sitting if you are reclined back too far.  You are also helping with pull to sit from laying on your back with good head control.  You have become friends with the dogs and eagerly watch them, reach out to them, and smile at them.  Moana and Tex haven't shown too much interest towards you yet but that'll be changing as you get more mobile.  You are joining us in your high chair for dinner consistently but haven't shown too much interest in our food yet...which I'm sure will change sometime soon.

Everything you can get your hands on goes to your mouth.  We know this is on track for your age but it sure makes us wonder when your first tooth will pop through your gums.  Your bottom gums have had the scalloping for a month now but there are some changes on your bottom left so my guess is that is where your first tooth will appear.  I had my first tooth at 4 1/2 months and your daddy had his first tooth between 7-8 months...so we keep waiting for your first tooth!

Sleep continues to be our biggest challenge.  Shortly after your 4-month letter, you reverted back to waking every 2 hours at night while in your pack n play.  Out of pure desperation, I brought you into bed with me and slept with you cuddled into me, side by side.  We slept 6 heavenly hours! So, from the beginning of December to now, you are sleeping in bed with us, cuddled into me and you are sleeping wonderfully.  We average 5-6 hours of sleep and even when  I wake up at night to pump, you continue to sleep.  You are no longer fussing for a wet diaper change during the night.  I know we will probably be criticized for this arrangement, but this allows all of us to finally get some consistent sleep.

We have continued strong with breastfeeding and our weekly stops at the baby cafe where you have become a star.  With consistent correction, I feel that we have made great improvements in your latch and I can't believe the difference.  There are times when you nurse where there is such strong suction and this is how it should have been since the beginning.  On one of our visits, the LC needed you to draw a name for a car seat raffle and you grabbed onto the paper and brought the winner straight to your mouth.  You just didn't draw our name!

Your unofficial 5-month stats are 12 1/2 pounds and 25.5 inches long.  You are primarily wearing 3 month clothing with some 3-6 months sizes of onesies and 6-month sleepers for night, with diapers at size 1.  Bottles range between 4-5 ounces every 3-4 hours.  You continue to grow bigger and stronger each week.  You continue to amaze us with your development and your excitement with new skills.  Your smile seems bigger and bigger and you smile for us so often.  Your giggle is one of the sweetest sounds we have heard.  We can't wait to finish our Christmas celebrations with you as we have so much to be thankful for this year.  We love you baby girl!