I have no idea how it happened so fast, but my Little Miss is 5 months old!  I keep telling her that she has to stay a baby forever…AND live with me forever.  To which Mike just laughs.

Here’s our 5-month photo shoot.  It started out well, but then someone (I won’t name any names, but it wasn’t me) got a little cantankerous.

I think she was annoyed that her background blanket was wrinkled and falling down. What can I say?  The girl’s got standards.

Just in the nick of time, Teddy (Annabelle’s union rep / canine companion) intervened and the shoot was able to continue.

So all last week I was pretty busy, trying to get the house ready for Thanksgiving and the arrival of the Wright clan (more on that later).  Annabelle amused herself quite happily by practicing her rolling skills all over the livingroom.

And all the while, unbeknownst to me, Annabelle was hard at work on another little “project”…cutting her first tooth!

You have to look pretty hard to see the tooth, but it’s there (and it’s sharp!)!  It’s moments like these that make me question if this kid is even related to me.  I mean, yeah, I was there when she was born and all, but my goodness…not only does she LOOK like her Daddy but she ACTS like him too!  She was so laid back about the whole experience and barely fussed at all! (Mike only fusses on those occasions when I make him go to bed early with me, rather than watch football 🙂 )

Mike and I were so excited that we smothered her in kisses.

To this, Annabelle showed off her other new talent of grabbing faces – and anything attached to them – with her “death grip”, as we like to call it.  Suffice to say, I’m wearing my hair tied up these days!

As many of you know, over the past month we’ve been attempting to “sleep train” Annabelle, meaning that we’ve been trying to teach her how to fall asleep and stay asleep on her own.  There are all sorts of books and methods that you can read about, which I’ve done…as well as talk with countless friends and family members to hear their advice.  In the end, I just felt like one stressed out and confused Mama.  It’s hard to know what method will work with your child unless you do a little trial and error…and who wants to make an “error” when it comes to your precious baby?!?!

Following the sage advice of my sister (Ashley) and good friend (Kristy), we finally took Annabelle out of the swaddle (so she could self-soothe by sucking her fingers) and let her cry it out until she put herself to sleep.  Though it was really stressful for me to hear her cry (prompting tears of my own), she fussed for just a few minutes and then conked out.  Of course, when I checked on her at 3:00am in the morning I nearly had a heart attack when I realized she had rolled onto her tummy.  I know this is just first-time-mommy-nervousness talking, but I was so scared about SIDS after reading so much (too much?) about how infants should always sleep on their backs.  So yes, I did go into her room and sit by her crib for a while to make sure she was still breathing.  I know, I know…I’m crazy.  I’m sure all those experienced Mamas out there are shaking their heads at my silliness.  And to no one’s surprise, Annabelle was fine and sleeping peacefully.

So we survived sleep training (round one).  The funny thing is, between the two of us, I am pretty sure that Annabelle was NOT the one who needed “training.”  It’s becoming very clear that she has a lot to teach me over the next 18 years! 🙂

Here are some favorite photos from the past week.  She is getting more interactive and hilarious every day!