Like Begets Love: Five months old: First travel!

Just turned five months old...
So much is gonna happen to me this month!

November 11-December 11

This month was wonderful. The first half of the month we just relaxed, enjoyed being in a new home, and developed our weekly rhythm. Every morning Sandi wakes up between 6-6:30 and pumps some milk, then goes for a run while Doug and Aisling sleep. She's usually home by 8:00 am.

When Sandi gets home Doug is usually up and making coffee with one of his fancy hand filters and smoothies in our new Vitamix. Sandi takes a shower right away and then takes over baby duty (she usually sleeps until 8ish) while Doug gets ready for work. He's out the door between 9-9:30 for a fast bike ride to work, which he loves.

Aisling and I have very full days, and for the first time I have a complete understanding of just how much work it is to stay home with a baby, especially one who's so social but not yet physically developed enough to entertain herself yet.

Usually I fed her a bottle at 9:30 with the milk I pumped at 6 and then nurse her to sleep at 10 or so. During this month she had a period when she really hated taking the bottle which made for some tough mornings. I want her to take a bottle so that we can have other people babysit her in a more flexible way. We haven't started solid foods yet but we plan to once she's 6 months old or so. No rush, since she's obviously developing just fine on breastmilk alone. She napped from 10-11 or so and for short periods in the afternoon. Daddy came home by 6 or so and she was usually down by 8-8:30. Sometimes I'd nurse her to sleep, and sometimes I could just lay her in her bed and she'd go out by herself.

It was so nice to have a few quiet weeks in which to develop a routine. I rushed around during Aisling's naps cleaning and doing chores, and when she was awake we'd walk or play or run errands. I always feel incredibly guilty getting onto the computer when she's awake, because it basically means sitting there ignoring her... so the blog fell woefully behind once again.

This was also the month when we began looking for childcare. The equation is a tricky one. I'll probably blog about that one later.

The highlight of this month was our trip to Tennessee for Thanksgiving! Sandi's sisters met Aisling in August, but Grandmommy hadn't yet gotten to hold her youngest granddaughter yet. It was a wonderful long visit!

Aisling (finally) rolled over for the first time in Tennessee on her Aunt Tracie's living room floor. It was an exciting moment. She thoroughly enjoyed having a well-staffed entourage and fan club, as well. when we got home to Mountain View on December 10, she didn't even know what to do without all that attention.

Rolling over for the fist time was just the first of several milestones she reached in the subsequent weeks. But those weeks occurred just after her 6th month birthday. Which I'll post next.

Here's a little photo journal of our Tennessee Thanksgiving Adventure: