Petit Ballerina Sophia is 5!!

My little girl is growing up right before our eyes!

Sweet Sophia is absolutely loving her ballet classes.  She prances around the house demonstrating her plies twirls (ok, I have no idea what those are called!) so it seemed appropriate to give her a ballerina party!

This might be my favorite yet!

I went with a combination of light pink, dusty rose, chocolate brown, and champagne.  Such pretty colors together!

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes and a Cake with a Tutu ;)

Finger Sandwiches and Fancy Foodies ;)

This wall!  So pretty and made a HUGE impact on the party!  And oh those adorable wall tutus!

We encouraged all of her friends to wear their tutus too!

Ellie was NOT all about the tutu!

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Is her outfit amazing or WHAT?!  You have to check out Baby Bug by Jianna!  She creates the MOST adorable custom, boutique items!

5 Months

Ellie is 5 months!

Holy cow!  I expect to be amazed each month that goes by…

It seems that Ellie just loves to increase her skills and tricks at each month-marker.  Once a new month hits - - BAM!  She does something new.  Ellie continues to be the SWEEEEEEETEST baby ever.  And I mean EVER.  Her smile is contagious and she gives it up so freely.  Every week I have different students that work in the daycare coming to me to tell me how she is such a great baby, so smiley, laughs all the time, never cries, they only want to take care of her, etc etc.  

I’ve always been told by my mom and dad that when I was a baby, I had this crazy little grunt of a chuckle.  Suddenly during this 5^th month of her life, Ellie started doing the same thing!  It’s so bizarre to hear it!  I’ve heard about it for 32 years and now I get to experience it for myself via my offspring. 

Also during this month Ellie started sitting on her own.  Granted, she sometimes looks like she’s going to fold right in half, she still uses her hands to hold herself up and if she loses focus she tumbles right over, but technically, she can sit there for several seconds.  

We started her on solids this month as well.  Because the nursing is going so well, I had decided to hold off a little while before introducing cereal.  But Ellie had her own plans.  Suddenly she started leaning forward in her bouncer or in the bumbo when she saw someone eating.  She also puts EVERYTHING in her mouth and obviously is good to go when it comes to assisted sitting… all signs she was ready for solids.  She’s like a little zombie when she eats.  She smacks her mouth and reaches forward for the spoon with all she has.  It’s hilarious.

Ellie-Stats:

• Height – Haven't checked but will update soon.
• Weight – Haven't checked but will update soon.
• Wears size 2 diapers, pretty much fully in size 3-6 month clothes.  She's really tall with a tiny waist so pants are tricky.  When she's wearing shorts, she's still good to go in 0-3 month.
• Sleeping – Still in our room.  She’s ready to move out but we’re not.  We just don’t want to let her go yet!  She takes a long nap in the morning and two shorter naps in the afternoon.  She either sleeps on the way home or screams :P  She is ready for bed at about 7:30 and will sleep through the night (give or take a binky replacement or two) until about 7.  Usually I have to wake her up during the week to feed her and get her ready for school.
• Eating – I nurse her in the morning before school, she drinks about 6 ounces once she’s at school, I nurse her at lunch, she drinks another 6 ouncer in the afternoon, I nurse her when we get home, she eats about 3 tablespoons of rice cereal for dinner, and occasionally we do some cluster feeding at night.  I pump in the AM (the one she doesn’t eat) and before I go to bed. What she’s up to –
• She smiles and smiles and smiles.  She laughs and laughs and laughs.  She loves her squeaky monkey, jingle bunny, and array of elephant toys.  She loves her sister so so much.  She loves Chuck and thinks he’s hilarious.  She loves her tummy time but doesn’t really go to sleep on her tummy anymore. She chews on everything she can get in her mouth including toys, other people’s fingers, her hands, and ESPECIALLY her feet!  Nummy!  When she’s hungry she screams like a newborn.  She does the Sophia-Style Wild Rumpus.  She really enjoys sitting in an exersaucer or jumper although depending on the brand, her feet don’t quite touch the ground yet.  She jibber jabbers on and on and yells (and I mean YELLS!) about this and that. 

Here’s our girl this month:

Four Months

Another month bites the dust.

Oh Ellie.  You joyful little bundle of wonderfulness.  You're smiles are infectious.  You are so happy.

Ellie continues to be the easiest baby.  Rarely cries.  Smiles all the time.

I heard a scripture recently that reminds me of her. "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11  In my darkest days when I couldn't imagine moving forward, Ellie was my light at the end of the tunnel.  Her name itself means "God's Promise."

Here's what Ellie's been up to this month:

• She weighs 14 lbs 5 oz and is 25 inches tall.  She's above average in height and weight but is perfectly proportional and perfectly perfect.
• She still wears size 1 diapers although as soon as we run out, we'll switch to size 2.
• She is wearing size 0-3 or 3-6 month shirts/onesies, 3-6 month dresses (for height purposes), and 0-3 month pants/shorts (although she can still fit into some newborn - tiny hips and waist just like daddy and sister!)
• She's fully able to roll from tummy to back but doesn't do it so much these days because she's gripping the floor so tightly that she stays put.  
• She trying to roll from back to tummy but gets stuck on her side.
• She's pretty close to sitting.  I know that sounds crazy but she's super strong.  
• She's starting to scooch around on the floor.  We put her down on her tummy in one spot and before we know it she's sideways or even turned all the way around.
• She had her first little cold this month :(
• She started school this month!  It was decided that it would be easier to just keep her there with me everyday.  I'm determined to nurse her as long as I can so this is in our best interests.  
• I wake her at about 6 am to feed her, then I pump right before leaving the house.  I pump once at work (in the restroom in the nurse's office, not very glamorous).  At lunch I head over to the daycare to feed her.  Depending on how recently she's eaten after school, I'll feed her before we leave as well.  At school she drinks anywhere from 10-15 oz.  Then at night we're back to cluster feeding, although it's becoming more of one good feed at around 5 then one last time before she goes to bed at about 7:45.  We no longer feed her at night unless she's really crying.  
• She's a very good sleeper.  Her naps haven't completely regulated themselves just yet since we're adjusting to the new schedule.  But she sleeps about 11 hours straight at night with at least 3 hour-long (ish) naps during the day.  
• She's still sleeping in our room.  She's ready to go into her own room, but we're not.  We're just not ready for this stage to be over.  She's our BABY and we'll never do this again so we're clinging to her with all that we have.  Plus (and maybe this is just a justification for us) she does sort of wake up from time to time at night and we give her back her binky.  Her room is all the way on the other side of the house which is pretty inconvenient. 
• She's totally popular at school!  JK But seriously, all the real students try to stop by the daycare to see her!  And the ones that are in there are student aides all gush over her.  They only want to care for her and not the other babies :)  I get reports all through the day about what she's doing and the one thing that EVERYONE says about her "She smiles so much!!"  Don't I know it :)

Here she is at four months old!