Juliette hit the five month mark on Friday – these days I often catch myself looking at her and wondering what happened to the helpless newborn I cradled in my arms last fall. Â Every day she’s a little heavier, her hair’s a little longer, she looks up at me with a new facial expression I haven’t seen before, and I keep falling for her over and over and over. Â Those eyes!
Girl’s also got some serious legs. Â She’s really into standing right now, with just a little assistance from me or Shane. Â Her head wobbles a little as she struggles to find her balance, and then she stabilizes and smiles her big “look at me!” smile.
Agh! Â That chub! Â My love for her squishy thighs knows no bounds.
Her abs are pretty impressive as well – she’s constantly trying to pull herself up into a sitting position, like some form of baby pilates. Â She does these in her crib in the morning and keeps it up all day long. Â I should join her and work on my post-pregnancy tummy, but just watching her makes me tired.
She sucks and slobbers on just about anything within arm’s reach, but her chew toy of choice (other than her dad’s pinky finger) is that silly Sophie the Giraffe that I initially thought was so over-played and over-priced. Â Each of Sophie’s four legs, her face, her ears, her neck – they’ve all fallen prey to Juliette’s toothless chomp. Â And when Jules starts to tire from all the sucking, she holds Sophie close and they grab a few Z’s together.
I’m using pigtails more and more to tame her unruly hair – she’s pretty irresistible with those two sweet little tufts of reddish-brown crowning her head. Â Plus, post-pigtails hair is kind of awesome!
She’s using her voice a lot more, expressing joy and anger and boredom with a series of ahhhs and ohhhs and a very wet ppppffff. Â This squealy little cough is her funny attempt at laughter – she’s workin’ on it!
Gracious, this girl adores her daddy. Â One of the best parts of my day is watching them both light up when Shane gets home from work in the evening. Â He excitedly yells “Baby!” and reaches for her as she beams in response, so eager to be in his arms. Â They’re a match made in heaven, those two.
More and more, Juliette is showing interest in her little buddies. Â Our Tuesday get-togethers with my mama’s group and our Wednesdays at the Beacon Hill story time have become the highlights of her week. Â It’s extra-special to see her and baby Chen together – La Verne and I prayed and cried and hoped together for so long in our journey toward motherhood, and seeing N and J sitting side-by-side…well, it’s enough to start those tears flowing again.
Ok, I know there are an obscene amount of baby photos on this blog, but indulge me for just one more minute…
Happy 5 months, little Jules. Â This mama thing just keeps getting better and better.