Alison is 5 months old...almost!

Fun in the Jumperoo!


Sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's bed


Flirtin' with baby Luke!


First time in the swing


"Clicking" back to Mommy


Loving her brother!

Wow, it is AMAZING how fast the time flies by with your second baby! You hear it all the time, but it is so true and now I know first hand. Alison is such a sweet, loving, "good" baby! She still isn't sleeping more than 6 or 7 hours at night, but I am getting used to it and I'm hoping that in the next month we can get her to 12 or 13 hours like her brother. She rarely cries, but usually if she does it is just because she is hungry and I didn't get to her before she got too hungry because I was dealing with Zachary. I always know when she is getting tired because she starts getting unhappy and as long as I catch her before she starts fussing too much, I can put her down in her crib wide awake and she gets to sleep on her own. I LOVE that! Z was the same way and that was something that I really wanted with her too, so I worked hard to make it happen. The great thing about her, though, is that she will also let you rock her to sleep if you want! Zachary, once he was tired, just wanted to be put down...no cuddling. Alison, however, LOVES to cuddle and usually sleeps next to me in the mornings after her 5/6 a.m. feeding until Zachary wakes up...then we're all up! We started Alison on solids when she turned four months and she really loves cereal and baby food! The first night, after we fed her, she was SO happy! She was super smiley and squealed so much! So far she has had rice cereal, bananas, avocado, apples, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes and oatmeal. We will be trying peas and green beans next, and then maybe some squash and corn. I feed her in the evenings and she eats like a little horse that's never been fed! I think she's already gained almost 2 pounds since we started with the solids...that's a lot in less than a month! :)

Okay, so I like to write down things about the kids every once in a while so I remember what they were like at different times in their lives. Here are a few more things about Alison:

-She is really strong and holds her head up really well...hardly any "bobbling"
-She's been rolling both ways since the day after her 4 months birthday
-She can push herself up off her chest while on her tummy
-She found her toes about a month ago, but has just gotten really interested in them and now tries to chew on them
-She doesn't giggle much (like her brother) but is very smiley and squealy
-She can squeal so LOUD...she hurts our ears sometimes! It's amazing how much noise someone so small can make!
-She still wears almost all of her 0-3 month clothes, but I also put her in 3-6 month clothes and they fit her "okay"
-She just outgrew her size 1 diapers
-She gives really good kisses!
-She loves toys and faces and reaches out to anything she sees
-She rubs her eyes with the backs of her hands (SOOOOO cute!)
-She clicks her tongue and "razzes" and will do it in response to you doing it to her (when you razz, she razzes)
-She pulls her knees underneath her (while on her tummy) and "scoots" forward
-She can get up on all fours now too!
-She has started putting her hand on the back of her head and then scratching the back of her head up to the side of her head...I am really having to watch her nails. She does this a lot while nursing.
-She's also started pulling on her ears a little...like as a comfort thing. Also does this while she is nursing.
-When she doesn't have a paci, she is loving her fingers or fist...no thumb.
-She can put her pacifier in her mouth by herself (she's only done this a couple of times so far)
-We love her SO much!!!!!