Yesterday Josie turned 5 months old! We* had double chocolate coconut cake to celebrate! (* we does not include Josie) The lit candle was a real highlight for her.  At this point Josie is showing off more and more of her personality each day. She is very stubborn when she wants something, but has typical baby concentration abilities and can be distracted away from certain things. She loves people and animals and is very social. Stacking cups and triangular checkerboard blocks are still her favorite toys. Books are mainly for eating currently. I have taken to making up new stories to go along with the pictures as I’m a little bored of the same ones again and again.

Physically she’s very strong! She can sit up now for long periods of time by herself without toppling over, although we have to sit her up. If you give her your hands and hold them steady, she can usually pull herself up to a standing position which pleases her greatly. Now she also likes to walk while you hold her hands and she can make it across the room (often to a cat). She seems like she might sort-of get the idea of being gentle with the kitties, but they are very patient as she tries to grab them.

We’re looking forward to her hitting the big 6 month mark so we can start the doctor-approved solid foods. I’m sure there will be lots of fun pictures of that next month. She sits with us for meals and has her own spoon, bowl, and cup which generally keeps her occupied but she’s dying to get in on the eating action. I gave her a bowl last week with a little water in it and she perfectly picked it up and poured it all into her mouth. Then she made a face of ‘eww what is that!’ and dribbled it all out. I will continue to work on her cup drinking skills this month.

Sadly (for me) she’s still awake twice a night (at least) although she seems to be moving her bedtime and wake-up time earlier. She wakes up precisely when the teething relief stuff wears off. Nothing is really consistent in that arena though but continued change. She sleeps on her stomach sometimes now of her own accord. She is still teething like the dickens, with the drool and the fussiness, and little white dots are appearing all over her gums hinting at what is to come but no real teeth have made their appearance!

I think I want some consistency to these monthly posts so let’s cover a few short basic questions:

• Size/weight: 9 month size, around 14 lbs 4 oz, don’t know height at the moment.
• Favorite food: breastmilk
• Favorite toy: stacking cups
• Favorite activity: standing, watching her parents dance like fools
• Sleeping: wakes up twice a night, 9:30 bedtime, 6-8am wakeup
• New skill: sitting upright, pushing on you when you hold her to signal she wants to face forward
• Teeth: small dots in gums, none yet
• Vocalizations: dinosaur-like growls, real laughs, raspberries

Since Josie has refused the bottles rather vehemently I’m shopping around some for sippy cups to see if those might be acceptable sooner rather than later. Found an interesting post on the subject with regard to BPA-free ones since I don’t yet have much experience. I thought others might find it food for thought too!

Tuesday Josie figured out that she can take her socks off! And eat them, ick. She was quite pleased with herself. She also started splashing in the bath this week, bath time had previously been pretty tame!

Yes, we have cats. Lots of them. And we named our daughter Josie. Yup, we were definitely aware of the 1970s cartoon, Josie and the Pussycats. And, no we didn’t name her after that cartoon. We liked the name Josie. But of course we were aware of the cartoon. So maybe our subconscious minds have a sense of humor. I don’t think it’s the worst namesake to have though. The show’s original theme song is pretty good. But cartoon network’s remake of it is awesome. My favorite part is the 80s metal part!

(lyrics)

We spent a month with the EllaRoo Mei Tei until I went back to this months Babywearer’s meeting. This month they actually had just bought a Beco Butteryfly and so I snapped it up very quickly so we’d have some real time to try it out. The reviews on it are mixed.

• Josie seems to really like it as she keeps falling asleep in it, especially when I have her on my back.
• Jordi likes it pretty well and appreciates it’s easy back carry, but thinks it has a lot of buckles and adjustments (which it does).
• I am not very enthusiastic about it, except that Josie likes it and the ease of the back carry (you just put it on like a backpack). I kept her on my back for two hours while she slept the other day without much wear and tear. I had her on the front for two hours while she slept and I worked at the store, and that was a little rough on me.

All in all, I am rather glad I didn’t buy it. They just came out with a new model of the carrier which has longer straps that might fit me better, now it costs even more though! We will continue to use it over this month to see how we like it and how we continue to use it. My wrap is more attractive now that we have some cooler days as it keeps me warmer, but it’s still rather stretchy. I’m interested in trying a Mei Tai that has buckles instead of straps so that they don’t drag on the ground when the baby isn’t in it such as this one. It has the same general shape, but fewer things to fiddle with. I also ordered another easy carrier called a Duo but that one came much too big (it’s a custom size) so it was sent back to get remade. Here are some photos of Josie in the Beco, we’re so enamored with the back carry that all the photos were done that way.

With the cooler weather, and the attention hog of a baby, Fred and George have found comfort in each other.

Josie has rapidly learned how to sit. She can stay for several minutes now before she topples over which fabulously leaves me with a few moments to do things while she plays with her toys. Every time I bring out the video though she keeps falling over immediately, so still shots are all I’ve got for now, you’ll have to take my word. (My previous commanding blog post was successful, let’s see how this one goes)

This is about a month old, but we got time to actually get the video online now. Listen for her ominous growling!

and he was willing to stay there for a while.

Now that I’ve got fewer scheduled activities while staying home I’ve taken up two volunteer pursuits. The first is coming directly from my choice to stay home, which is to donate the milk I’ve pumped in the freezer because I don’t need it and it’s just going to expire which is a shame. I’m working together with the Mothers’ Milk Bank of Ohio to give the milk to mothers/babies who are in need of it. I will continue to donate some new milk as well as I want to have a bit of my own freezer stash in case some unlikely medical issue were to come up or something.

The other thing I’ve been doing is volunteering at the local thrift shop which supports the local Fox library. It’s all kids clothes, toys, books, and stuff. I’m sorting items, organizing and running the register. I wear Josie while doing all this and she enjoys seeing the new people and being out and about. She tends to fall asleep by the end of the shift. One of the major benefits is that I get to sort through the donations prior to them going out on the sales floor. As kids are outgrowing things super-fast a lot of the clothes and items are in fantastic shape, but are priced really low and I can take them and buy them first. I know the store has a big pile of donated halloween costumes and I plan to pick up Josie’s there as well as a snowsuit. If other mom’s want me to keep an eye out for certain size/kind costumes (or at least let you know when it will go on sale) I’m happy to do so when I’m working. The savings are dramatic, such as a winter snowsuit for $10 and under and they’re often still in practically new shape.