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It's official, G is now mobile!

Yesterday afternoon I put G down in her crib for her nap and walked out, as usual. She fussed a bit before going down, also typical. However, for some reason, her fussing sounded different, so I went into her room to peek at her and the first thing I saw was a head, the BACK of her head. That's strange! When I got closer, I realized that she had rolled over and was on her belly with her head up. Sigh, silly baby! So I put her back on her back (also redirected her b/c she had rotated) and said goodnight to her. She promptly fell asleep.

Last night when we were playing with her before bed, she rolled over again, from her back to her belly. She had rolled from her back a few weeks back, but since then had only rolled to her side, and then from her side to her belly. Last night, not only did she repeatedly roll from back to belly, but after a few minutes looking around and playing on her belly, continued her journey and rolled again to her back. We have now determined that she is outgrowing her playmat because she can roll from one side to the other (and partially off of it).

G has also discovered that she can grab the arches (which she previously enjoyed kicking) and sway the whole thing with her hand. She is also big enough that she can now grab the toys that hang from the top of the arches.

G is also laughing more, which is soooo much fun! She never laughs when you repeat whatever it was that made her laugh in the first place, which makes things challenging. But this time she laughed when I was singing to her (a made up song about going camping).

We are getting ready to take G camping. It will be her first camping trip and we are hoping she will enjoy it. It is always difficult (especially because we are newbie parents) to know how much is the right amount to pack. It's only car camping, so we don't have to worry so much about weight, but we also don't want to overpack too much, but we want to be prepared for whatever surprises G might have for us (like when she pooped 4 times in one day on Wednesday).

5 Months!

G turned 5 months old on Friday! Every week we just feel that time is flying by us so fast.

What has G mastered lately? She can grab pretty much anything, bring her other hand to help hold, and transfer things between hands. She also still loves arching her back and does it all the time, she's learned that she can get more range of motion when she combines arching her back with pushing off with her feet. Her "G-g-g" sounds are really good, and she can kind of roll them when she's got some spit in her mouth too. I swear the other day I heard G say, "hallelujah!"

What has G been working on lately? She's practicing trying to get her toes into her mouth. She laughed again, and we can tell that she's still working on it, when she's got her mouth open wide smiling and that concentrated look on her face (kind of like her pooping face, but not so serious). She is also working on rolling from her back to her belly. Once in a while, she can make an "n" sound as well. I'm trying to get her to say "m" and "d" and "b" as well. G's also getting better at sitting up, but with her latest feet-pushing, back-arching thing, it makes it difficult for her to practice sitting.

We finally took off the infant headrest from G's car seat. She hasn't needed it in a while, but I just thought it would be more comfortable for her when she falls asleep. But she's totally outgrown it and it's sort of tricky to maneuver her into the seat with the headrest there. It's amazing how much she fills out the carseat from just a few months ago when we brought her home from the hospital! Check out the difference between the before (taken at 4 weeks, sorry for the soft focus, did it to blur out her nametags)... ...and now (taken at 5 months).

We also took her swimming for the first time. Here she is lounging in the "big pool". She didn't stay in the big pool for very long, all the other kids complained about it being cold, so we thought it might be cold for her too, so we put her in the hot tub, where she loved kicking the water. We had to take her sunglasses off because they are still a little big for her and didn't stay over her eyes very well. I debated about putting sunscreen on her (they used to recommend waiting until 6 months, and before that just keeping them in the shade). The pool and hot tub were shady, but it was patchy, so I worried, and in the end, we put some on her upper body that was more exposed (her lower body was further in the water and covered by us holding her or the inflatable). We gave her a quick bath at our friend's place, and she got spoiled by everyone holding her all night. She also got to sit in a high chair too, but only until the owner realized what was going on and put a stop to it!