Wow, 5 months already! Gabby is so big now, and absolutely thriving on the formula supplementation. She was 12 lbs, 10.5 oz on the 10th, which is firmly back on the 10th percentile line. I'm so happy that she is doing so well!
Her new skills include being able to engage her abs in order to sit upright when on my lap or in the high chair, doing some major pushups when on her belly (she gets her entire chest up now!), and vastly improved hand-eye coordination. Anything and everything she can grab goes straight to her mouth! She can scoot around really well to grab things that were previously out of reach, and to keep an eye on me as I go about my day. See video for evidence:
She rolls like crazy too, and often ends up on the tile floor when I've left her on her play mat. It's a slow process so I don't have a full video of it, but you can see the end here:
She can sit up on her own for a few seconds before toppling over on her side, but has a bit more developing to go before she's sitting by herself. She's so much more fun and interactive now, and hasn't developed "stranger-danger" yet so she loves to stare at people and smile at them if they seem friendly.
And she's found her toes. Only her right foot for now
She's also getting really good at putting herself to sleep at night. Brian has always been in charge of bedtime, and a week or so ago, he started just putting her down in her sleepsack immediately after her bottle was finished instead of rocking her to sleep and then putting her down. As long as she has her paci, she just lays her head down and goes to sleep. If she's fussy, we give her a few minutes, and then go up to check on her. Mostly, fussiness means she can't find her paci, and once we put it in her mouth, she settles right down. This is much easier on Brian, and also on me. I hate to jinx it by saying anything, but since Brian started this, she's been sleeping through the night! She'll still wake up a couple of times a night and make some noise, but if I give her 5 minutes or so, she puts herself back to sleep. *Note--the day after I wrote this, she woke up at 5:00 am* I'm working on getting her to put herself to sleep at naptime, but I think that's going to be a much harder process. I've gotten to where I can put her down when her eyes get heavy, but sometimes she really doesn't want to nap (even though she's obviously super-tired)!
Sleeping is for mortal babies.
On an Angela note, I have 2 classes for the fall! I realized when I saw my mother-in-law this past weekend that I hadn't talked much about how my job search was going. I have a Tuesday/Thursday General Chemistry lecture from 1:30-3:30 at American River Community College, and a Wednesday Human Biology lecture from 6:30-9:30 at the Vacaville campus of Solano Community College. The night class will suck, but it's only 1 day a week. I'm so relieved that I was able to get classes this fall, and that I'm able to work but still have some time with Gabby during the week!
As a direct result of this, we've had to find a daycare for Gabby on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I called a few places, and we went to a visit an in-home place and a center. We both liked the in-home provider (and she was certainly cheaper), but our friends have had some problems with their in-home caregiver (nothing major, just annoyances), and it turns out that they really influenced us more than we thought they had. Additionally, another friend of mine has worked at both a large center and also has run an in-home when her first child was small, and she said that she would put her Gabby-aged little girl in a center over an in-home just due to the accountability that you get in a center versus an in-home. We both really liked the center (called The Phoenix School), so we've decided to send her there. It is way more expensive, but it's a really good environment, and their programs for older kids are really good. They will keep Gabby on the schedule that we've developed (the in-home would have changed her to their schedule), and she'll have a ton of other babies to interact with (the in-home had 3 others). They'll also provide all the formula and food for her (we give them bottles, as well as diapers and wipes), and start her on baby signs. What really sold me was the preschool-type programs that start when she hits 2--if we had gone to the in-home now, we definitely would have moved her to Phoenix when she was older! I start my first class on August 15, so we're going to send her on a trial day sometime this month, and then if that goes well, she'll start on August 7. So many changes!
Grandma and Grandpa Romo came up to visit this weekend and move their things out of the condo they were renting. To give them a break on Friday, the 5 of us went to the State Fair:
Happy girl
Feet taste so good!
All 3 of us
Staying hydrated
Grandpa being silly
Grandma and Grandpa
Gabby is a princess!
And she loves her frog
Hanging out in her moby
She was fighting her nap as hard as possible. She finally gave in, after being awake for 3 hours!
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