The Elf is 5 Months

With each passing moment Annelise is getting older. I know I continue to say this about both of my girls, but they are getting so big. I feel like time passed very slowly with Hadleigh, but Annelise's first 5 months have flown by...well...in some respects. I actually have a lot of thoughts about my first 5 months of being a mama of 2 girls, but I will save those for a different post. This one is all about Annelise.

Here is the elf with Papa Froggy (my dad). Dad and Mom have been here for the last 4 weeks visiting us, and helping us with the kiddos. Annelise loves her Nana and Papa.

She is still crazy and unpredictable, but she can sure be sweet. She loves to belly laugh, and it is so fun to listen to. Annelise is very dextrous and grabs onto everything and anything. She is getting used her playmat and exersaucer and enjoys grabbing all the little animals and toys (after she got over being frightened of them). She adores Miss HC and could watch her for hours.

Her sleeping habits are bizarre. I can generally get her to take at least two naps a day, but don't ask me to tell you when those naps will be. AND even though she has her own room she still likes to take her naps on my bed. Whatev! She is sleeping 12 hours at night, but it is interrupted sleep. Sometimes she eats every 4 hours through the night, sometimes she will go 5, and this past week she did one night of 11 hours. Of course the 11th hour ended up being at 4am...and since I am used to getting up with her every 4 hours I was up at 2 and by 4 I was just CRYING and praying that she would wake up...just remember people I am nursing, and skipping 2 feedings in a row is cruel. I keep telling her to work up to it, but the night after she did 11 hours she was back to every 4 hours...so now I am working on month 5 without a full night of sleep. Ugh. My sleep "bible" says night feedings are reasonable until 9 months...so...if that is true I could have 4 more months. But I would really like a night of sleep before that time.

She is showing signs of being able to soothe herself. This seems to be a fairly new development. Usually when she begins to cry it is downhill and quickly downhill. But the last couple times she has gone down with some crying she has been able to calm herself down...GREAT news.

I'll tell you, my Annelise is super sweet, but she is a very difficul baby. People keep telling me I give her a bad rap, but I tell you what, once you have spent 24 hours with her you will see what I am talking about. She can go from laughing to hysterics in 1.2 seconds. When we go for walks she doesn't like the sun in her eyes or the wind in her face...or anything over head to block the wind or sun. I have never gone out with her where she has not cried. We scream through Publix, Kroger, the Farmer's Market, the mall...all of them, Target, Walmart, etc. She might start off happy, but can turn crazy quickly...and it is really hard to push a cart with a 2 year old and carry a little baby...and folks the sling doesn't work.

After a couple of days here Dad and Mom watched the girls while Dave and I went out. It took her 2 hours to get Annelise to sleep (she has gotten better at), but she said if she lived nearby she would invest in a pair of ear plugs because the girl can scream and sometimes refuses to calm down.

After one trip to the doctor he commented that he was surprised I had not called him about her. I said...well, can you do anything about it? He couldn't, which is what I figured...why call when you know the answer? Time will smooth it all out.

My fav line while out is "ooh, is she hungry?" If I had a penny for everytime someone asked me that I would be SO filthy rich! Like if there was anything I could do to make her stop don't you think I would do it? And then there is the ever helpful, "have you tried cutting out ____". Fill in the blank. I know folks are just trying to be helpful, but honestly...she was born angry. My last fav comment is when people find out she is crazy (and they know Dave and I), they get this grin on their face and ask me if she is like me... For the record, she is like Dave. Dave's mom swears Dave was just like Annelise...so I guess she will mellow out. My mom swears I was a wonderful, very easy baby...slept through the night at 6 weeks, always took good naps...hmmm. I just wonder that people think I am an angry person.

OK, enough venting about that. The thing about Annelise is, she is crazy, but she is sweet. She has just enough sweet moments to make me adore her, and make me thankful that I am her Mama. It is really hard to be her Mama and I have to work at trying to understand her, and trying to serve her in the best way possible. But I love my little, crazy, angry elf. I thank God for giving me the opportunity to love her and for making her part of my little fam.