5 Months

We are truly loving this little girl! She is now 12 pounds 14 ounces and 24 1/2 inches tall. Currently she is looking like she might have blue eyes and brown hair. Which would be a perfect combination! And is still wearing 3 month clothes and size 1 diapers, although when we buy her diapers again we will buy size 2. Also we will probably be getting the 3-6 month clothes out very soon.

I think this age is such a fun stage! Ida is learning and becoming more aware every day. She loves to sit and watch Jacob, Cricket, Scott or I do anything. She is rolling over from her back to her tummy (though not very often....) and sitting. She loves sitting!

She started about a week ago and now that's all she wants to do. She will still fall over occasionally but it getting very good at catching herself from falling. Her biggest problem right now when she is sitting is she sees her toes and thinks they have to go in her mouth which most of the time makes her face plant. She is really the most content baby though. She makes taking care of her super easy. She was a little stealthy roller overer. She probably did it 6-8 times before I actually saw her do it. And today is the first time I caught it on camera. She still doesn't roll over that often. I feel she completely has the ability she just completely lacks to motivation. She just is so content to just stay where she is.

Ida still loves her play mat but more and more loves being in the walker or jumper so she is standing. She also loves sucking on her toes. They are in her mouth a good part of the day. I also finally got her to laugh! YAY! When she gets tired she starts to rub her eyes which became a problem because every time she did it she would scratch her face off so I started putting the little mittens on her again. Ida also loves her wub and is getting really good at putting the pacifier in her mouth by herself.

She also likes to chew and sometimes lick her fingers. Some fun sounds and things she's started doing is fake cough, make a kissing sound and suck on her bottom lip. She also seems to like touching peoples faces and looking at herself in the mirror. It's kind of funny because when she is trying to grab onto things she sometimes struggles because she wont extend her thumbs out. She holds them in like she's always doing the number 4 with her fingers. I think this comes from always holding her thumbs when she has her hand clenched. She is getting better at moving them out of the way. I think we are going to have to be more careful with Ida about stuff on the floor because everything goes to her mouth! Anything you give her just goes to the mouth. 

Ida had a couple firsts this past month. We took her on her first hike up to the Lower Palisades Lake and she did great! She actually slept the majority of the time.

We also took her swimming for the first time which she loved! I was a little worried because she hasn't seemed to be a huge fan of baths but she really liked swimming. Getting splashed in the face and all! She also seems to enjoy baths more now that she is sitting up.

We went through a rough period with nursing this past month that lasted about a week. First my milk supply hadn't caught up yet and so she always wanted more milk when I was completely empty which was so sad to me because I hated her crying whenever we would get done feeding.
And second she decided to be very impatient for my milk to let down and wouldn't ever stay latched on long enough for it to let down which would make me stressed and it all went down hill from there. I'm thankful this only lasted about a week before she realized what she was doing was only making it worse. One time it took 40 mins to let down with her screaming and screaming and getting so angry because the milk wouldn't come and me getting more and more stressed because the milk wouldn't come. Like I said. I'm glad it only lasted a week. Now she is back to being patient and both of us are much happier. I'm currently nursing every 2-4 hours and have started giving her a couple ounces of formula mixed with oatmeal cereal out of the feeder before bed. When I'm nursing Ida she has started playing with her ears which I find super cute! She just scratches at them.... Or her eye... But mostly her ears. I love it so much!

Sleeping has also been some what of a challenge this month. I feel like she is so irregular. She never has the same pattern two days in a row and she was getting to the point of waking up like 8 times a night.

Not just to eat, but just to wake up and I'd have to go in and put the pacifier back in her month. It was, and still has been, exhausting! But I hope giving her cereal at night will help her sleep longer and I really started paying attention to her 90 min cycle to see if I could get things back on track. So far she seem to be sleeping better at night and not waking up so many times. She is currently going to bed anywhere from 8 to 10:30 pm and waking between 8 and 9. She eats 2-4 times a night and is taking 2-4 naps a day. Like I said.... All over the place. But hopefully this is just a phase and we'll get back to sleeping well soon. We are still swaddling Ida but she usually gets her left arm out fairly quickly and by the time we go get her when she wakes up she has broken out of it completely. I still think it helps her sleep and she doesn't seem to mind it so we will probably keep doing it until she gets better at rolling over.

My two cute naked babies :)

Little Rock Climber

We took Jacob rock climbing for the first time with Scott and Crystal at the climbing gym in Driggs. I think I would say it was a success! He loved it and loved falling off the wall onto the pads. :) We are excited to start this new hobby with him.

 So cute in Dad's hat :)

Now we need to get him his own harness!

Lower Palisades Lake

We took Ida for her first hike to Lower Palisades Lake. We went with Jordan, Sean and one of Jordan's friends from work named Alicia. It was a lot of fun and we didn't even get rained on!

Jacob is kind of getting to the point that he wants to hike with you instead of being the pack. So sometimes it's a little tricky to convince him he would rather ride. Once he's in and we are going he does good for the most part.

Ida did great on the Hike. I was a little worried because she isn't the biggest fan of "cuddling" and I worried being in the moby wrap having her body completely up against mine would make her angry. But she only fought it a couple times then would settle right in. She actually slept the majority of the hike.

Stopped for lunch in the meadow before continuing onto the lake.

While Jordan, Sean and Alicia hiked ahead, we stayed behind to throw rocks in the water and such so Jacob could play around more and not have to be in the pack.

I apparently didn't get the memo to wear pink with the rest of the ladies...

Thanks Sean and Jordan for inviting us on the hike! It was a lot of fun!

4 Months

Can't get over this cuteness!

Happy 4th of July!!

Found those toes...

At Ida's 4 month doctor appointment she was 11 lbs 12 oz and 24 inches tall (25th percentile). She weighs less then she did last month, but I'm pretty sure that's because I took it on my home scale which I'm pretty sure isn't that accurate. She also received her shots which she didn't handle very well. Well, I should say she didn't handle the aftermath of the shots very well. Not the shots themselves. She cried when they were given but as soon as I picked her up she stopped crying. Unfortunately we had to deal with a fever for the next couple days which was not very fun. Ida is currently wearing 3 month clothes except in her socks. She has big feet and it's been hard to find socks that fit her. She is pretty much wearing size 6-12 month socks.

It is fun to see Ida's personality come out more. She is definitely a very content, calm baby. She is completely fine sitting in your lap watching whatever is going on around her. Not a wiggler at all. She has decided that she likes being held but definitely not cuddled! She is in no way a cuddler. And if I am holding her, the only way I can get her to go to sleep while holding her is to let her sit in my lap facing out with her pacifier and eventually she just falls asleep. Then after she is asleep I can trasfer her into a more cuddly position. She is also a very smiley baby! She will smile at anyone and I will still often find her smiling while sitting alone playing with her toys. I love that! I also think it's cute because anytime I go to pick her up she arches her back like she's trying to get closer to me so I can pick her up faster.

Ida does not like being buckled in her car seat. She is completely fine after she is bucked in but while bucking her in she hates it. It think it's because she really doesn't like her arms being man handled. She also doesn't seem especially fond of baths. Although... I don't know if that's because I always choose bad times to give her a bath (like when she is hungry or tired) or if she really doesn't like them. I'm still figuring that out.

Ida has started to grasp onto objects and bring them to her mouth. One of her favorite toys right now is the tag toy. I think she prefers soft objects to hard toys so she likes little stuffed animals and the tag toy because it's made out of fabric. She also really likes to grab onto her shirt or skirt and bring that up to her mouth to suck on. Also about 2 weeks ago Aunt Katrina got Ida to laugh. Music to my ears. I don't know what it is about a laughing baby but it makes my heart melt every time.

Since then a number of other people have gotten her to laugh including Scott and Grandma Bergendorf but she will not laugh for me no matter what I do. Either way I still love to hear it!

Ida also very recently has discovered her toes and will grab onto them and play with them every once in awhile.

So far nursing is going well. I've kind of felt like my milk supply has been a little low so I'm trying to nurse more often. I love when I nurse that Ida will sit and play with my shirt or "scratch" my chest or back over and over. I think it's the cutest! She will also "scratch" her wubs head when she gets tired. Which I also find adorable!

Ida is a pretty good sleeper when she has a "bed" to sleep in. She is currently going to bed between 8 and 9, waking up twice to eat on 4 hour intervals and then waking up in the morning around 7 and 8. She is taking really good naps and will usually sleep for an hour at a time with one long nap during the day. I have found she doesn't nap super well in the car seat and is pretty sensitive to movement.

So trying to get good naps in while I'm out and about doesn't normally happen. But if I'm somewhere I can swaddle her and lay her down she sleeps great anywhere. I also think she needs quite a bit of sleep. If I'm not paying attention to her 90 minute cycle she tends to get very angry and it's hard to get her to go to sleep. At that point I usually just swaddle her and put her in the swing. But if I'm paying attention and get her naps in then she usually sleeps great!

I just love this little girl!

Sawtooth Lake Camping Trip

The weekend after we went to portland we went camping up by Sawtooth Lake near Stanly, ID with the Higginson's. We left Thursday night after Scott got off work and found a campsite.

The Higginson's arrived the next day and we all spent the rest of the day playing in the lake! It was soooo hot! So it felt so nice to play in the lake... Although it was too cold for me to get all the way in, everyone else jumped in to cool off. The lake is so pretty and clear. Such a pretty location.

Back at camp was pretty hot. But we found a way to put a tarp that offered us some shade then it wasn't too bad.

There was a river that pasted closed to camp that we took a walk to.

 Boys being boys and throwing rocks in the water.

 Fire building time!

 On Saturday we went on a small hike in the morning while it was cooler and then back to the lake in the afternoon. Before we left we stopped by the fish hatchery so the boys could see all the fish.

Thank you Higginson's for the fun weekend!  About 15 minutes from home the kids decided to feed off of each other and have a crying war.