5 months old!

I can't believe it's been 5 months! whew. Times sure goes by fast with a baby... but at the same time I hardly can remember what it was like before Christine came into our lives.
Sleep training is going great! the first two nights were the hardest, but after that she magically started sleeping much better. I also changed her daily schedule to be more consistent and that has made such a difference- for her and me. I feel like I am finally a sane person. Thank you everyone for your suggestions and support on this. Reading those comments you left on the blog gave me the encouragement I needed.
Christine is currently:

• sitting up with support
• rolling over from her stomach to her back
• loving standing on her feet (with mom holding her up)
• savoring rice cereal
• tolerating green beans, prunes, and sweet potatoes
• pulling blankets over her head to play "Where's baby?"
• smiling big
• laughing
• putting everything in her mouth, favorite thing to put in her mouth: her washcloth at bath time. I now have to use 2 washcloths one for her to eat, one for me to put soap on
• demanding to be held all day long (I just started working with her on this one, she not too happy about mom's determination to teach her to be content playing on the ground on her own)

Prunes

We've added another food to Christine's diet: prunes! yum.

When we pulled out the container of prunes, Jeff and I were debating whether or not prunes were dried up plums. He proposed that prunes are to raisins as plums are to grapes. I countered by saying, no because plums aren't great for digestion like prunes are, and wouldn't prune juice actually be called plum juice then? Grape juice has never been called raisin juice.

The stakes were made: if I was right I would get a new book (PW's love story), if Jeff was right he would get a 30 minute massage. Then wikipedia was consulted. Turns out, prunes ARE dried plums... but only a specific type of plum, not the traditional plum that you would eat. So, we called it a draw. I ordered the book from Amazon and Jeff got a 10 minute massage.

Regardless of whether or not prunes are plums, Christine is NOT a fan.

I can roll over!

On Monday (1.31.2011) Christine rolled over! She was playing on her stomach having "tummy time" and I was working on my laptop trying to coordinate some visiting teaching and I glanced at Christine to make sure she was doing okay and she was on her back! I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to see the first time she rolled over completely on her own, but that's okay she rolled over for me again that evening. Jeff had to wait until Wednesday morning to see it. Now I have to be MUCH more careful about where I lay her down and what's around her (not that I wasn't before).

In the Papasan Chair: See Her Grow!

At church last Sunday Jeff was holding Christine and one of our friends came up to him and asked "Who's baby are you holding?" We thought he was joking, but he was totally serious! Christine has been growing like crazy! So much that she is now too big for her Papasan chair. Time to pack it up and send it back to our Aunt Ali who is going to be needing it this summer! Yea! We are so excited that she is going to be having a little girl!

Tangie Bear and Charlie Bear

When Christine was the size of a tangerine (when I was pregnant) we joked that we were going to name her Tangerine and we'd call her Tangie for short. When the name Christine was chosen over Tangerine, the name was passed down to a cute little bear. (the name Tangerine was never a serious thought. When we went to the hospital we had two names in mind: Christine and Claire. Obviously, the name Christine won).

Introducing Tangie Bear:

one day old

two months old

four months old

Tangie Bear was given to us by our gigi in honor of her daddy's Charlie bear.

We love you Charlie Bear.

We love you Tangie Bear.