21 Weeks Old

 Closing in on 5 months old! The infant stage seems to be quickly leaving us as she is nearly fully transitioned into the baby stage. I was made keenly aware of that fact tonight as I was holding her in one arm and carrying a cup of hot tea in the other hand as she tried to grab the tea. She is so aware of her surroundings now. Her absolute favorite entertainment is watching Henry or Wilbur - and if they are both playing together she will laugh and squeal her delight. She's also very intrigued with watching her own hands. It's hilarious to watch her watch her hands and clasp them together, spread her fingers apart and then inevitably put them into her mouth!

 I realized that I never posted about her check-up after we went in last. She weighed in at 15 pounds, 8 ounces and a height (length?) of 27 inches. That put her in the 66th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height. It was kind of surprising to me to hear how tall she is because I don't look at her and think she is particularly long, but I guess she is. What a change from Henry! Poor guy could hardly maintain his own curve in weight while Nora is jumping up higher and higher in the percentiles with every check-up! She also got two more vaccines (repeats of the very first round she had). She'll go in again in about 5 weeks for her 6 month check up and get her 4th round of shots which will be a repeat of the second round she did (2 vaccines).  Then I will continue to have to take her in every other month or so for more to catch her up. Just like Henry she will eventually have all her vaccines, just not as early as children who follow the standard schedule.

As this picture shows, she is getting better at sitting up, but still not able to do so unassisted. She reminds me of a queen surrounded by her royal cushions in this picture. Can you guess what is making her smile? Henry, of course!

She's definitely not ready for solids yet - she barely tolerates water in her mouth. She just thrusts it right back out...which is actually pretty funny and I keep giving her little bits on a spoon just to see her do it. But, even if she was swallowing it, I'm still set on waiting until 6 months before starting. We are going to make some breast milk slushies for her though! Hopefully that will help ease any discomfort of teething and let her get some more practice with a spoon and a new texture.

The pictures of Henry are from his baseball class. The blurry picture is of him just nailing a hit - it definitely would have been a home run had it not been a whiffle ball. I so wish it was in focus - it was an amazing hit! The other shot is of him on first base (they all advance one base per hit) - you can just see how proud he is of himself in his expression.