blackmoondog

[Insert obligitory comment about it being 5 months already.]

Zoe is turning into a little person! Who'd a thunk?! :)

We're currently on the trailing edge of the most recent development leap and she just had another growth spurt. Zoe now weighs in at 14.5lbs and measures 24.5in long. As a result, I had to finally order her new car seat because she's an inch and a half from outgrowing the infant seat. Many people have said we'll be sad when we can't use the infant carrier part of the seat but she tends to wake up when the car stops anyway. Especially if we are arriving at home. The child has a knack for waking up when we hit the driveway, either on foot or in the car. What is really going to kill me is when I can no longer haul her to the cosleeper on the breastfeeding pillow (that day is rapidly approaching, as is the day that she's too long for the cosleeper). I suppose I should start trying to carry her another way sooner rather than later.

In addition to her physical growth, new behaviors are popping up. Zoe is very close to being able to roll over from back to tummy (last month she started rolling tummy to back) and the effort cheeses her off quite a bit. It looks like she's gonna be a mover. She's also discovered that her tongue can extend out of her mouth and uses that to push out her binky when she doesn't want us to get it in. Sitting up is rapidly approaching. She needs help to get into a sitting position but went from falling over even when propped up to nearly sitting by herself in a week or two. Another recent arrival is little grabby hands. And every thing she can get in her hands goes straight to the mouth. While screaming in the car is now a rarity, we are losing the ability to get her to sleep reliably in the car because she pulls out her binky, plays with it, and then drops it.

I finally got my copy of The Wonder Weeks, no thanks to Amazon. They waited over a month to send the email saying they couldn't get the book. After ordering from one of their outside dealers, the book was here in less than two weeks. *sigh* Anyhoo, I'm really glad to have it to use as a roadmap for her development leaps. We're just coming out of the 19 week leap which is when babies learn that sequences of actions make up events. Now instead of crying when I set her down to put on the breastfeeding pillow, she smiles and seems to recognize that milkies are imminent. That rules. She's been in a great mood this week with lots of smiles and laughing. I'm really hoping the next fussy phase can hold off until after our trip to the Bay Area on Memorial Day weekend.

Things on deck for Month Six:

- Solid foods! She hasn't started grabbing our food yet but she watches every bite that goes in our mouths. Yesterday at mom's group she didn't want to nurse until I was eating my sandwich.

- Baby sign. The summer session of the Parent Participation classes is going to include teaching some baby sign.

- Teeth? The 6 month-olds in mom's group are getting in their first teeth. I've been watching Zoe's gums but haven't seen anything yet.

This weekend we took our first real overnight trip with Zoe. Our first attempt at an overnighter end with us packing up and starting the three hour drive home at midnight so it doesn't really count. This time the trip went really well.

Zoe's Nana & Grandad (aka Mark's parents) are both turning 70 within the next month and they planned a grand shindig on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend to celebrate their combined 140 years. I was a bit wary of making the trip after last time but Zoe has been traveling better locally and I did some things differently to try to make it easier on her. This time we:

- Departed after a feeding during the 9am - 12pm morning nap window to try to maximize the amount of time spent sleeping in the car. It worked better on the way there than on the way home but still was pretty good as a whole.

- Booked a hotel rather than staying at Nana & Grandad's house. This mimics our home environment better because it is just the three of us. We stayed at the Comfort Inn on El Camino in Mountain View. It was great and will probably become our regular place to stay when visiting the Smith clan.

- Brought the cosleeper and made sure to bring the sheet and blankets that Zoe has been sleeping with for a bit so her bed would still smell like home.

Saturday morning we left the local Strawberry Festival behind and headed to SLO for breakfast before hitting the road. Zoe was pretty fussy so we had to tag team to get through the meal. She slept in the car from SLO to just north of Gilroy and then we stopped at Babies 'R Us in San Jose to check out strollers and take a break to nurse & diaper. That was a great place to stop since they have a room with couches, armchairs & changing tables. I didn't see the stroller that I wanted to check out though and we ended up leaving with just a travel pack of baby wipes (because I wanted the refillable container).

From there we pressed on and went to check in at the hotel before heading over to Nana & Grandad's to hang out before going to China Stix for dinner. Zoe was apparently unimpressed with China Stix, as she fussed nearly non-stop while we were there. After dinner we went back to the room and watched Mythbusters while trying to get Zoe to sleep. The third nurse was the charm and she slept nearly 6 hours straight (2 in bed with us, 4 in the cosleeper), woke up to eat, and then went back to sleep for another hour or so. I was pleasantly surprised, as the previous two nights at home had her waking every couple of hours (probably due to her first tooth rearing its pointy self).

Sunday morning we headed over to Hobee's for breakfast where the fuss started yet again but thankfully ended in her falling alseep in my arms with a pacifier, leaving us fuss-free and me with my right hand to eat my breakfast. Yay! From there we went to SIL's place so Mark could introduce Zoe to the Indy 500 while I snuck off to IKEA to pick up some stuff in the children's section. During the race's rain delay we headed back to our room to get ready for the party. We were technically the first guests to arrive and we watched the rest of the Indy 500 while visiting with Mark's folks and his aunt, uncle, & cousin who had come down from Oregon.

As other guests started arriving, Zoe fell asleep on the breastfeeding pillow and had a nice little nap before we joined the group out back. It was fantastic to see everybody, some of whom travelled long distances to be there. I definitely married into a great family. :) Zoe took a second power nap during the party and then had some time with grandad before melting down. She nursed off to sleep and had another pretty good night.

Monday morning we packed up, grabbed some breakfast and headed back to the house to visit with the family again before hitting the road. Zoe slept for about the first 40 minutes and then fussed on and off until we stopped at a gas station for a diaper change and a bit of air. Once back in the car she dozed of and slept most of the remaining drive.

All in all it was a very good trip. Next time there are a few of things I plan to do differently, like leaving the nursing footstool at home and bringing -- damn, I've already forgotten the thing I wanted to bring along next time. Oh! Maybe it was swim wear so we can go in the pool. A small box fan would be nice too so we could pull in the air from the window instead of using the AC unit and waking up feeling like dessicated husks. Ah, now I remember. I left the leg extenders for the cosleeper at home thinking that the hotel bed would be lower. It was freaking tall! Like taller than our bed at home, which is already pretty darn tall. That will only matter if Zoe can still fit in the cosleeper by the next trip. While folding it up I read the warning tag which said you're only supposed to use it until the baby can sit up or outweighs the limit and they estimated that was around 5 months. Zoe will be 6 months old in about two weeks.