One thing in particular struck me today after I changed Breanna’s first diaper of the day – how big she’s getting. I remember this picture where she looked so small in the bassinet, partly because she WAS still small (though at 8 lbs 5 oz, she was never small), and partly because at only five days old, ,she still spent most of her time curled up like a little ball. I remember what a shock it was to see her practically floating in this bed because the pack & play’s bassinet is double the size of the ones at the hospital.

And in comparison, at five months, this is how she looked in it this morning. Also, you’ll notice that now that she realizes she can roll on purpose, she prefers not staying flat for longer than necessary.

She won’t be spending many more nights in there. At four months, she weighed 14 lbs and the safety limit is 15. I figure she’s pretty close so this weekend we’ll try her out in the crib. Eep. We’re going to move the crib to the bedroom; I’m too nervous about having the girls sleep in the same room because I’m afraid Hayley will wake up early and decide to climb in there with her. She wouldn’t mean any harm, but.. just no. I would never get any sleep from the stress.

Other things going on at five months:

She can now sit for brief spurts. She wobbles but hangs in there!

She still sleeps best swaddled even though she’s rapidly outgrowing her blanket.

She thinks Hayley is the funniest and greatest person ever; unless she’s already upset, she almost always smiles and laughs at her big sister.

Although we haven’t formally introduced her to television yet, it’s on at various times throughout the day. She has shown some interest in Barney and Rolie Polie Frickin’ Olie. Two of my least favorite kids’ shows. GREAT.

She still loves standing (and occasionally looking like she’s dancing when she starts wiggling) most of all. I try to just pull her up to sitting but she always pulls my hands until she hauls herself straight up.

We have a game and I love it; she does it on occasion to George or Hayley, but mostly me. It starts with me loudly kissing her cheeks, jaw, and neck (“mwah mwah mwah!”) and then she’ll swiftly whip her head around, mouth wide open, and she clamps down on my jaw or chin, and starts chewing wildly. I then start shrieking in mock terror, and it ends with both of us laughing. Lather, rinse, repeat until one of us gets tired (hint: it’s never me).

I think she’ll be happy next month to try solids (and it’s very hard to resist the urge to start now) because she’s so excited by food. I remember Hayley looked like she was watching ping pong because she’d watch the fork go from plate to mouth to plate; it was similar to a pet hoping something might fall into her mouth. Breanna looks like a bird. She stretches her neck as far as she can, bulges her eyes, stiffens her whole body and starts flapping her arms up and down while saying, “mmm, mmmmm!” Poor baby. I don’t ever want to eat another popsicle in front of her again after she nearly gave herself an aneurism watching me eat one yesterday.

She has chunky turkey legs and when she falls asleep and I see one sticking out, it takes every ounce of willpower to keep from chewing on it.

Every night I read to Hayley at bedtime and Breanna loves it. She lies there with us, smiling at the pictures and patting the books. One more bookworm in the family?

When she’s tired she lays over my shoulder moaning and groaning and saying “ahhhhhhhhhh” like that last drunk at the bar telling sob stories to the bartender.

Her favorite toys are a soft bunny George got for her, most dolls but especially a little baby in pink that she holds with both hands while chewing on the head, and mostly that damn spatula. Good thing I own several because it may be awhile before I get it back. I should have gotten George to take a picture after supper – Hayley was using a spatula to mix brownie batter, I was using a smaller one to spread margarine in the baking pan, and Breanna was in her car seat slapping herself in the head with hers.

(See the spatula love? We visited George’s parents on Easter Sunday and I couldn’t even get a picture without the spatula being involved.)

Tonight she celebrated being five months old by staying awake until 10:30 pm, after a loud car in need of a muffler woke her up at 8:30 (one more positive thing about moving her out of this living room). I didn’t mind since she was in fine spirits, watched The O.C. with me, and then laughed for about 20 minutes straight just because I was playing the startle game with her (like a slightly more hardcore version of peek-a-boo, which causes her to jerk her whole body in surprise, and then she laughs like a loon).

She also celebrated her five month birthday with Hayley this morning. Hayley asked me if we would have a cake and when I said no, she borrowed a mixing bowl, got all the play food from her kitchen, and made Breanna a “cake”. So we all ate some. My piece had cabbage and eggplant, my favorite kind of cake!

I celebrated her five month birthday by crying a little, marvelling in how much she’s grown and changed, and fondly remembering that five months ago I had orderlies bring me food every few hours.

Happy five months, little Puffin! Let’s not rush too much, okay?