Tenley Louise || 5 Months Old

Loulie Lou, you sweet little baby, here we are doing another update!

This past month has been a fun one.  You are much more a baby now, not a single trace of 'newborn-ness' left.  You reach for things and have started grabbing - you especially like faces and glasses.  You have yet to meet a stranger, you make everyone you see your newest friend!  Everyone from the lady checking us out at the grocery store to the gentleman stopping by our table at lunch to the sweet little grandma's at your Great Great Aunt Ruth's nursing home.  You give them all the sweetest little smiles and if they reach in to touch you, you hold on to their fingers which totally melts them (and your mommy!).

You are your big brother's favorite little dolly.  Aiden picks you up and holds you and when he talks to you your eyes glow with love and adoration.  I hope that never goes away.  Brennan likes to lay on the floor beside you, then you will reach out and grab his little finger and use it to pull yourself over to your tummy.  Tate continues to fall upon you with kisses every chance he gets.  Your name is not Tenley with Tate, he only calls you Baby, which I absolutely love!  He is your favorite entertainment, hands down!   Even when he tries to sit on you like a horse!  Yes, that big Tatie Tot squishy brother of yours tries to ride you, ha ha!

We hit a little blip in the growing process this past month.  At your 4 month check up you had fallen to the 25th % in weight so 2 weeks ago we took you in for a weight check.  You had dropped again to under the 25th %.  We started supplementing your diet with 2 bottles of formula per day and almost immediately I started seeing changes in you.  You are still a skinny little girl but I could see your sweet face filling out more, and maybe, just maybe, a little more squish in your thighs.  I am 100% crushed that I alone cannot be enough to feed and sustain you but I'd much rather you be healthy and drinking formula than hungry because I don't have enough milk for you.

Everyone who meets you comments on how happy of a baby you are.  And you are, Talulah!  You only ask for the 3 major things - milk, naps and clean diapers.  Other than that you are happy playing on the floor or in your Jumperoo.

This month you learned how to roll from back to tummy.  It took you accidentally doing it only 2 or 3 times before you realized what was happening.  After that you intentionally rolled over.  I'm waiting for you to figure out that if you roll to your back and again to your tummy you can get to where you want to be.  I'm not ready for a mobile baby, Lou, so how about we don't worry about figuring that out for awhile?

You have the sweetest giggle.  I can work it out of you by tickling under your chin or in your armpit.  When you start to giggle you curl up in a little ball and stuff your sweet fist in your mouth.  If I cradle you in my arms and roll you up to my face and kiss kiss kiss your cheeks you scrunch your face up with the biggest smile!  Oh you melt me, little girl!

When you are laying on the floor, on your back, you love to grab your sweet little toes.  More often than not you grab your right toes.  When I have you bundled up in your car seat with a blanket stuffed in and around you and then I pull that off you immediately pull up your legs and reach for your toes.  And then you stick first one, then two, then three fingers in your mouth. I've even caught you with four fingers in there!

I love getting you out of bed in the mornings and after naps!  You are always happy but you are the happiest first thing when you wake up and I walk in to get you!  I'm going to record it one of these times because it is something I never want to forget or be without.  You kick your little legs!  You squeal!  You smile as big as you possibly can!  Thank you for loving me so much!  My heart swells each and every time!

I mentioned last month that you hit the 4 month sleep regression with a vengeance.  We are still in the thick of it and Lou, I'm tired!  How are you not?  Some nights are worse than others, you might need your pacifier 5 or more times in a night.  Other nights, like last, you go to bed at your normal time - 8:00 - and sleep until 2:30.  I feed you quick, then you fall back asleep until 5:30 when Daddy puts the pacifier in so you go back to sleep until almost 7:00.  That's doable but it sure would be nice to get some full nights of sleep again!  Naps are random.  You almost always want your first nap at 9:00.  It can be anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours long.  Like I said, random.  You take a good long, 2 to 3 hour nap, every day and throw in a few shorter ones throughout the day.  Most evenings you are awake from 5 to 8.  You fall asleep on your own, you just require a pacifier and your soft blanket up by your face so you can bury your little nose in it.

I love seeing you light up whenever Daddy talks to you.  You are so smitten with him!  When he holds you, you are perfectly content to just sit with him.  Me, on the other hand, you require me to hold up you to stand.  Then you 'kiss' my cheeks over and over again, and finally bury your head in my neck and shoulder.  All of a sudden you'll pop your head up and have a dazed, almost a "just woke up" look on your face.  I crack up laughing and you do it all over again!

Now for your stats.
Weight: 14lb 3oz
Height: 26"+
Clothes: 3-6month
Diapers: size 1 Huggies Little Snugglers (we switched from Pampers Swaddlers)

We are so so blessed to call your our Little Loulie Loulie Lou!  We love you, Tenley Louise!