Mabel's Fifth Month

This month was tough.  Being back at work in a more challenging role, combined with Matilda being home from school and the hurricane just made life hard.  But, Mabel has been a delight and we love having her around.  She has truly been a wonderful addition to our little family.

Stats: Wears 9 month clothes.  No teeth yet.  Still has blue eyes.  Hair has lightened and almost has a red tint.

Sleep: I used to think that when people said their young baby slept through the night either 1) they were big liars or 2) they just let them cry for hours on end.  But, Mabel proved me wrong.  This month she started sleeping through the night.  Usually in 11 hour stretches.  Every once in awhile, she might wake up to eat.  She's not like Matilda who would just nurse back down, so if she does wake, she's usually up for about an hour.  Sometimes she'll just hang out after she eats and go back to sleep on her own, and sometimes Jason has to go in there and rock her to sleep.

Naps aren't crazy consistent, but she usually takes three of them, with her mid-day nap being the longest.

She sleeps in a muslin sleep sack (no more swaddle), on her side.  She either sucks her lip to comfort herself, or she bunches up her sleep sack and sucks on it.

Eat: No changes to nursing, but we did introduce solids this month.  So far she's had banana (which she likes) and avocado (which she doesn't like).  Jason is working on a schedule to introduce her to more foods this next month.  She seems really interested in eating (seriously, she seems like she wants ALL our food), so we need to be more consistent about introducing solids.  With Matilda, we weren't really consistent about it until we moved to finger foods when she was around 8 months old.

Play/ Milestones: She's a lot more interested in her toys this month (and can handle them much better).  She likes to chew and suck on everything... fingers, toes, toys, you, etc.

She still enjoys silly songs with movements, kisses in her ear, and watching/ playing with her sister (even when Sister decides to color her entire face with purple marker).  We've starting carrying her in the Ergo 360 when we are out and about.

Oh, and she started rolling this month.  Mostly from back to stomach, and once from stomach to back (which usually isn't the opposite more common?)

Matilda's First Haircut & First Day of School

Matilda recently got her first haircut.  She wanted it cut like mine.  :)

Also, today was her first day back at school.  She's going three days a week this year.

She wanted to dance for her first day pictures.

Camping at Wolf Creek

We took advantage of the gorgeous weather this past weekend to go camping.  We headed up to Wolf Creek on Lake Livingston. 

The first night, we made smores after dinner. 

The campsite was nice and big, but the fire ants were pretty bad.

The campground had a nice small playground and a swimming area (although the water was pretty choppy).

It was Mabel's first camping experience and she did great!  She and I shared Jason's new two person tent, while he and Matilda took the big family tent.

Oh, and Justin joined as well.  It's always nice to have friends come with us.

 We had smores the second night too.  :)

We headed back to Houston on Sunday, and were in mourning most of the afternoon.  It was just so nice to be outside and away from the city, if only for two nights.

Kevin's Wedding

The weekend after the storm, we headed to Austin for my cousin, Kevin's, wedding.

On Saturday, we met Trey and Melanie to hang out for the afternoon.  Mabel got lots of love.

On Sunday, Matilda went with her cousins to the Thinkery.

The wedding was on Sunday evening.  I loved that Matilda got to hang out with my cousins' kids.

Matilda was disappointed that there was no flower girl (she had recently read a chapter book about it), so she helped spread the flowers after the ceremony.

 It was a beautiful wedding and the girls had a great time.

Matilda LOVED the dancing.  She danced to every song and didn't want to leave (even though she was the last kid remaining at the wedding).  It was so cute.

We were happy to have the chance to spend time with family after such a tough week.