we've got a 5-month-old on our hands

How do I have a 5-month-old? It feels like just yesterday I was waddling around with a big buddha belly and my feet were so swollen I could only wear a select few flip flops (exhibit A and exhibit B). Thank goodness it was summer at the end of my pregnancy. Now we have a real live 5-month-old who smiles, laughs, kisses (sort of...it's pretty slobbery) and knows who I am. I feel so blessed to have this little girl in my life. Look how big she's getting!

And check out those thighs! Little juicy baby I tell you.

I can't stop kissing this little face.

I'm not sure where she is stats-wise this month but I think she's kind of hitting a plateau (I think). That's what the doctor figured would happen, because girlfriend has almost been off the charts for weight, head size and height since she was one month old. I love me a big baby!

Well, big things have been happening for this five-month-old over the last month. Here are some of her grand achievements (in no particular order):

• She started eating solids (video at the bottom included). At first all she did was spit them out, but I think she's kind of getting the hang of it now. That doesn't stop her from making hilarious faces though, which is almost the only reason I feed them to her...pure entertainment.
• When you take off her diaper to change it she almost always goes for the hand grab right where you don't want her to, inevitably getting poop on her hands which you have to quickly catch or she'll put it in her mouth. Gross. She's pretty sneeky and will go for the grab right after you think you're in the clear.
• She can hold her own bottle and feed herself. This sometimes ends in a big mess of milk down the front of her shirt, but she's getting pretty good.
• She now ROLLS OVER! She's only done it once back to front (she hates tummy time, except for when she's reading with dad...pictured below) but can almost always go front to back. We are proud parents.

• She still sleeps through the night and takes killer naps during the day. A part-time working-from-home mother is grateful for that!
• Minnie smiles all of the time, but she doesn't laugh a whole lot. However, she is SO ticklish and will give you some pretty hearty laughs if you squeeze her juicy thighs.
• She can sit up...a little bit. If she leans too far back she's toast, but otherwise she's pretty solid.

 This list is likely a little boring to those of you who are not her mother, father or grandparents, but it's for posterity's sake, as most of my posts are.

In other news...Robert just got an in-person interview for an internship in Pennsylvania. The company is flying him out there in a week and half for a few days. It will be interesting to see what happens.

And now, I'll end this lengthy post with a video I took yesterday of the Minster choking down some solids.