All About Allyson

 Ally will be 5 months old on Sunday; tomorrow she gets her 4 month shots.  This is belated because on the date we had scheduled for her to get her 4 month shots, she had RSV.  This was the first time she had gotten sick. It was pretty sad to see my teeny little baby coughing so hard she'd throw up a bottle.  We had to treat her with a steroid and a breathing treatment.  The mask for the nebulizer didn't even fit her face.  I just had to hold it in front of her face while she squirmed all around.  But thanks to our household ER doctor, she made a speedy recovery and all is well now.

In other events, Ally just recently began sleeping through the night.  (Woot Woot!!)  Of the last 7 days, only one has she woken up for that 4am feeding.  Otherwise, she goes to bed around 8pm and sleeps till at least 7am, once it was 8pm!!  That means I can sleep in sometimes if I stick in a movie for Jack and Sam!  That is really cool!!

I was trying to hold off on feeding her rice cereal because the new guidelines say to wait till babies are 6 months, but just in the last week, I have been struggling to keep up with her eating habits, so I caved and decided to start supplementing with cereal.  She drinks about 6-7 oz of breastmilk every 3 hours or so now.

I guess tomorrow we'll find out how much weight she has gained and where she is at compared to her baby peers.  She still seems small to me and many comment to me how tiny she is, but I think my 6 lb, 12 oz newborn now weighs over 14 lbs.  Not as big as the boys were, but she is a girl, and I hear they tend to be smaller.  She still wears some 3 month clothes, but she is in mostly 6 month clothes.

She can roll over both ways, and reaches out for toys if they are within her reach.  (Her favorite toy is an Eeyore toy.)  She has started to sit up with minimal assistance, but I don't think she'll be sitting in her own for another month.  She still loves her swing, although I am trying to get her to nap in her bed more and more because soon she will outgrow the swing.  She usually takes a morning nap for about an hour, then naps for at least a couple of hours during Sam's naptime around 1-3, and thn naps again around 5 for about an hour, then goes to bed at 8.  All I have to do is put her down in her bed and she goes right to sleep; usually with no crying whatsoever.

She loves her brothers.  She likes to intently watch their activities all around her.  If they happen to come near and talk to her, she breaks into a huge, face-brightening smile and tries to talk to them.  She loves to have one-on-one attention.  She'll talk your ear off with her babbling, especially in the evenings when she is a little tired.  That is also the easist time to get her to laugh.  It's almost like she's sleep-giddy. 

 She also loves to stand up in her Exersaucer and reach for the toys. She talks to them and gets frustrated when she can't get them in her mouth because they/she don't reach that far.

She has the easiest temperament. Even in the mornings, when she has slept all night, she is not demanding for a bottle. She lets me get the boys breakfast while I warm up her bottle and waits patiently, watching them from her high chair. Sometimes, I even have time to pump a bottle for her, before she really starts to protest.

We are so blessed to have Ally in our family. She is very loved by all of us. :)