Okay, I know it's supposed to be "jump and jive" but honestly there have been so many changes happening I just had to have it to describe Bridget's fifth month of life.
She is officially out of her 0-3 month clothes! It only took her 5 months to get there... And her little fedora (0-6 month) finally fits! Best part is she likes it now. You may remember how much she hated her bucket hats when we would take her to the beach/pool. Maybe she senses the "coolness" of a fedora haha. She sleeps through the night (10-7) and still cuddling her teddy bear. She wakes up all smiles unless she's starving, then it's just yelling.
Bridget has started eating rice cereal and absolutely LOVES it. She would eat it all the time if we let her. We're also trying this process called "baby led weaning" where basically we give her whatever we're eating in safe ways just for her to try the taste, texture, and get the general idea of how to eat. And by George, we KNOW she's got it! She has the chomping motion down, loves to feel food textures with her tongue, brings different foods to her mouth and holds it there while she sucks on them (don't worry, they're safe!) and whenever we sit down to eat she stares at us and holds out her hands until we give her her own portion. She loves sucking on carrot sticks, snap peas, broccoli, and green beans. However, from what we've seen, her absolute favorite food is pizza... I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree; one of Tony's first foods was pizza and it was one of his favorites too. Funniest reaction she has had has been eating spinach. She has enjoyed all the food we've shared with her
except spinach. We gave it to her blended with a little water and she literally gagged with it. She'd get it in her mouth, taste it with her tongue, make one of those faces where you know she's dying a little on the inside and then follow it up with two or three gags. We've tried spinach two or three times and each time elicits the same reaction. Oh well. Like I said, she loves other veggies, so I'm not worried about it.
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| That may or may not be chocolate from a chocolate chip cookie... no judging! |
Bear is beginning to really enjoy Bridget. We play fetch with him everyday from the couch so he has started associating her with play and he knows she's
somehow apart of the family. Before this month he was very unsure of how to handle her but now he is warming up to her. He lets her pet him, pull his ears, and attempt to eat him (she gets apprehended by Mom). The most impressive thing he tolerates is letting her squish him. The only time he becomes defensive is when she tries to take his toy basket. He loves kissing her and will often sneak face-kisses when she's in her walker or is close enough while we're playing fetch.
Little Britches is getting her walking legs! When we hold her up and allow her feet to touch the ground she does the cute little baby steps. Once Tony talks to her and motivates her, her legs start kicking up a storm.I really should record it... I'll get on it. When she's laying on the bed, she can shimmy her way across to grab toys! She kind of scoots using her legs a lot and then skids on her head... very little arm muscle happening haha. But she does it consistently! Once she figures out those arms, she'll be crawling! Oh, and the picture shows her obsession with her toes. As soon as the diaper comes off, she's sucking on her big toes like they're going out of style.
Bridget has also begun her transformation into a mermaid- I know, I'm so proud! The last few times we've gone to the pool she has loved being in the water and gets mad when we have to get out. A previous time we went though, we had to leave because she got mad at the water. She just couldn't grab it! It was funny seeing her thought process:
I love this clear stuff! Oh look! My links float on it!... I can put the links in my mouth if I catch them... Hey my links go through this clear stuff... I want this clear stuff *toss the links aside* Okay I'll just grab this... hmmm must have missed it, I'll just try again.. *grab... grab... GRAB GRAB GRAB* It's not working!! I can't get the clear stuff even though it's right in front of me!!!!!
A little dramatic, I know, but I wouldn't expect anything less.
As far as going out, Biddy has really begun to love going out in public. She'll stay awake the whole time, stare at people and things, smile at us, and absorb everything around her. This is great because I can totally take her places... if there was anywhere to go. She gets stir crazy in the house so we try to take her somewhere for half and hour to an hour during the day, and then she also gets an evening walk. I get it, being at home isn't the funnest thing, but being in the heat getting a heat rash just makes life unpleasant. I wouldn't mind walks in the middle of the day if it wasn't for that unforgiving sun. She's an active jelly bean just dying to be on her own. If she didn't need help getting from point A to point B, I'm pretty sure she would be running everywhere... that will probably be my life in 6 months.
Bridget isn't the only one to make changes though. I've made quite a few changes in the desperate attempt to stay here without feeling like my life has no purpose. There's a few girls here that started a competition based on the show The Biggest Loser. We have 9 weeks to lose weight and get fit. Whoever loses the highest percentage of body weight wins quite a bit of cash and lots of hard-earned respect. I only had/have a 5 lbs. gain since Bridget, but I've been unmotivated to lose it. This competition will hopefully be the motivation I need. I've been running and exercising every morning, and I feel more toned but I haven't lost any weight yet... grr. Maybe I'll start kicking it up a notch. I've heard that you need to "reward yourself" after every workout session so that your body will associate working out as a good thing. At first, I thought my reward would be getting to go back to sleep. Instead, I've found that getting to read for an hour is an even better reward! *nerd* So I've picked up reading again. Yay! Another change I made was cutting my hair. This choice not only affected me, but Tony as well. I have this weird rule where I can't be with a guy that has longer hair than me. I decided this back in high school when I was a server at Pizza Hut. This couple would always come in and the guy had a really long pony tail while the girl had a bob. They both had great hair but it just didn't look good to me. So, we both got haircuts. I really like my cut- I had SO much breakage from throwing my hair into a ponytail after every shower. And it's so hot here I knew I had to either leave it long just to be able to put it in a ponytail, or cut it short enough where it won't be glued to my neck/face whenever I left the house. January and February are supposed to be the "coldest" months here in Grenada. I still had my hair up in a ponytail everyday. Some days I did have it down for a couple hours though (
what???). Another year of daily ponytails just isn't fair to my poor hair. It'll grow back too. Tony didn't really want to cut his but was more than willing to because he knew I needed a change.
I know I can make it to May now. Some days are definitely harder, especially when I feel overheated, overwhelmed, or just plain tired. Those are the days when I find myself daydreaming about McDonald's drive-thrus with $1 hot fudge sundaes. I've never been a daydreamer either, so it's sad that I have to resort to first-world-country fantasies. But I can make it! I can wait until May and
then I might have a problem coming back... we'll see. I don't mean to make these posts depressing in any way. I write what I feel, and I try to be objective although sometimes they become humorous and often sarcastic. I am not looking for pity. This is an outlet that allows my family that is strewn across the US to see what our lives are like. Mostly it's for them to keep up with Bridget and how she's rapidly growing, but I know family does think of us every once in a while. Oh by the way! Tony's midterms are all next week. Prayers would be much appreciated! He's been going above and beyond on the daddy-front by trying to be finished studying by a certain time every night and spends as much time as possible with the Rooster (he's nickname for her is Ridgey-Roo-Rooster). He is a great dad, I just really hope he can pull off all of the hats he puts on.
Oh I forgot to mention, we totally cooked and ate fresh lobster! It was really yummy and a totally new experience! The tails were really big. Best part, though, was the price. About $20 USD for over two lbs. of just tails. If anyone comes out to visit, we'll totally have some.
