Happy Belated 5 Month Corrected Birthday, Hallie!

Once again, I've fallen behind on posting this week. Hallie was none too thrilled when she checked her blog earlier in the week and noticed it had not been updated at all this month:

So she tried to do it herself. But while she seems to have mastered using the trackpad, she found that the keyboard on my Mac was simply too far away for her to reach comfortably.

Until we come up with some sort of device which will allow her to express herself directly, she will have to put up with a mom (or moms) who always seem to get behind on updating the broader community of Hallie devotees.

OK, so what IS new with Hallie?

First, she continues to grow. As of her GI appointment a week ago, she is 13 lbs. 8 ounces and 24.5 inches tall. We suspect that she has put on a good amount of weight this week. Even with some recurrent 'refunding' of feedings (perhaps related to reflux, and perhaps related to teething, and perhaps related to excessive phlegm from her date with the croup), she has gone up a lot on her volume. She took the most at one time ever last night (6.5 ounces---amazing for Hallie) and generally has managed to get 20-22 ounces of high-cal formula into her system each day. She also snacks on pear juice, a little bit of solids (her new favorites are chicken and broth and homemade chicken gravy with lots of butter---don't ask!). These things don't add much in the way of calories (well, maybe the chicken gravy does) but they spice up her life. She seems fond of eating at the table with the big people (broadly defined to include her two toddler pals, Karina--who turned one this week--and Ethan--who is a very mature 1.5). While we couldn't feed Hallie cake and icing at Karina's low-key birthday dinner, she did have a fun time with the organic applesauce. In a word, our Little Cupcake is SO big:

Second, she is getting even stronger where sitting is concerned. Her new personal best is around a minute or so without any propping and she is putting out her hands and otherwise correcting herself when she loses balance. She's still not rolling without assistance (I've chalked up the four rolls she did a couple of months ago to a fluke) but she does go over with ease with a tiny bit of a push. We'll be working on this (and on her hip muscles which appear to be really well flexed for Pilates but not for rolling) this weekend.

Finally, and most momentously, Hallie actually SLEPT IN HER CRIB last night. Up until last night, she's gone to bed and gone down for naps in her bouncy chair. She's really beginning to outgrow it and she needs to get used to her crib being something more than a playpen. And so last night the moms took the plunge. We put her into her crib after her last bottle and Hallie happily remained asleep in it until around six this morning (and, no, we did not put her down at 5:45 am--it was more like 1:00am). This is real progress and we hope to repeat the experiment and make it part of Miss Hallie Rose's regular routine.