Our 5 Month Old Baboo

Harper is 5 months old as of the 18th!  Wowza!  She's growing so fast-babies tend to do that!

I can not believe it has almost been half of a year with our girl.  We've definitely had our ups and downs as the different stages of babyhood have passed.  From about 3.5-4.5 months was pretttty bad!  All of us were living on very little sleep.  But, a couple of weeks ago I finally reached out to my friend Sarah (my roommate from teacher training) about what to do to help Harper sleep.  I really needed some support and encouragement, and her son Cam (three months older than Harper) was also not an easy sleeper.  Through our conversation, she convinced us to start sleep training.  I was hesitant about this process at first-it really went against a lot of the 'parenting ideals' I had been holding on to.  But once again, I threw those stupid ideals out the window and just did what was going to work for us.  Well, thank goodness, the sleep training business is really working for THIS baby.  Without a doubt, our next baby will probably be completely different, but the sleep training is WORKING for Harper.  Wow, we are all sleeping SO much better.  Naps are getting better, and she's even slept THROUGH the night twice this week.  Hallelujah!

Despite the lack of shut eye, watching every little tiny development happen with our daughter is incredible.  My Aunt Helen is in town and asked "what Harper was doing these days."  So much!  Using both of her hands to work together.  Waving/Shaking her toys.  Rolling over like a champ.  Putting everything in her mouth.  Eating rice cereal once a day.  Sitting up for short period without assistance.  Sitting in her high chair at dinnertime like a big girl!  We can no longer take her to restaurants and have her 'chill' in the car seat.  Those days are behind us!  On to the next phase :-)

Harper's biggest development she is working on is crawling.  She is SO CLOSE.  In fact, I think what she is doing today would probably be considered 'crawling.'  She's no expert yet, but this is one determined little babe!  I've mentioned her determination before.  It really is baffling, she is so physical.  Check out her sweet crawling moves!

Speaking of being physical, my friend Sarah also convinced me to get back to yoga.  She encouraged that it would really help me cope with everything better.  I knew she was right, so thanks to my mom being in town, I made myself get back to yoga this week.  I've been four times-wahoo!  And, of course, Sarah was right.  I am feeling much more like myself after a couple of hot yoga sessions.  Hallelujah #2!