Ella is 5 months old!

Ella turned 5 months on December 17th.  We didn't have a doctor appointment this month, so I weighed her on our scale at home.  Ella weighs a whopping 19 lbs 8 oz, I'm guessing at the tops of the charts.  I'm not sure of her length.  She is transitioning to 6-9  or 9month clothing.  I am still putting her in some 3-6or 6 month pants, but shirts are definitely too small to stretch over the diaper.  I'm finding there isn't a huge difference from 3-6 and 6-9, so guessing she won't be in this size for long.  I have also just this past week put her cloth diapers on the largest setting and when she wears disposables we are now in size 3.  She still has those big, beautiful blue eyes!

At 5 months Ella:

• can raise chest, supported by arms when on stomach.  (Although we're still not a big fan of tummy time.)
• ROLL OVER!  (First happened 12/15)  She went from tummy to back, and was so proud!
• pays close attention to various objects and definitely makes eye contact from across the room.
• smiles back when you smile at her!
• has gotten really good at grasping toys and even putting her binky back in.
• chews on her hands/Sophie the giraffe/anything she can get her hands on all the time.  Does this mean teeth are coming?
• bears weight on legs 

Ella is still going down around 8:30-9:30 and up for the day between 6-7.  She was sleeping through the night very regularly, but has recently started getting up around 1:30-2:30 to eat and goes right back to sleep. This also makes me wonder if teeth are bothering her.  I've started looking into getting an Amber Teething Necklace for the pain.  And yes, we are still swaddling!  

We also tried cereal this month.  We started with oatmeal, which we have been trying to do about every other day.  Its a hit or miss with her.  Some days she is really excited to eat it and other days she makes awful faces.

Lenny the Elf

Lenny, our Elf on the Shelf, has made his grand appearance this year in the Malcolm home!  Ava has been having so much fun looking for him in the mornings.  We found him the Sunday after Christmas and in true Elf fashion, he arrived with a North Pole breakfast of white powdered donuts!  He also came bearing a gift of "The Elf Story" movie!  Lenny has appeared in all sorts of crazy places!  We've found him in our tree, taking a marshmallow bath, he toilet papered the bathroom and was hanging from the shower one morning, and we even caught him having a snack of maple syrup!  That crazy elf!