Zoey: 5 months

Weight: 15.6 lbs
Length: 26 inches

+ She no longer sleeps with the pacifier OR a swaddle! *hallelujah chorus* In reality, it wasn't all that hard to get her to give these up, and it barely effected her sleep at all (there were tears without the pacifier, but we let her cry until she got over it, which didn't take long). But it feels like a major accomplishment, and I am thrilled.

HOWEVER, she's still 100 percent reliant on the SnuggleMe. I tried for two days to get her to take naps without it, but it was awful. We're talking 45 minutes of someone's-trying-to-kill-me screaming that ended in 20-30 minutes of fitful sleep (from the baby who usually zonks immediately and goes down for a minimum of two hours at a time). You guys... no. Just, no. I have (temporarily) given up and am letting her continue to sleep in the SnuggleMe (which was a lifesaver in the beginning but now causes me to feel a rising tide of anxiety that my child will never sleep normally every time I look at it). I'll come back to this some other time, because I just can't right now.

+ We tried solid (well, pureed) foods for the first time on Easter--peas. She shuddered and grimaced in disgust and it was hilarious because I'm a jerk. *shrug* A few days later we tried sweet potatoes, and those went over a lot better. Honestly, though, I'm not even sure if I'm going to keep up with this or not. With E, we did baby foods because she was in day care and they asked us to send it and so we did. But with Z, I dunno. Maybe we back off and give baby-led weaning a go? I honestly haven't done any reading or thinking on this at all, but I feel a little weird about giving her foods already for some reason. Anyone have thoughts here?

+ She can roll over from her back to her tummy, but she seems to be stuck there. She used to be able to go from tummy to back--it was tough getting her to do tummy time because she'd always roll over--but I think she forgot.

+ Girlfriend babbles like a PRO. And recently she's started sticking her tongue out at the same time, so that's fun. (SO MUCH DROOL.) I wish I could get it on video, because it cracks me up, but she clams up when you stick a camera in her face. Go figure.

+ I placed an order yesterday for photos to update her baby book and Promptly journal--I'm still (almost) completely caught up with these things, and I'm pretty proud of myself for that. I have a few flip-through videos (those need updated) over on Instagram, if you want to check out my DIY baby book.

+ It doesn't really look like it in these photos, but her hair has lightened up a lot since she was born. She might end up with the same dishwater blonde-ish mess that her dad has. Sorry, kid.

+ She doesn't laugh. She squeals. Babbles. Screeches. But no actual laughs.

+ I haven't been reading specifically to Z, and I feel kindof lame about that. She gets to hear when I read to E, yes, but it's just not the same experience for either of us. So I'm going to try to make more of an effort to read to her on her own. In the spirit of that, I opted to give another "Night Night..." book a try. If you remember, I had one earlier this month in Z's Easter basket. It was good, though the "touch and feel" part of it was lame. Turns out, there's a version of the same book that is NOT touch and feel, which makes it way better. So when I came across "Night Night, Jungle," I decided to give it a shot.

The books is set up the same way as "Night Night, Farm" with a little rhyme on each page about a specific animal getting ready for bed. In this case, the animals all live in the jungle (think lemurs and dart frogs, y'all). But the pages end with "Night night, (animal)" instead of the animal sound. I suppose it's because it's harder to write out sounds for certain jungle animals than it is for your basic cast of farm creatures. So, no animal sounds here--the only new thing a kid is picking up is a short list of some more exotic animals. Couple that with the rather cartoon-y illustrations, and I just wasn't all that impressed. I think this seals the deal for me on the "Night Night..." series by Amy Parker--it's not for us.

P.S. I received this book for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.