Lily Marguerite - 5 months

Lily has almost been here with us for half a year. Unbelievable! I told Eric the other day that this has been the longest and fastest five months ever. We sure love having her in our home. Lily is very patient and sweet. With all the upheaval that our lives have been in over the past four months, she has been an angel. She brings such a sweet spirit here and (even though I have days where I feel like I'm going out of my mind) it really is wonderful to have a baby with us again.

Life has been a little crazy for us ever since she got here, so I haven't posted hardly anything about her. Let me take just a bit to introduce you a little more to Miss Lily:

Five things Lily is doing at five months:

1. Rolling over - she's been going from tummy to back for a while, but just within the last week and a half, she has gotten really good at going from back to tummy.

2. Wiggling all over the place - I'll set Lily down on the floor in one place and look at her a couple of minutes later and she is a foot or two away with her body facing the other direction!

3. Babbling, babbling, babbling - oh, the stories she tells! :)

4. Trying to grab everything - along with finally becoming interested in toys over the last month, she is now starting to grab anything I'm holding, my dinner plate, etc... :)

5. Starting rice cereal - she's only had it a few times, but so far it has been pretty well received. A little better than with Elena, I think.

Five things Lily is NOT doing at five months:

1. Sleeping in her own bed - I don't know if it's something I'm doing or just the type of children I have had so far, but I have never been able to get Lily to sleep in her own bed. So, until the 6 month "crying it out" mark, she's still with us. She has a terrific knack for taking up 3/4 of our king size bed, while Eric and I try not to fall off of our little side of the bed. Good thing she's so cute :)

2. Sleeping for more than two or three hours at a time - usually. Every once in a while she gets really crazy and sleeps for five whole hours at a time, but I can count those times on one hand. :) I'm 99% positive that this is a function of her sleeping with us, but hopefully this will be fixed in a month when she moves to her own bed.

3. Teething - well, at least no teeth have popped through yet. (Hallelujah!) She loves to chomp on things and is drooling a ton, so maybe they're coming.

4. Liking to let Mommy get anything done around the house - let's face it, it's much more fun to be held, than to watch me clean the house. :)

5. Using her binky anymore - this is a new and surprising development. She got a cold a couple of weeks ago and has not wanted her binky since - even though she is all better now. I'm happy though, because now we don't have to worry about breaking the habit.

Five things Lily loves at five months:

1. Her plastic keys - very tasty.

2. Elena- hero worship. Elena just looks at her and Lily lights up like a Christmas tree. :)

3. Sleeping - ready for bed at about 8:30 p.m. You don't mess with Lily when it's bed time. (This is SO different than with Elena as a baby! Elena was and still is very easy going with her sleep. Not Lily. :))

4. Piano Music

5. Bath time - she really likes taking baths. She loves to wiggle and splash in the tub and is pretty good at "swimming". She can move from one end of the tub to the other easily by wiggling.

Five things I love about Lily at five months:

1. How she has always loved having her cheeks stroked. Sometimes when she's nursing, if I stroke her cheeks, the corners of her mouth will turn up into a little smile. :)

2. The humongous wide, open mouth smile she smiles when she's really, really happy. Kind of like that--> :D But more. Think about opening your mouth as wide as possible, raising your eyebrows, and then smiling really big. She makes me laugh.

3. Her unabashed adoration of her daddy. She sits and stares at Eric with these dreamy eyes all the time. Yesterday, she sat and watched Eric's every move as he ate his lunch. Her eyes were glued on him. Whenever he would make eye contact, she would look away and get a shy look on her face. Totally smitten. I think she got that from me.

4. The pursed lips, puffy cheeks, bottom lip jutting out face she makes in her sleep, when we're laying in bed and she stops nursing.

5. The way her pudgy little hands wrap around my finger. Oh, how I love the pudgy hands. They melt my heart.

I love you, bug!