Five Months!

I can't believe Gracie has hit the 5 month mark (as of June 10th)! My little girl is growing up way too quickly. In the last two weeks, the little misses has sprouted two bottom teeth (that's right, and she is quite the drooler right now) and begun to easily roll over from back to tummy (tummy to back isn't quite there yet).

We're not exactly sure why, but for some reason, she's also started to pound the crib mattress with her legs as hard as she can. We think it's because she was wrapped in a thinner blanket, so we've retracted back to the former blanket in hopes this will solve the issue.

And speaking of blankets, Gracie fights the swaddle blanket tooth and nail. The worst is when she breaks out of it at like 3 am. So as of this week, we are beginning to wean her from it, sleeping her every other nap with just one arm in the swaddle. I am slightly skeptical and frankly terrified to enter this new phase, but it's a necessity. She just can't be a burrito baby forever, I suppose.

Last week, as you know, we started the Rice Cereal Escapade, which is going fantastically. Miss Gracie is now eating rice cereal 2x a day. In the next week or so, we'll try oatmeal.

She still likes to wake Mommy and Daddy up at least once in the night, and up to this point, Mommy has always caved in and brought her in bed with her. But no more. That's right ladies and gentlemen, even if it means little sleep for the next week or so, Miss Gracie will be learning to self-soothe back to sleep in the wee hours of the night (unless she's hungry or has busted out of the swaddle, of course).

So last Saturday, Boyce and I entered Gracie in the Utah Valley Freedom Festival baby contest. Let's just say there were babies EVERYWHERE! Baby girls dressed up in tutus (not Gracie, though. We decided to be different), baby boys dressed up in army fatigues and sailor suits, huge glitter bows and flowers, and glitter everything-else, for that matter.

Gracie in her "baby contest" outfit

We weren't sure what to expect, but there were just two judges who had some toys and watched how the babies reacted. Gracie, of course, who likes to make people work for her smiles, offered only one small smile when Mommy proceeded to sing "Rocket Ship, Rocket Ship, Going to the Moon." Daddy was slightly embarrassed that Mommy sang the whole song, but I only did it in hopes of creating a couple more smiles from my baby (to no avail). Gracie did not win, but it was fun nonetheless! There were lots of baby vendors there, and we even picked up some new toy blocks, a teething ring, and a stuffed discovery snail for which we hope Gracie will enjoy hours of entertainment. :)