Amelie is 5 months old!

Last week, Amelie turned 5 months old. As always, I'm amazed at the speed that the months pass...amazed at the physical growth that seems to happen before my eyes, and amazed to watch her little personality develop day to day.

This month, Amelie began rolling over from front to back. While she, like most babies, is a hater of all things related to tummy time, she now rolls over with great squawks and fuss. Amelie also began solids in earnest this past month. The first few weeks of her fourth month, we started rice cereal from time to time, but now she's eating 2-3 servings of rice per day since her 5 month birthday. Amelie is also now a proud little hip monkey....her little legs have finally given way to allow for comfortable positioning on Mommy's nice soft hip.

This month we've notice more hair growing in, although from across the room, it's hard to tell. Amelie sleeps through the night maybe 1 in 4 nights right now due to some ferocious teething issues. I'm not sure when or where those teeth are coming, but my poor baby has been complaining like there's now tomorrow for a couple of weeks now. I half expect her to pop out a dozen teeth at once given the misery they are causing her.

Amelie is a delicate girl. She is sweet. She is interested in her sister. She loves to be showered with attention, compliments, and kisses. She smiles and laughs and reaches for things...mainly faces and toys and her sister.

Right now I'm struggling with naptimes. As with Alia at the same age, Amelie hasn't really hit her stride with naps. She prefers to catnap 3-4 times per day, with one nap being an hour or 90 minutes on a good day, and the remaining naps varying between 30 and 45 minutes. Amelie normally naps in her swing in our master bathroom because it is the most remote room in the house and well-insulated from Alia's shouts and squeals. Given our poured concrete floors, our house carries noises like no other. And while it may sound like a sad place for a nap, it's quite a lovely room and very peaceful! :) Right now I'm still putting Amelie down asleep for naps...I bounce her on the ball or even feed her to sleep. I know I need to crack down on my sleep training in this regard, but I'm telling you, Amelie's cries are the saddest! And she does put herself to sleep at night every night....until she awakes in pain from teething, that is. In that case I give her 5 minutes, and then intervene with motrin or tyelenol and rock her back to sleep. I also give her a little water to wash down the medicine, and that seems to comfort her.

Amelie is not nearly as round as Alia was at this age. While she in no way is a timid eater, she is not quite so demanding of food as Alia was. As a result, I'm currently feeding her 6.5 ounces every 3 to 3.5 hours during the day and rice cereal at 11 and 4 with no night time feedings. However, if it's a particularly rough teething night, I will offer her 2 ounces of formula mixed with 2 ounces of water, but that is maybe one day per week.

Amelie has slotted into our family just as Maya predicted. She has her own personality, her on likes and dislikes, and has planted herself so deep in my heart that I cannot imagine life without her. She is sweet where Alia is sassy. She is oblivious to Alia's No-No-No finger waving in her face and answers her big sister with a huge toothless circle-smile. She is my little bald sweetie pie.