Five Months

Olivia is such a little sweetheart.

I think I am enjoying the "baby phase" so much more this time around for a couple of reasons.  First, Olivia is a very easy baby.  I credit this mostly to her, but I'm going to take a little credit as well.  Why, you ask?  Well, I give her whatever she wants, when she wants it.  And I'm sure you're thinking, Well of course you do, she's just a baby! Yes that's right, but I feel like with my first two babies, I tried so hard to keep them on a schedule and train them to "sleep well" and "eat on time", that they cried a bit more and we just had a harder time in general because I thought I had to do those things.  Also, with Abby I was a brand new mom so that has it's own challenges, and then with Ellie we had huge problems with nursing, so she just cried all the time because of that and I never got any sleep.  I also had a really hard time adjusting to two children and it was just difficult all around.

With Olivia, I give her whatever she wants and I'm not trying to "train" her to do anything yet.  She eats whenever she seems hungry (I don't make her wait x number of hours), she goes to sleep when she wants, I get her almost right away when she cries, etc.  As a result, she hardly ever cries for long and she's just all around a great and happy baby.  Maybe all this "spoiling" will bite me in the end but I doubt it.  She's still a little baby and you can't spoil a baby, I've come to believe (you know, in all my old age and wisdom).

I am also realizing how quickly this precious time goes by, so I'm trying to savor it as much as I can.  This is another reason I go to her almost immediately when she cries.  I want to hold her as much as possible.  I want to snuggle with her, kiss her, and gaze into her beautiful and smiley face all day.  I was more stressed with the other two girls so I was a little anxious for them to be a bit more independent.  Until now, I thought I just wasn't a "baby person" since I loved ages 1-3ish so much more.  But with Olivia... oh man I just wish she could be my little baby forever.  I wish I could slow down time. 

She is so happy, always smiling.  Laughing too -- and is there anything cuter than little baby laughs??

We haven't started any foods yet.  In fact, just yesterday I realized that we could have started rice cereal about a month ago.  Honestly, it hasn't even been on my radar!  We'll probably start something in the next month or so but I'm not anxious (in fact, feeling a bit of the opposite).

She's rolling over both ways, and when she's on her tummy she even tucks her knees under like she's trying to get into a crawling position.

She is sleeping through the night (8pm-7am) off and on... some nights she wakes up and eats, and some nights she just sleeps.  She is currently sleeping in the pack & play in our playroom (third bedroom), and once she consistently sleeps though the night she'll move into her crib in the girls' room.

Olivia has brought so much joy into our home and we just love her to pieces.  We can't imagine our family without her!  I feel so blessed to have three beautiful daughters.