Another late update. This one is coming only 10 short days before her 5 month birthday, but I still wanted to document her milestones! After working a full day at the office, snuggling my baby often takes priority over writing. So better late than never, right?

Weight: 15 pounds on the dot and 24.5 inches! That puts her in 64% for weight and 45% for height.

Eating: No big surprise here: Layla is a good little eater. She eats ever 3-3.5 hours now. At her 4 month appointment, the doctor gave us the clear to start some solids, so she’s now eating one meal of rice cereal mixed with fruit in the evening. She makes the funniest faces when eating but I think she’s liking it. Evidence of her love like? of bananas below… 😉

Sleep: Last month I said I didn’t want to jinx things… maybe I did. She definitely has been going through a 4 month sleep regression. At first she fought all sleep, and it would take some serious bouncing to get her to nod off, which would then only last an hour or so. Thank goodness we were on vacation for the worst of it because it was EXHAUSTING. She seems to be doing a bit better, but it’s not like the sleep she was having before. Sleep training in some form is in our future, but I’m still trying to decide how to go about it.

Clothes: She’s still mainly in 0-3 month clothes, but we just started breaking out the 3-6 month.

Mood: Layla is sweet as can be. Right at four months she went through a case of stranger danger when she only wanted Mommy. She seems to be doing better with that as well, but it still takes her some time to warm up to strangers.

Layla’s favorites:

• peek-a-boo pocket ladybug
• jumperoo
• diaper changes (She loves to coo and smile after getting her freshy!)
• tubby time (for relaxing)
• books with colorful pictures
• songs (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, mama’s good morning song)
• her fingers and feet
• Mommy and Daddy’s fingers for gnawing
• smiling faces
• binky, but only for chewing!
• blowing raspberries

Dislikes:

• being hungry or tired
• tummy time

Nicknames: Punkin, Puntin, Layla Belle, L Belle, Toots My Poots, Tootsy Pootsy, Dulcita, Princess, Princessa

I love watching how much Layla notices these days. She’s always taking in everything around her with a very serious gaze. But when she gets excited, she kicks, squirms, and makes the cutest noises. She discovered her feet this month and loves reaching for them whenever she’s on her back. Speaking of reaching, Layla has really stepped up her grabbing game. Mommy’s hair, jewelry, or really anything within her grasp is fair game. (That means the poor dogs are feeling the effects too. We have to keep them away from her grasp!) She’s also started sitting up with little assistance and rolling over from front to back.

Christmas this year was so special with a baby. Sure, she had no clue what was going on but it was still fun for us to have her “open presents” aka play with paper. She also went on her first flight all the way to California! Another first? Riding on a carousel!