Brandon's First Father's Day

Breakfast at Nikko's - a little Greek place down the street from our house. 

Taking the bronco for a long ride down the coast. 

The Del Mar fair. 

Donuts.

Hot Dogs.

Cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting.

This was the 7th year in a row that Brandon and I have gone to the fair together. Each year we take a picture in the photobooth. We've captured our dating years, being engaged, being married, being pregnant, and NOW we have another miniature human being in the booth with us. 

Brandon, I always knew you'd make an amazing father, but I had no idea just how gentle and patient you would be. The love you show our daughter comes so naturally to you. From the first hour she was in this world, it was you who was swaddling her, changing her, and waking up throughout those first few nights in the hospital when she cried. I cannot wait to see you two together over the next 5, 10, 25 years.

You truly light up our lives.

Five Months

You turned five months old yesterday and we're having more fun than ever!

Sleep: The last month has been heavenly. You go to bed pretty consistently between 6:30 and 7:30 pm and don't wake up until 5:30 am. Then you will go down for your morning nap at 7:30 am and sleep another hour. You have been a great sleeper since you were born, but it just keeps getting better and better. I have read that another growth spurt can be expected around 6 months, so I'm anticipating you getting up during the night. I'm trying to enjoy the full nights rest while I can :-)
Food: You are still nursing every 2-3 hours during the day. We've also started giving you some avocado. You LOVE it!! You will sit and watch us eat and open and close your mouth and stick out your tongue and stare at me with your laser beam eyes until we give you another little taste. Your primary diet will still be breast milk, we'd just like to introduce you to solids so you can experience different tastes and textures.

Social: This last month you've been going to car shows, restaurants, the beach, the pool. You've been having a lot of fun and it is getting easier to take you places. It's still a nightmare driving with you though. You will cry and scream until we take you out...and then you are instantly happy again. Sigh.

Milestones: After you rolled over from tummy to back those few times for us last month, you didn't really do it very often. But I have found you a couple of times in your crib on your back looking very proud of yourself. 

You fell asleep in your stroller for the first time! I was stunned to find you sleeping when I got back home. I was able to move you into your crib where you continued to sleep for two hours. We now do this every morning! You also LOVE your dad's bronco, and will fall asleep in that carseat every time.

Exercise: One of your favorite things in the world is your exersaucer! Your eyes light up the instant we lower you into it. You will bang on all of your toys, gnaw on them, screech and laugh. I could watch you sit in it all day. It's also nice because you will entertain yourself for quite awhile while mommy eats lunch or cooks dinner. And when you get tired in it, you just sit and suck on your finger.

Stats: I won't know your exact weight/height until we go for your 6 month dr. appointment next month, but I would guess that you are maybe 16 pounds? You are still wearing size 2 diapers and 6 month clothes.

Adventures with food!

I plan to exclusively breastfeed Avery for one year. However, we wanted to introduce food, not as a replacement, but just for fun :-) As the months go on, I'm sure she'll be eating more and more food. But as of 5 months, she is just "tasting". I wanted to wait until six months but she has been soooo interested in what we eat. The first time we gave her some mashed up bites of avocado, she couldn't eat it fast enough! She opens her mouth, and goes "oooooh" between tastes. Sometimes she's so frantic, she almost starts crying until I give her another little bit. I just bought the Beaba baby food maker, and can't wait to start trying different recipes. We set up her high chair last night, and I scored some plates and bowls in the dollar section at Target this afternoon.

She loves it!