5 Months Old

Ivy Lu is 5 months old.

Isn't she sweet?

We're still working on her sleeping/eating habits.

She is a snacker. Likes to snack all.night.long. Combine that with a yeast infection on poor mommy's milk dispensers, and it made for a rough few weeks. I can finally say I conquered it and I am so grateful! Yeast infections were the reason I had to stop nursing Luke at 6 months, and I didn't want to have to stop nursing Ivy already. But let me tell you, it is PAINFUL. PAINFUL, I say! The splitting and the cracking and the bleeding is not fun. And babies don't like drinking blood either, unless they're vampire babies. We thought pumping might be easier on me, but she refused to take a bottle. Poor Dan tried for hours in the middle of the night. Poor Ivy screamed herself hoarse. Poor me pumped. Once we noticed the milk was tinged pink from my blood. We threw that stuff out.

Of COURSE this happened the month between health insurance. Once again, I can rightfully blame the government for my problems. If they didn't require a silly prescription, I could have gotten the nipple ointment I needed and maybe healed a little sooner. Prescriptions are lame. And tyrannical. I didn't want to pay a doctor to tell me what I already knew, to write a slip of paper giving me PERMISSION to buy what I already knew I needed, so yeah. I suffered some more. 

The homeopathic methods were not working (yogurt, other pro-biotics) quickly enough. I eventually found out (thank you, internet) that you can create your own version of the prescription ointment by using three over-the-counter ointments. So for all you nursing mothers who also struggle with yeast infections, here's what you do: mix equal parts triple-antibiotic ointment, anti-fungal cream (I used clotrimazole 1%), and hydrocortisone cream. Apply every 1-2 hours.

Anyway, now we're past that ugly stuff, let's get back to Ivy.

She weighs 14 lbs. 13 oz., which puts her at just under the 50th percentile.

She had her first try at solids (applesauce) and is not quite sure she likes it.

She still is willing to go to anybody as long as she has a full tummy and I'm out of sight!

She likes to stick her hands in her mouth, but doesn't suck her thumb or fingers like her brother. This is both good and bad (no way to soothe herself when she wakes up at night!).

Her favorite toys are pieces of paper that she can crunch up! This makes it a bit tricky to do preschool when she's on my  lap...

She has two little teeth on the bottom--first one came at 3 months, second one at 4 months. (This also didn't help my nursing issues any!)

She is extremely ticklish! She'll start giggling and squirming when I rub her back trying to put her to sleep. It is also fun to squeeze her thighs and hear her laugh :).

She greets me with big, open-mouth, slobbery kisses on my cheek when I come pick her up from her naps.

She babbles a lot and has started saying "ba-ba," "da-da," and "ma-ma."

She loves to watch her big brother and sister, although she still gets nervous when they hug and kiss her. (Rightfully so--she has been pounded on many a time by Luke.)

We get lots of different opinions on who she looks like--I guess that means she's a pretty good mix.

Here's to hoping for better sleeping/eating habits this next month!