Anna ~ 5 months

Ughh, I'm so behind on blogging!  Anna's not 5 months old anymore, but she is changing and doing so much each day, I didn't want to skip over this wonderful month in her life :)  My little sweetie is always smiling, never in a grumpy mood, and really starting to be super curious about all that's going on around her this month.  She is especially taking to her brother Ben!  Maybe because he's another "little" person, I'm not sure...but she just smiles at him, and cranes her neck to see him whenever he comes around.

I think Ben kinda likes Anna, too, but he won't admit it!

Her bigger brothers are crazy about her, and she loves to watch them make silly faces.  Maybe this one looked a little TOO silly, ha!!

Every day, there's something new, it seems!  Her favorite sound to make is "raspberries" ~ here she is blowing some for Mommy :)

She loves riding in the baby carrier....or "the pouch" (as in kangaroo) as we call it. I switched her around to ride on my back for the first time this month since she's getting strong enough now and she loved it even more than the front!!

Anna is still waking up at least once a night to eat, and maybe more for a paci call or two.  Here's her sleeping arrangement.  She's been sleeping like this with the Rock-n-Play in the crib since she got a cold two months ago, and now I'm afraid she's hooked on sleeping all cuddled up!  One day I'll transition her to the crib laying flat, but for now, waking up 2-3 times a night is enough/too much already!

Finally, our sweet girl is growing up too fast already!  She took her first bite of "real" food (Mama's trying everything to get her to sleep a little more at night!!).  It was avocado and she ate it up ~ yippee!!



They say a baby's eyes can change color any time in the first year, but Anna's seem to be getting bluer and bluer...so I think she's going to get to keep them :)  I adore looking at her beautiful blue eyes...reminds me of her Daddy!

Let's Eat!!

Ben has now eaten "real" food for the first time! A few weeks ago, we tried rice cereal, and he ate it like a pro....for a few days. Then, I think, the novelty of eating with a spoon like the rest of his family wore off and he realized the cereal didn't taste too great. Then we tried oatmeal and he liked it a little better, but not much. So, we moved on to green beans just yesterday and they were not a hit, either!! Oh no! Hopefully we'll find something he likes soon (and not just applesauce and pears, ha!). Mama's just learning how to do this feed-a-squirming-uninterested-baby thing, so here's what Ben looks like after breakfast most days :)

Ben's First Christmas

Ben had a great first Christmas....he got to see lots of family and got tons of new toys! First we had Christmas with Grandmama and Grandaddy. I think he was having a "mall Santa" flashback here, ha!

He got a Leap Frog Learn-n-Groove music table and a Laugh and Learn Puppy from Santa. Probaby his favorite, though, was the Johnny Jump-up from the grandparents. He's still figuring it out, but every day does a little more hopping around.

Then we went to Gastonia and had lots of fun with Mimi and Pop and all the siblings.

Back home in Tennessee!

Ben Meets Santa!

Yesterday we took Ben to the mall for his first Santa visit!! I thought it went pretty well considering he's not really exposed to strangers on a regular basis. We took our own camera, too, and got some shots of him kind of smiling, but this was our favorite of the ones you could purchase. (Correction: HAD to purchase if you wanted to use your own camera, too....ha!)

Isn't that the funniest look?! I can just hear him thinking..."Who ARE you, and why are you dressed like me?!" After he got his initial surprise out of the way, he warmed up to the camera as usual, despite multiple flashes in his face and being held by the furry fat man. I'm so thankful Ben's such an easygoing baby :)

Merry Christmas!!