5 Months of Macy

Once again, I am amazed at how quickly Little Miss is changing, growing, exploring and learning. Literally, before our eyes in a matter of a couple of hours she is learning new things every day.

Always full of smiles

5 Month Stats:

Weight: According to our home scale tonight, she weighs 18 lbs! She is solid as a bag of bricks!

Height: I have no idea... But she is long! We will find out at next month's appointment

Clothing size: 6 months in Carter's that just fit, and some 6-9 months too.

Favorite new trick

Diaper size: 2 - Poor girl, finally upgraded her to a bigger size. We get diapers from Amazon and had a ton of size 1s I was determined to use. (Imagine low rise, bikini cut diapers) I never claimed to be mom of the year...

Feeding/Sleeping: Eating about the same- nursing/bottle every 3-4 hours and cereal at night. Our sitter feeds her cereal in the morning too. This month we are going to get together and make a bunch of baby food to freeze. Something I'm convinced I can't do on my own because I literally don't know how to "steam" fruits and vegetables. And that's step 1. The week after I bragged about Macy sleeping at night she turned around and started waking up again. I've learned that it goes in about 1-2 week cycles of good sleeping/bad sleeping. And this has been confirmed by lots of other mommies too. As of this week, she is going down about 7:30-8 and sleeps until about 6:30-7, with the occasional intervention around 4am. Because she is so active she has been flipping herself over from her stomach to her back in the middle of the night -so every once in a while we have to go in there, flip her on her tummy and pop in her paci and she goes right back to sleep. Not ideal, but I think she's doing pretty good. Plus, now that she is going down earlier we have a couple hours each evening to hang out, do housework, or whatever we want! It's nice.

Excited to celebrate our first Halloween!

Milestones: Her new name is miss Rolly Polly! She has mastered the back to stomach roll this month and now rolls and rolls and rolls. She also squirms and scooches towards toys or shiny objects, and mostly our cat Peyton. I think she loves the feel of her soft fur, and luckily Peyton is very tolerant of Macy tugging and pulling at it. She can also grab and pick up anything, if I give her her paci she can put it in her mouth every time, and likes to gnaw on stuff. Between the drool and the gnawing, I'm pretty sure she's teething, but there is no teeth popping through yet.

Loves: Talking, her activity center, being tickled. She has also found her feet which may be her favorite new toy!

Fun in the activity center! (we still have to put a pillow under her feet to prop her up)

Dislikes: Being too tired. Which is pretty much the only time we get a fussy baby. She is also starting to show signs of separation anxiety, like whenever we go somewhere she hasn't been recently she seems scared for the first 20 minutes. It's so weird, and because I'm a mean mommy, it cracks me up.

Adventures: First pumpkin patch adventure -love starting new traditions!

Fun at the Zionsville Country Market

What we couldn't live with out: The activity center, our sound machine (she is very sensitive to sounds- always wants to know what's going on) and pacis of course.

And now a look at my busy 5 month old and why it is impossible to take a picture of her!

The 31 Day Challenge

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well"
-Matthew 6:33

As a new mommy I have found it hard to balance everything. Balancing being a good wife, a present mommy, working full time, school work, and unfortunately- my time with God has suffered as well. In the past, I have found that consistent time alone with God (lovingly dubbed TAWG) keeps my life on track- spiritually, emotionally, relationally, and physically. Over the course of the past couple years I have been involved in some sort of bible study, discipleship or marriage group that has given me structure and "homework" that keeps me on track. Since having Macy I haven't been involved in a group and I haven't been good about carving time out to spend in devotional. I feel like I have a strong praying life and this summer Kyle and I made a commitment to pray together every single night before bed, which I love. But my actual time alone with God, in his Word, has suffered. When my time is inconsistent I feel like my life reflects it. My convictions become more loose and I become my own God (by trying to control my life and the happenings with in it).

Thankfully, this last week I started back with my original discipleship group and have women(friends) to help me stay accountable in my time in the word. The three of us are all in similar places in life (one of which just had her first baby this summer too) and have known each other for awhile now, allowing for deeper conversations and openness.

This week we kicked off the "31 Day Challenge" where we were given a list of 31 verses and asked to get in the word every single day. Ideally it would be enough time to pray, meditate over the verse, and answer a couple questions. The key would be no distractions, (TV off) and in an environment that would foster talking with God and being able to hear what he is laying on our hearts.

I could not be more excited about this! I am looking forward to my TAWG and to see how He is working in my life. I know that it will make me a better wife, mommy, friend, etc. I recognize that I am unworthy, and that I fail daily -but I've got renewal and a fresh start every single day. For this I'm eternally grateful!