Five Months Old + A Baby Blessing

Like magic, Louise continues to grow bigger. I recently was thinking: babies get cuter, smarter, funnier, more fun, easier, and better at everything as they get older.

And yet, those first few months are still somehow the best months of all. 

I'm trying to not be a really giant drama queen every time Louise crashes through another milestone, but it's tough. 

At five months old, she is so happy. I love these pictures, because I feel like they're so accurate to her personality. She is constantly smiling, chatting, and trying to get the attention of the people around her. She doesn't like being held facing me, she always wants to look around! She is definitely an extrovert, she gets excited and happy whenever we are with people. In Sunday School, our class sits in a circle and she sits on my lap. When she's awake, she spends the whole hour looking around the room, panting in excitement, and occasionally bursting into excited laughter. She's so happy to be surrounded by smiling people!

She laughs and giggles very easily, almost constantly- especially at her brothers. They can make her laugh much harder than Travis or I can. She loves her brothers and doesn't mind if they flop her around or are too rough or too noisy. She loves it all! Soon she'll be wrestling and crawling after them. 

On a few occasions when she's been face to face with other babies her size, she gets so excited! She starts panting and trying frantically to grab on to them. I predict she'll be one of those girls who loves baby dolls.
She is basically a baby doll, too. Everywhere we go, little girls come out of the walls and inch up to see her. "Oh! What a pretty baby! Can I hold her?" is something I hear every single time we leave the house. She has those big blue eyes and rosy cheeks that make her irresistible.

She still only has two teeth, and isn't mobile. She can sit up by herself, but gets tired or loses her balance within about 10  minutes. She can roll (and does instantly) when she's on her stomach, but hasn't figured out back to front yet. She doesn't like tummy time, and get frustrated with me very quickly (as pictured!) if I keep flipping her back over on to her stomach. 

Louise is getting very good at grabbing things, and her favorite things to hold on to are her toes and our fingers - all of which go right into her mouth. She's not as drooly as my other kids, but she is just as anxious to eat as they are. She gets very offended if we dare to eat in front of her without handing over our food. 

She chews on apple slices, watermelon, and bananas while we eat. The bananas are her favorite thing in the whole world- but slippery! So everytime she drops her banana, she SCREECHES. Also, she can scream SO loudly, and she does it when she is clearly not hurt, but angry. I'm a little worried about my ability to deal with future toddler-tantrums from this one!
She is a pretty good sleeper- amazing during the day, usually taking 2 three-hour naps! At nigh she sleeps about 12 hours, but wakes up twice to nurse. Which means I'm still getting up every night at 1am and 4am. But she sleeps so well in between eating and goes to sleep without any help, so I can't let her cry it out or anything. She obviously knows how to self-soothe and is actually hungry!

A few weeks ago, she was finally blessed at church! Mormons traditionally do a baby blessing when babies are a few weeks or months old. Similar to a Christening, it's a public prayer given in front of our congregation- typically given by the baby's father. Travis gave a really sweet blessing, and our families were able to come and participate. 

Some of the things Travis said in his prayer were that Louise would grow and develop normally and to be strong and happy.  That she would develop spiritually, find her talents, desires and purpose in this life and use them to build the kingdom of God.  He blessed her with a desire to serve and be aware of the needs of others around her, and to find joy doing so.  To love the scriptures and rely on inspiration of the Spirit and the leaders of the Church. And to have a desire to make and keep covenants pertaining to the gospel and help with the building of the kingdom of God.

Louise with her Dad and both Grandpas on her blessing day.