DD Kimball Road: Watch Emma Grow

Month five in Emma's life has been very rewarding. We are getting into the swing of things living in our own place again. Juggling the schedules, making dinners and being able to spend quality time with our little girl has been the main focus. We are almost done decorating her room, although she still sleeps in our room....most of the time in our bed, but more on that later.

Emma started talking, I mean not using words, but trying to figure out sounds and playing with her tongue to see what different sounds made. We started making the dadada and mamama and bababa sounds to her in an attempt to get her to start to learn sounds. She squeals and grunts and makes all sorts of noises including loud giggles and belly laughs which warm my heart to hear! She's mastered the art of rolling from back to tummy and vice versa and has found her feet. She can be seen grabbing her socks or bare foot and trying to put them in her mouth. Warning Gross Alert: When getting ready for her last doctors appointment, she was playing with her feet while I was changing her diaper. She grabbed both feet and shot poop just as I was about to place the diaper over her booty. Needless to say she has great aim and I had a lot to clean up.

She loves toys that sing or talk, and loves to be on the floor playing or reading a book. We will read in mommy's lap or lying on the floor, squealing at the pictures and trying to grab the book. She still loves music and has started to sing back with you. Singing or certain songs calms her instantly and most of the time puts her to sleep when she's fighting sleep. The teething is in full force and we are soaking through bibs left and right. Even though her gums are bothering her, she is still a pleasant and happy baby. Teething rings only work for so long before she gets mad and throws it. Her playmat is another favorite place to be because she loves to swat and eat all the hanging toys. This is where she got the hang of rolling over. Such fun to watch her excitement.

Last Month Stats:
Weight: 12 lbs 10 ozs (23%)
Height: 23.75" (26%)
Head: 16.5" (73")

Eat: Breast is best. I'm still pumping every two hours at work, if I can get it in....most times its about 2.5 hours. When I am with Emma it's whenever she wants it. I offer at the two hour mark and most times she will take it. When I am not with her she eats between 8-10.5 ozs so she still needs those night feedings, which is fine with me. I am looking forward to starting her on solids, but I just love spending that quality time with her.

Sleep:
Ahhhh her sleep habits, how they changed. I really think she hit the four month sleep regression coupled with daylight savings time, we got a double whammy. She was falling asleep super easy by putting her down on the bed or co-sleeper. Now with us being in a new space we needed to get back to our system before....we changed it up on her and she let us know that it wasn't happening for her. So usually I feed her to sleep in our bed and gently rock her until she's completely out and I put her in her co-sleeper. This is usually at 8:30pm. She will stay asleep until about 11pm-12 and then I feed her and unless I am wiped out will put her back in bed. The rest of the night is fair game and usually I just pull her into bed for her to eat and we both fall back asleep. I love snuggling with her, but some nights its hard and I don't get a lot of sleep....I should feed her normal and put her back into her own bed so we can establish a nighttime system....it's a matter of just doing it. Here's her updated schedule:

7:30am - Wake/Diaper Change
8:00am - Breast Feed
8-9am - Playtime
9-10:30ish am - Nap
10:30-11 - Bottle Fee/Breast Feed
11-12:30 - Playtime
1pm - Bottle Feed/Breast Feed
1:30-3ish pm - Naptime
3:30-5pm - Playtime, mommy gets home and feeds. We eat, read and sing.
5-6pm - Final Nap
Between 730-745pm she gets bathed, then lotion and pj's then we read a book or two or three. Then if she hasn't nodded off yet I rock her asleep. I feed her most often right before she goes to bed.
11pm-12am - Dream Feed

Diapers: We moved up to size two diapers and have almost gone through our stash from my shower! It's been really nice not needing to buy diapers. Still love the Pampers brand diapers and wipes. We also still love our Desitin for diaper rash.

Milestones to date:

Bringing her home: July 2nd (1 day old)

First Bath: July 4th (3 days old)

First Holiday: Independence Day (3 days old)

Held Up Head: July 11th (1 week old)

Lost Belly Button: (8 days old)

First Walk (2 weeks old)

First Smile: (3 weeks old)

First Trip: Lake Tahoe/Carson City (5 weeks old)

Found her hands: (6 weeks old)
First Swim: (6 Weeks old)
Laughed Out Loud (12 Weeks Old)
Rolled Over: (3 Months Old)
Found Her Feet: (4 Months Old)

Here's a photo dump from month four: