five months

you love sitting in the Boppy! (your little toes are just too cute)

dear Victoria, 

you are well and truly into babyhood now -- I feel like every day your face changes a little, new rolls of chub appear on your arms and thighs, and you figure out a new way to express yourself, mostly through your constantly expanding "vocabulary". obviously, you're a ways off from speaking words, but you squawk, squeak, trill, chortle, grunt, snort, and make just about every other sound imaginable. you get especially loud and exuberant at night when it's time for bed! you continue to be the happiest little babe, belly-laughing at your sisters and grinning up at Daddy and me whenever we look at you. Greta says you look like a raspberry pie with your round, rosy cheeks! she also calls you her little chicken nugget, and Cece calls you "Vicky Micky". 

you are finally rolling front-to-back, and are just a hair away from rolling back-to-front (you'll get 3/4 of the way there and just hang out balanced on one shoulder). you easily transfer toys from one hand to the other, and you love to hold a comfort object when you're sleepy. 

last week, you had your first taste of solid foods: sweet potato puree! you were a bit ambivalent at first and then quickly gobbled up a few tablespoons. of course, Elizabeth wanted some for herself too, which is ironic since she absolutely hated purees as a baby. after dealing with her texture aversion, I was relieved to find that you don't seem to have any similar misgivings! 

this month you participated in your very first Turkey Trot, albeit the one mile fun run version. very few of the local 5Ks allow strollers on the course, and you still don't have the neck control to be pushed in the jogging stroller for a full-out run. I'm sure you thought your family was nuts for rushing out the door early on Thanksgiving morning to be at the race start line by 8 AM, but you didn't make a peep as we walked/jogged/walked with hundreds of other families (and lots of dogs). 

your first race bib!! I'm saving it for your memory box

after the race. poor babe, you didn't even get a banana like your sister did!

we then drove out to have Thanksgiving dinner with Pappy, Nana, Dorothy, your Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Josh. you soaked up lots of snuggles! 

by far, the biggest development of the month is that ... you no longer need to wear a brace for your hips at all! you had another round of xrays followed by a routine follow-up with the ortho. when he came in the room after the x-rays were done, he asked me if I was sick of dealing with the brace. I started to say it actually wasn't too bothersome at all since you were only wearing it at bedtime at this point, and he stopped me and said, "we're done with it." I asked him to repeat himself because I couldn't believe what I was hearing -- but it's true!! I almost burst into tears and hugged him. as he was leaving, I thanked him multiple times for his excellent care of you. he grinned and said, "this is how it's always supposed to be -- we catch the dysplasia early, we fix it, and it is gone." praise God!! you have been 100% brace-free since that appointment. you'll see him again at 6 months old, and then again at a year, and likely every year for a while just to confirm your hips are continuing to develop properly. 

after hearing the fantastic news! 

we love you so much, Victoria Anne!