I can't get enough of this cherub or this hilariously luxurious outfit made from baby alpaca wool (I kid you not- baby alpaca wool. Also it's not ours but I'm seriously considering splurging). As her 5 month trial period draws to a close, David and I have officially decided to keep her. 

Speaking of amazing knit outfits, here she is wearing a keepsake made by Great-grandma Varin. She's lucky enough to be the fifth girl cousin to get to wear it. It's so cute I wouldn't mind having a few more girls just so we can keep the tradition alive. Or maybe we can petition some siblings for some more kids? ;)

As you can see, church is a place where we look cute and act like a wiggle worm. I ask you, how do kids know church is the designated place to lose their cool? As soon as you leave, a calm comes over them and they settle right down again. No, she's actually pretty good, but I can't even imagine what's going to happen when she starts walking. 

Now let me answer the question everyone asks: how's she sleeping? Well guys, let's talk about the four month sleep regression. That struggle is REAL. At three months she was sleeping like a dream, getting up one time to eat but that was it. Then right at four months she was getting up every hour or so after midnight. 

I read everything online and got sucked into the belief it was just a growth spurt and to deny her food was just mean because she really was hungry (I know, I was such a newb). After a few weeks this, we bought this magic sleep sack off Amazon in a desperate attempt to "gear" our way out of the lack of sleep. I also read that sleep begets sleep and followed some advice to move her bedtime up to 7 pm. I read about the importance of a bedtime routine and followed ours religiously. NOTHING WORKED.

After more 3 am internet research and a new caffeine addiction I developed at the office, I decided to try the Ferber method and let her cry for 3 minutes, then go in and soothe her, then 5 minutes and go soothe, then let her cry and soothe her in 10 minute intervals after that. She actually never made it to any of the ten minute intervals, she always feel asleep after I soothed her after the five minute cry period. In the middle of the night I would drop every-other feeding and just do the Feber method and after 3 nights, she was back to her three month sleep patterns! And falls asleep on her own!

I gave myself mastitis with the crazy amount of milk I no longer needed every hour of the night but hey, now I sleep. Plus now she fits into her 6-9 month clothes really well so I guess all the feedings made her a giant.

Daddy's commute is a tough one because some nights he doesn't get to see her before she goes to bed but I sure enjoy having my little buddy to hang out with. She's learning like crazy with her rolling, trying new foods, standing up, grabbing things, etc. 

Basically I love all the new developments and wish I could stop time. Parenthood is such a paradox. David was being funny and said, "Isn't it weird we gave ourselves extra chores?" but then we're both obsessing over how cute and fun she is the next moment. We're enjoying this journey through babyhood and fully expect to keep internet parenting ;)