Wes Wild: 5 Months Old

Wes! You are a big five month old now! There were two really big things that happened during your fifth month...

One of the biggest things that happened for you this month was that you learned to roll from back to belly! Then every time I put you down on your back, you immediately rolled onto your belly. However, you were not usually happy to be on your belly and then would get mad until someone put you back on your back, but then you would immediately flip again to your belly! HAHA! Babies are silly!

Another pretty big thing during your fifth month - you got glasses! You absolutely hate them and never wear them, though. But you look SO CUTE during the five seconds a day you keep them on your face. :) Your pediatrician saw something with one of your eyes and referred us to an eye specialist. At our first appointment, they dilated your eyes and did an eye exam. She said you have an astigmatism in one of your eyes and the glasses will help correct it so that you don't need surgery down the road. I cried in the hallway after she told us that. Then I called your dad and told him that I just felt so sorry for you - no baby wants to wear glasses! But if it means no surgery, then we will definitely do what we have to do to make your eyes better! 

You continue to be the happiest baby on the block. I really don't know what I did before I had such a big hunk of love in my life. You're always smiling and making everyone around you smile. SO happy that you are ours, baby boy! SO HAPPY! 

Elle Evergreen: 3, 4 & 5 months old

Oh Elle Belle - You are almost 6 months old now, and I am so behind on your monthly updates! What can I say - life moves FAST with two little ones! I will try my best to keep up in the coming months - for now, here is a little summary of all that you learned and all the ways you grew during your third, fourth and fifth months.



Your third month was pretty laid back. You got to meet your Didi for the first time, your hair got even crazier, and your sister continued to think you were pretty cool - but most importantly, we got out your sister's old swing from storage and you LOVED it. You were still pretty fussy this month, and the swing was sometimes the only thing that would make you happy when you were sad.



Your fourth month was a big one because we moved to a new house! You did great with the move and settled in with no problems. We started setting up your room (your very own room!) even though you don't sleep in it yet. I still like having you in our room next to my side of the bed, but we'll probably transition you to your room in a month or so. This month we learned that you love hanging out on the patio - we think you like the heat - which is great because I like it out there, too. We survived our first girls only weekend without daddy - hooray! And we took our first trip of the summer to the neighborhood splash pad. You liked the water and splashed around with another baby your age while we held you in the water. Your temperament went up and down this month - sometimes you were so relaxed that we thought the terrible crying was over and sometimes you cried until we thought we would go crazy. You like to keep us guessing, that's for sure!

You found your fingers and toes this month and love putting them in your mouth every chance you get. You also rolled over for the first time this month, from your back to your belly. You were pretty  happy about that. And you started laughing! (The best sound ever!) You always laugh when we tickle your belly or when we kiss your neck, and you think it's really funny when my hair tickles your face.

Also, during your fourth month, we found out you have torticollis - a condition in which your neck muscles are shorter on one side of  your neck - and we started physical therapy to correct it with a series of stretches and exercises.



Your fifth month was full of summer fun! We celebrated Father's Day by taking daddy to brunch at his favorite restaurant and giving him lots of presents. Your sister got a big girl bed and gave you her old bed, which we transitioned back to a crib for you and you tried it out with a few naps and liked it! Then we set out on our summer staycation, and you got to visit the ocean for the first time (and this might be my favorite picture of you yet!). You took the best nap on the beach in our little beach tent, and we had our best beach day yet! You also were a trooper at Water Country USA and napped all day in the wrap while we played in the water. We went to the zoo, hosted a BBQ and welcomed some visitors (Uncle Andy and his friend Preston).

You really started to like tummy time this month, which is great because it helps stretch your neck muscles out. You tried really hard to roll back over from your belly to your back, but you're not quite there just yet. You continue to love eating your hands, and you love any toy made for chewing, including Sophie the Giraffe, a wooden heart toy and your multi-colored teething ring.

You love your big sister and watch her wherever she goes. You even laughed at her when she was being silly for you one day - the first time you laughed at something that wasn't brought on my physical touch (like tickling).

You are growing up so fast, little Elle! Time is flying by and you are getting bigger, chubbier and happier by the day. Your six month birthday is on my 34th birthday in a few weeks, and I can't wait to celebrate with you, big girl! I love you sooooo much - may all your days be happy ones!

Wren Winter: 8 & 9 months old

Oh, little Wren bird - or should I saw BIG Wren bird?? Because you surely are a big girl these days! I'm a little behind on your updates, but I will do my best to remember all of the milestones you had during your 8th and 9th months (because there were A LOT of milestones).

In your 8th and 9th months, you became way more mobile than ever before. You would roll onto your belly and then scoot yourself all over the house. Sometimes you would scoot yourself into a corner and start crying because you were stuck. I would have to go get you, put you back in the middle of the room, and you'd start all over again. Then, in July, you learned to push yourself into a sitting position, which was a really big deal because it meant you could sit up whenever you wanted to and didn't need mommy and daddy to help you when you toppled over. You learned this new trick just a few days after your Didi stayed with you while I was in Park City for work. Didi was sad that she missed your new trick by just a few days. It was also about this time that you started getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth. We knew crawling was just around the corner, so we started baby proofing like crazy, and in your 9th month, you took off!

I had seen you start to crawl a few times during the day when we were home by ourselves, and daddy had seen you do it a few times at night when I had missed it, but you saved the grand reveal for one Saturday morning when your dad and I were both home. Your dad had cooked us a big breakfast and we were cleaning up in the kitchen. That's when you decided to show us what you had been working on. Thankfully, we got it on video. Since then, you've been cruising around nonstop (and chasing the cats, of course)! Shortly after you started to crawl (only a couple days later), you also started pulling up on anything and everything you could get your little hands on. Sitting down was suddenly no fun - you wanted to stand up!

But these new milestones weren't all good - Shortly after you learned to crawl and pull to a standing position, you also had a terrible four weeks of sleep regression. You suddenly hated going to sleep and would cry like a mad woman whenever I put you in your crib. Naps were a no-go - you weren't having any part of them - which meant I had a VERY cranky baby on my hands most of the day. Then, at night, you would wake up multiple times, crying and upset, and not wanting to go back to sleep. Your dad was (conveniently) away at school during this time (lucky!), and it was really hard on me. After some online research, I found out this is quite normal around 9 months and happens because babies are going over and over all of their new skills in their heads and find it hard to quiet their minds enough to sleep. Knowing what was happening made it a little easier to handle, but boy, was I thankful when you started sleeping again four weeks later! (The articles I read said it can happen again around 12 months when babies start walking - so I will for sure be on the look out.)

We continued to experiment with different foods in your 8th and 9th months, and you continued to be the best little eater ever. There wasn't much you didn't like (except this Chicken Casserole - haha!).

You had your 6 month check up when you were 8 months old. We got behind in the schedule with the move to Fort Lee, getting settled in, etc. At your check up, you weighed 19 pounds, passed all your little milestone tests and took the shots like a champ.

You continue to be just the cutest little thing I ever did see, and I'm so thankful to call you mine, Wren Winter. I love you, love you, love you, and hope all your days are happy ones. Happy (belated) eight and nine month birthdays!

Wren Winter: 6 & 7 months old

Wren! You are so BIG these days! And you're just the cutest little girl I've ever seen!  I missed your six month update since we were in the middle of moving, so I'll use this one to talk about all the fun stuff you've learned in your sixth and seventh month.

First off, you learned to sit up by yourself! We still like to put a pillow behind you because every once in a while you fall over, but you're very strong and gaining more and more balance every day. You also learned how to roll from your back to your belly, which you think is a neat little trick - until you realize you're stuck and can't roll back the other way. Then you cry and we have to turn you over.

We started introducing solid foods in your fifth month, and at first you didn't really care for it - but when you turned six months old, you were suddenly hungry all the time and we felt like we couldn't feed you enough so we started giving you more solid food, and now you love it. You eat three meals of baby food a day, in addition to your bottles. You're a really great eater - you like everything! Your dad and I have started giving you food off our plates at restaurants and you get really excited. You haven't turned down any flavors yet! We hope this means you're going to like a wide variety of foods later on.

You also started sleeping in your own room this month! When we moved to Virginia and got your room set up, you started sleeping in your crib for the first time, which was exciting and a little sad at the same time. It was nice to have you right by my side of the bed for the first six months, and I kind of wanted to cry that first night you weren't there. But now you're right across the hallway, and your crib looks so comfy, and you're sleeping like a champ, which is awesome.

You've definitely packed on some serious chub in the last couple of months. You thighs are the cutest (aka the fattest) things ever, but man oh man, you kill my arms when I try to hold you for more than five minutes. I've got some serious biceps right now, that's for sure!

It's so funny to watch you grow and learn and discover new and different parts of your body. You've recently discovered your tongue and like to make "la la la" sounds that sometimes sound like "mammammamma" so I've claimed "momma" as your first word. ;) You also just discovered your wrists and like to bend them, bend them, bend them over and over again.

Since it's summertime, we've been taking you swimming a lot, and you really love the water. You splash and splash and don't care if it gets water all over your face. You like to try to drink the water (because you're a fatty), and you like to put your hands in the water and then suck on them (which is kind of gross when it's a public pool - yuck!).

Your eyes are still the most beautiful blueish greyish color (even though you can't really tell in the pictures), and you get compliments on them everywhere we go. Your dad and I have no idea where that color came from, but we're crossing our fingers that it's here to stay.

Oh little Wren, you're just such a beauty - always smiling and gasping with excitement and giggling and wiggling and bouncing, bouncing, bouncing your legs. You make our days bright, and we love you so. Happy seven month birthday, baby bird - may all your days be happy ones!

Wren Winter: 5 months old

My little Wren! You turned five months old last week. I can't even believe it. That sounds like such a big baby to me, and you are so big these days. My arms hurt when I hold you for too long! Your legs and your cheeks have packed on some serious chub in the last month - you're at 16.6 pounds now (and it's pretty much the cutest thing ever).

Some highlights from the past month: You love, love, love to sit up, but you can't do it on your own just yet. If you lean all the way over and prop yourself up with your hands, you can sit for a little bit, but you've still got work to do in the balance department. You're not a big fan of your Bumbo seat (you only like to sit in it for about five minutes at a time) - you prefer for us to hold you sitting up while you play with your toys - or better yet, hold you standing up! When we stand you up, you get SO excited and smile SO big. Your legs wobble and wobble, but you would stand up all day if you could.

While this stage is so fun because you're able to grab things and hold them, play with your toys and start to gain control of your body, it's also very frustrating (for you and for us) because you want to do more than you're able to do. Sometimes, when you want to sit up on your own or you want to hold a toy that keeps falling out of your hand, you get really mad and your face turns red and you swing your arms and shake your head like a gorilla. I bet it's really hard being five months old, and (even though I don't want you to grow up too fast) I can't wait until you can sit and crawl and do all the things you want to do - I think you'll have so much fun!

You've been laughing a whole lot this month. Sometimes, you just bust out with the giggles for no reason. You get really hyper in the afternoons, and you'll kick your legs like a crazy person and crack up laughing at yourself. You really are such a happy baby.

Another thing we've noticed recently is a difference in the way you react to me and to your dad. When you look at me, you're all smiley and silly, but when you look at your dad, you're very coy and almost flirtatious. You stick your little tongue out with the tip almost touching your nose and you raise your little eyebrows, just like a little flirt! It's pretty much the cutest thing ever, and your dad absolutely loves it. :)

As you learn to move your little body, you've figured out that if you're sitting up against something and you straighten your whole body out repeatedly, you can inch down and down and down into a different spot, like a little inch worm. It's pretty funny to watch. You've even started to do it in the bathtub. You inch down and down your bath seat until only your head is on the seat and your body is floating in the water, and you're happy as a clam. (I watch you closely to make sure you don't go under, of course.)

And last but not least, you've started teething! We can see one tiny little tip of a tooth in the front, and we think you might have something coming up in the back, too. You're always chewing on your fingers in those two spots, and when we stick our fingers in your mouth to check out the situation, you clamp down and grind away and it HURTS - haha! 

Happy five month birthday, my Wren - may all your days be happy ones!