See Lilly Grow {5 Months}

Her official 5 month birthday was on July 3rd, but close enough right?

I'm still taken aback every once in a while when I look down and I've got two healthy, beautiful girls hanging out with me. That I have the sweet blessing of calling these girls my daughters. Lilly Jean continues to grow in personality and complexity. Her likes and dislikes seem to ebb and flow, all except for her need for her mommy, and she really, really, really wants to be a big girl like her sister! We love her big, bald, beautiful head and her squishy little thighs. We love her quick smile and blue eyes. We don't love her ability to leave your ears ringing when she is upset or her constant spit up.
Find out more about Lilly Jean's 5th month below!

Size

I stepped on the scale with her a couple of days ago and she is just over 16 pounds. She seems a lot heftier than she actually is! Her 2 month old cousin is catching up to her quick weighing in at 13 pounds. But she does love to eat and fits pretty easily into 6 month clothes.

Health

So thankful that we haven't had any sicknesses so far (other than her first month)! I have given her Tylenol on 2 or 3 occasions due to some unexplained fussiness, so she has possibly had some teething or just growing discomforts. But that doesn't even count. 

Feeding

She usually goes 2 1/2-3 hours between feedings, leaning more towards the 3 hour mark. She watches me intently when I am eating. I think she's figured out there's more to this eating thing than just milk! I wanted to wait until she was at least 5 months before I introduced anything to her to give her belly some more time to mature. Now that she is 5 months I almost feel bad not feeding her food because she so obviously wants to check it out. I bought her some Rice Cereal today so I'll probably introduce it to her this week.

Sleeping

Last month I wrote about a recent crib aversion phase that she was having and thankfully that was short lived. She is officially sleeping in her room in her crib. She is going to bed around 8:30 but still waking up once during the night. I try to get her to fall back asleep without eating. Sometimes she's good with just getting the paci, other times she's not going to be satisfied until she gets some more in her belly. She is taking a 1-2 hour morning nap and a 2-3 hour afternoon nap! Can I get an amen?! She's getting so smart too... usually if she wakes up I try to sneak in without her seeing me and stealthily stick her paci back in her mouth, but she knows where the door is now so as soon as she wakes up she pops her little head up and looks over her shoulder to the door! (She sleeps on her belly now that she can roll over.) Sometimes with her little face smooshed against the rails looking through the slats! It makes me laugh every time, which is good when I'm feeling less than happy about getting up at 3am. She flashes her precious smile as soon as she sees me or Reaghan in the morning.

Likes

Her mommy. A lot. I tell her all the time how flattered I am by it but that her daddy loves her just as much as I do! haha She likes to be part of the action. Wherever we are she wants to be there too, and she doesn't just want to see us she wants to be involved. She wants to be talked to or held! She's recently taken a liking to her swing and she's started hanging out a little bit in her exersaucer. Loves to grunt and squeal and kick her legs when she is excited. She likes to grab everything that's in her reach including faces and hair. She likes to put everything in her mouth. She likes to suck and chew on her fingers and sometimes gets her thumb in there. She likes her pool float and the outside baby swing. Daddy recently introduced the Baby Bum YouTube show to her out of desperation and she loves it!

Dislikes

Still with the car. Ugh. A friend suggested that it might be car sickness because she usually doesn't fuss about being in her seat until it is clicked into the car and we pull out of the driveway. I looked it up and unfortunately there's not much that can be done about it if it is carsickness. She doesn't get sick in the car anymore than usual, but it could still be nauseating for her. I feel bad if that's the case because there's nothing I can do about it. Sometimes we dread going places because we know we'll have to listen to screaming. She doesn't like it when mommy goes to take a shower and she has to hangout with daddy for all of 15 minutes - enter Baby Bum ; ) 

Milestones
She can roll from back to belly and belly to back like a pro! She thought 1 in the morning was a great time to practice those skills last night while she talked and fussed. It was adorable, but also not because of the whole 1 a.m. thing. She is getting much better at using her hands to grab objects and bring them to her mouth. Sometimes she can find her paci and put it back in her mouth herself which is hilarious for some reason. She is JUST getting the hang of sitting up but still not able to do it on her own yet. She does fine sitting in her Bumbo seat though. She can scoot herself off of her play mat so quickly, I'm not even sure how she does it. I have to watch her very closely on changing tables, beds and even in her little bouncy and Bumbo seats because she's strong and if she wants to get out she can arch that chunky little bum right out of something.

Sibling Love
She thinks its hilarious when I'm holding her and she looks down to see Reaghan jumping and dancing. Laughs when Reaghan "roars" at her. Will listen to Reaghan read her books. Reaghan is always on high alert for spit up as soon as she hears Lilly burp. She is a big helper and will get spit up rags and bibs for me all day long and wipe up spit up on the floor for me... even if she mimics my frustration about it with some groaning! Reaghan always asks "Can I see my baby sister?" and always calls her "Baby Yilly" She likes to hold her but will tell me "I'm all done" or "I think she's too heavy for me right now" when she gets tired of sitting with her. She loves to talk about being a big sissy and I love watching her be a big sissy.

Special Outings/Events

We celebrated daddy's birthday and Father's day. Daddy just got a new picture for his desk at work from the girls. She spent 2 nights away from mommy when I went with Mark on his work trip up to Northern Va. That was hard! 1 night for our anniversary was tough, 2 nights was a long time to be away. I had to to pump so much milk for her to have enough and I was so worried that it wasn't going to be, thankfully what I had was exactly the right amount. We had Baby Dedication Day at church. She celebrated her first 4th of July and slept right through the fireworks snuggled against mommy in the ergo carrier with headphones over her ears. :)

P.S. she's wearing the same 4th of July clothes that Reag wore at 9 months old ; )

July Goals

I've been feeling the need to get myself organized the past couple of weeks. There is so much I want to do - improvements to our house, organizing rooms, adding decor in places, begin working out again, lose some weight, eat better, be more consistent with my daily devotions, memorize scripture, meal plan, save money, remember important meetings at work, etc. etc. the list goes on an on. Sometimes I feel like I'm running around, going through all of the same motions but without purpose or goals in mind. I see things that need doing but I put them off and do the things that I do everyday and then before I know it weeks have past and I still haven't gotten around to cleaning my closet! Little things like that are starting to build up and making me feel unorganized and unaccomplished. 

Take for instance the dishes, yea they totally need to get done, but do I need to make sure my sink stays completely dish free all day long and do dishes and wipe down the counter for the 100th time instead of letting that sit until dinner time and cleaning my closet instead? Or another example... the girls and I are out having fun running errands, playing or visiting with people, and then when we get home we do nothing because I feel like IF I can't complete a major project from start to finish in one day then I'll just save it for the next day. I'm not good at doing things in baby steps because it takes a while for me to process what those steps should be! I'm always busy but accomplishing nothing of significance. 

Enter the Planner!

I actually L.O.V.E planners. Buying a cute new planner with all of the matching stationary when I was in school was always something I looked forward to. I guess I decided after I graduated that I didn't really need to use a planner because I didn't have classes and tests to keep up with, but I've missed having a planner! I saw this cute one at Marshall's last week and decided on a whim to get it and start organizing my days! 

I thought it was super cute and even though it says 2018 on it, its actually an 18 month planner that starts in July so it was perfect. AND inexpensive since it was at Marshall's. : )

I've already filled out my goals for this month and the "to-do" list is growing to help me reach those goals. Here's a peak at my July goals...

GOALS:

• Exercise 3x a week
• Lose 5 pounds of baby weight
• Memorize Ephesians 6:10-18 that goes along with my summer bible study.
• Organize the Room over the Garage
• Organize my bedroom closet
• Use budget app consistently

I think having the "to-do" list written out on paper in one place is going to help me tremendously! During nap time or other free{or even not so free} moments I'll be able to look and say okay I can take a bite out of my closet project by going through all of my bags and finding a place for them. Next day I'll do my shoes. It sounds so silly.... why do I need a planner to help me think like that?! ... I have no idea. Mom Brain? I don't know, I just feel more productive and work better when I have a list that I'm checking off. It's my own little accountability partner. All I know is that I need more purpose to my days. I think if I can see that I'm reaching goals and getting things done I won't be caught up in meaningless less meaningful, busy housework and can have more fun and purposeful time with the girls as well. I'm hoping having a planner will help me keep track of myself a little better. 

I like this little inspirational quote at the beginning of July. Each day can be full of meaning and purpose if I'm cognizant of what the day has to offer. I am hoping this is going to help me be less "busy" and more intentional with my time and energy!