Olivia's 5 Months Old

Time is flying! Can't believe Olivia turned 5 month's old this past Saturday. She is such a happy baby! We are enjoying everyday with her.

She had her 4 month check-up with vaccines on the 20th. She weighed 16.4 lbs and was 24 3/4 inches long. We got the okay to start her on solids, but we had already started a few weeks prior since her appointment was at almost 5 month's. She's doing really well. I started giving her cereal once a day. Then added some fruits. She is now having cereal with some fruit twice a day and I started some veggies for dinner. It's funny cause she loves foods that I thought she would hate. But, whatever works. Just happy she is eating.

The beginning of the month Dannie had shingles. It was a bit tough doing everything by myself. He could still help, just couldn't hold Olivia. I haven't ever had chicken pox or the vaccine and Olivia doesn't get vaccinated until she is about 12 month's. I feel for any single mama's out there because I now know how it feels. But, we made it through and Dannie was super excited to hold Olivia again once he was all healed up.

When I heard about getting babies into a routine, I never thought it would be so easy. Well, not that it's easy. It just takes time! The only time we didn't follow through is when we're running errands or at Granny's house. But, in case anyone is wanting to know what we do, this is it..

She usually wakes up between 7:00-8:00 am. We usually change diaper, nurse, and do some playing. She has been eating cereal around 8:30-9:00. I usually warm a 5 oz. bottle. I use half the milk for her cereal and the other half I keep in her bottle so she can have it after. Since she is sleepy by this time, if she isn't full she will have some of her bottle. Then, it's morning nap time. She's doing a lot better with napping in her crib. She will do this between 1-2 hours. Occasionally she will sleep for 3 hours. We do lunch cereal with fruit between 1-2. If she gets really messy during lunch then I will bathe her, if not I wait until after evening feeding. She usually gets another bottle after this. She will nap again between 3-5. Same routine with cereal. Then we will do lots of playing when her daddy gets home between 5:45-6. Depending on what Dannie and I are doing usually depends if she takes an evening nap or not. Sometimes she doesn't and is exhausted by her 9:30-10:30 bed time. We have been TRYING to start bed time earlier. A few nights she has went down at 9, but wakes up during the night. We have decided we would rather her go down later and not wake during the night then go down earlier and wake lots during the night.

She is showing more interest in what we are eating and drinking lately. The other day Dannie was drinking some water while holding her and she reached over to kind of help him hold the glass. Anytime we start eating something she isn't, she's curious to know what it is. I gave her a small taste of some mashed potatoes last night and she seemed to like them just like her mama. Can't wait until she tries her Granny's. She can sit up for about a minute on her own, then she falls forward.

We are still using cloth diapers during the day. I will admit sometimes I'm a slacker and put disposables on her...I need to STOP! Last week I set us back a little on purchasing disposables. They are so expensive and we go through so many!! She has pretty much passed up 3-6 month clothing. I was telling Dannie yesterday that it stinks I have to go through her clothes almost weekly because she is outgrowing them all. When she has cloth diapers on she's wearing 6 months clothes for sure! When she's not a few 3-6 month's still fit. I can't see myself saving all of these clothes. I tried re-selling some, but that didn't go so well.

Olivia's favorite time of the day is when she wakes up. Non-stop smiles from this little lady! We love it, she loves it. I recently purchased her a pool float. She's been in the water three times now. She enjoyed the pool at Granny's and we recently went to a friend's house that had a pool and she loved it. Our goal is to make her a water baby! Our next adventure will be the beach once we purchase a tent.

I have a new breast pump coming in the mail also. It's a Spectra double pump. Not sure what to think about it yet since I have been using a Medela. I looked up reviews on it and watched a few YouTube videos. Just hoping I like it. Have any of you used it or known anyone who has?

At the end of July we will be traveling to Miami for a few days. Any tips you have on traveling with a baby and pumping would be greatly appreciated. Not only that, but since she has started solids, it'll make meal time more complicated since she isn't sitting up yet. We can't pack our whole house up and take it. I'm wondering what I will feed her in. I'd even like to know what you packed. I'm a bit nervous that we will be away from home and an atmosphere we are used to with Olivia. Dannie will be working during the day, so I will be with Olivia during the day in a hotel room.

Olivia's Nursery

I've been wanting to talk about Olivia's nursery for awhile now, but just haven't had the chance. Originally when I found out I was pregnant I had decided on teal, orange, gray, and white. I wanted it to be a neutral room. Everyone kept saying that if it was a girl I would want pink and I was sure I wouldn't. Well, to my surprise, the pink won me over eventually. Either way, one thing I was sure of is that I didn't want a theme. I wanted it to be as simple as possible. 

My mom had agreed to make a quilt for Olivia's crib like she did for my two nephews.  She first made one with the original colors I had picked out. After we found out we were having a girl, she quickly started making a new one. Once the quilt was done, everything came together afterwards that matched it. The crib was probably the toughest decision we had to make. Almost all of the ones I picked out were sold out. We finally decided on a white Graco brand from Amazon. 

I fell in love with Katie Daisy's artwork awhile ago. I already had one print in our house prior to setting up her nursery. But, I knew for sure that I wanted to incorporate some into her room. She has two over her crib and one above changing table/dresser. I love that it's very flowery (but, not too feminine) and springy. She also adds beautiful quotes to them. The "dream" sign I picked up at Kirkland's. It has little crystal hooks on it that match the knobs on the dresser. The dresser was purchased from Ikea. It came in a birch color, but we painted it gray. 

The bunting over the changing table/dressing was made by a sweet friend on Instagram. I love that it fits so perfectly on the wall with everything else. Olivia already enjoys looking up at the colorful ABC print on the wall. while getting changed. The embroidery hoops were put together with left-over fabric from the quilt. The hoops were easy to put together and it makes it easy to change them out when you are in the mood to redecorate.  

The glider was purchased from Amazon. The bookshelf was a steal from Closetmaid, as was the square bins. These bookshelves are great because you can always add to them if you need more space. 

Since taking these pictures I have added two wall shelves beside the window. I'm having a hard time finding things to put on them. But, once I get them filled. I will take some pictures. 

Our Little 4 Month Old

 I'll start off by saying...I'm not really prepared for this post. Our little one has grown so much over the past month. I guess when people tell you they grow up fast, you don't realize it until after. Olivia goes to the pediatrician on the 20th of this month for her four month vaccines. I have weighed her a few times on our scale and she is around 15 lbs. I tried my best to check her length a couple of days ago. I'm not sure how accurate it was (since she kept kicking her legs), but she was close to 25 inches.

Last month, she was still not a fan of tummy time. She will allow us to lay her down with toys around her for about 10-15 minutes now. She gets so smiley and talkative during this time. Once she's fussy though, she's back over on her back. She hasn't ever showed interest in her pacifier and actually started sucking her thumb for a week or two. That has officially ended. It was cute while it lasted. She's tried to hold her bottle a few times during feedings, we allow her to do it until she drops it. She has mastered nap time in her crib. She went from 30-40 minutes to 2 hours. Since Dannie works during the week and it's more rough to lose sleep during the week, we started laying her in her pack & play during the night. She slept through the entire night in there! We were very impressed.

We started her on rice cereal two weeks ago. She was a little unsure at first, but we continued it daily and she's got the hang of it now. We have also slowly begun giving her some fruits and veggies. So far, her favorites are apples and sweet potatoes. She started giggling this month too. Which we LOVE.

I have always wanted to be able to wear her in a wrap so that I would be able to still do things around the house. When she was younger, we tried it out a few times and she would cry and get really hot. We have started putting her in a wrap daily now and she enjoys it. She has gone to Target, thrift stores, and grocery shopping with me in it. Her daddy wears her around the house and loves it too. If you have a baby and need to get things done around the house or need help shopping, I highly recommend it. I didn't have money to purchase an expensive one, so, this has saved us some money.

1. Look for cheap jersey or muslin fabric. (Check Wal-Mart's clearance section)
2. Purchase 6 yards and check width of it too. It should be between 60-72 wide (one long piece will usually make two wraps)
3. Cut the fabric in half length wise so it's 30-36 inches wide and 6 yards long.
4. That's it! No sewing required. After you have correct fabric size, check out YouTube for different ways to safely carry baby.

Olivia is definitely starting to get her own little personality. We can already tell she is going to be quite the little jokester. She is always making us laugh and is always smiling. She is always so happy. Like Maroon 5 said, "It's not always rainbows and butterflies" because she has her grumpy days, which that is mainly only in the evening. We were blessed with such a good, sweet baby.