5 months old!

Last Friday Avery turned 5 months! Time sure is flying fast! I wanted our tiny girl to stay little forever, and I still think she's growing up way too fast, but I'm enjoying each new stage so much, and just when I think she can't get any cuter she does something new to make my heart melt.

Our tiny baby is starting to look more like a big girl. She's still in the 50th percentile for weight (we're guessing around 15 pounds now), but carrying her in her car seat is really becoming a task now. And she has the cutest rolls on her thighs and arms. She's fitting solid in her 3-6 month attire now, and still in size 2 diapers. In the last few weeks she has lost a significant amount of hair - hard to believe our baby who received 100's of comments of "look at all that hair" is now mostly bald. All that's left is a small patch of long whispy hair on the top of her head (think mohawk) and a patch at the base of her neck. But the new stuff that's coming in is very light blonde, shedding that reddish tint.

She's been enjoying her exersaucer for a few weeks now, but at the turn of her 5 months, she now can almost flat-foot it when standing, and uses every toy on it, spinning to reach all of them! She's rolled over only a couple of times, we're still working on that one. She's on the brink of sitting up. She loves to be sitting upright and would have the sitting up thing down if her head didn't make her roll forward. :)

She starts foods next month, but we've been sneaking little bits of food to her occasionally. So far she likes cheese (just like Mommy & Daddy) and bread and Nana's chocolate chip cookies, though she's still not quite sure what to do with that little bit of stuff in her mouth. She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth - her favorite chew toy being adult fingers. She's still working on her first teeth, we haven't seen any cut yet, but she chews everything and has had quite a few tantrums when they start to hurt - crying and holding her hand on her gums. Poor baby!

In the last month we've also learned that we aren't the only ones who think our little Avery is the sweetest thing. She's such a social baby, loves to people watch, so she's always a perfect angel in public. Everyone is convinced she's the sweetest! She has so much personality. She's a Chatty Cathy, especially when others are talking, and has started grunting which she thinks is fantastic. And if you catch her at the right time and tickle and wiggle her body she'll give you a huge smile and laugh. She's also been experimenting with the high-pitched squeel which I'm sure has the neighbors' dogs going crazy. In the last few days she's also re-discovered her tongue and uses it quite often - sticking her tongue out at us and using it during conversations to us. Too cute!

As usual, here's her 5 month photoshoot. People have been saying she's starting to look more like me. Do you see it?

This picture cracks me up. I just see her thinking "OMG, my nails are a mess, I need a pedicure!"

Really Mom, I hate these signs!

She was trying so hard to eat the butterflies on her skirt!

Happy Birthday Albertineje! (That's what my Oma (Albertine Hermans) calls Avery - it means little Albertine. Appropriate since that's her middle name). We love you sweet girl!