The Ducote Family: Julia Ann-5 months!!

Happy 5 months to sweet Julia Ann! She is a chubby, happy, rolling machine this month! The day after she turned 4 months (January 9th) she started rolling and hasn't looked back. She now rolls from back to tummy and tummy to back and when you put her down in one spot give her a few minutes and she will be on the other side of the room. We are officially at the stage where the small toys need to be up high and the floors need to be vacuumed more than I care to do so.

She is definitely a "groaner". She rarely cries but will groan...Daddy and I joke around because we aren't sure how it gets so loud with her mouth being closed but it definitely is loud! She sometimes does it if she seems to be concentrating on something (like trying to get a toy) or if she needs something.

We have been able to get awesome videos this past month of her laughing at Joseph and Ella. She takes after Ella with such a great belly laugh and her older siblings are definitely so awesome at getting her to do so. She is also grabbing our faces and loves when we kiss her cheeks as she opens her mouth and rubs her cheek next to yours-so sweet. I smile everytime I change her because I just love her chubby thighs!! She continues to be so laid back and happy and we feel so blessed with her!

5 months today!!

She is sitting up by herself for a few seconds at a time although most times she starts to lean forward immediately-still working on that core strength.

Here are some pictures from the past month

Doing some light reading on January 13th

And, bouncing away later that day

Waiting for her rice cereal on January 21st

On January 21st she tried rice cereal for the first time. She didn't seem to love it but didn't seem to hate it either...most of it probably ended up on her chin. We tried the rice cereal for a few days but then she didn't poop for at least three days so I decided to hold off on the rice cereal until she turns 6 months. She used to be a very regular pooper but now it is sporadic and definitely not daily so of course I feel like I ruined her digestive system but I'm sure things will work its way out and other than a few nights of using gripe water because she seemed uncomfortable it doesn't seem to bother her so hoping that we don't have any issues in the future.

Gotta love Joseph on the side of the picture. He and Ella were so excited for her to eat rice cereal and they even helped feed her! She still sits with us for dinner most nights even though she isn't eating anything right now.

Mommy/Julia selfie on January 22nd

She also discovered that her toes are pretty tasty this past month and she is often caught nibbling on them.

She'll stick with toes for now instead of rice cereal

January 23rd

She continues to love the jumper!

January 30th

We put away the playgym-pretty pointless these days since this is what happens.

Staying nice and warm in her cute vest on January 31st.

February 1st-looking like she is up to no good!

The first week of February she had a pretty gunky eye but it worked itself out and we didn't need to go to the doctor. It does help that our pediatrician lives in Creekside Village, too, and we ran into her at the grocery store one day and the new village center a few days later so she checked it out for us and said it looked much better! She was still up for a photo shoot on February 2nd

We also put the bouncy seat away this month (it probably should have been put away last month!)

Here she is on her last time in it-I was trying to get a picture of her grabbing her toes, leaning all the way forward looking like she was going to tumble onto the ground but was too afraid that if I took a picture then she really would fall.

Just hanging out on February 4th!

She was supposed to be napping but instead I found her smiling and moving her head around!

We tried this past month moving her to her own room but after two weeks of not sleeping so well (and most nights her ending up in the guest bed that is in her room with me) we decided to bring her back down to the pack and play. She normally falls asleep in the swing from 7:30 until 10:00, eats and then we move her to the pack and play and she'll sleep until 4-5ish but will wake up around 1:00 but as long as I put her paci in then she goes back to sleep. When she was in her room I think she would see me lean over the crib to stick her paci in and get excited so she wouldn't just fall back to sleep so for now this is working out much better. I know she can't stay in our room forever but with two weeks of visitors at the end of February and one in the beginning of March we figure we'll try again then. She wakes up in the morning so happy and normally I'll send Joseph and Ella in to entertain her for a bit before I get her which they all love! I recently purchased a zipadeezip after recommendations from friends (basically a sleep sack but with their arms enclosed as well) so we'll see if that keeps her from waking around 1:00 looking for her paci (it didn't help last night!)

Waking up happy on February 8th!