Baby Girl is 5 Months Old!

I swear, she just keeps getting cuter every month and I love her more every DAY! At 5 months old, this girl is definitely not my newborn anymore.

I feel like we’ve moved past the newborn stage when she starts sitting on my hip. We’re there.

As a matter of fact, she doesn’t really love being anywhere else. Jeff can’t stand it when the whole time he’s holding her, she’s staring at me. It cracks me up.

Skin Issues

We’ve had some issues the past few months. {Well, really I don’t know how long. I just don’t remember NOT having these issues.}

Her skin is not in good shape. It’s eczema, I know. It wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t scratch her own face, constantly.

I can’t keep her nails short enough and that little “mommy chore” is something I loathe doing. Scares me to death, I almost always cut her skin, and she can’t hold still. I know people say to just bite them off. Just file them off. Use scissors. Do it after bath. I’ve heard it all.

The bottom line is the child will not stop scratching her face. Fortunately, she’s still cute, even in spite of her scratching.

My pediatrician has recommended getting her bloodwork done to check out what she’s allergic to. THAT has been an ordeal in itself.

They tried to draw her blood in the office and it didn’t work so they sent me to a lab where they draw blood all day long. The first time we went it was FREEZING cold. I had to take Riverson with me (not fun). The girl working in the lab was the only person there and she was not able to get a vein in Brantley’s arm. She resorted to a heel stick and squeezed her foot to get the blood in the vial.

That idea might have worked if she didn’t DROP THE VIAL!!!

TWICE!!

I think we did that whole deal for about 30-40 minutes before she finally told me she got enough. Brantley was done about 5 minutes in to it all. It was fun, lemmetellya.

About a week later, I got a phone call telling me they didn’t get enough blood and I’d have to go get it drawn again. Oh, fantastic. :/

We went yesterday and were sent to another location where they should be better with babies. At the second location, the “better with babies” people were even making me nervous as they felt around on her arms and hands, trying to agree on the best place to stick her.

A part of me thought we just were NOT going to be able to get her blood. THEN, a lady walked in bringing some supplies to the people in the lab. The nurse working with Brantley said, “Hey, do you think you could do this?”

The woman said, with her awesome southern accent, “Sure! Why didn’t you just say somethin’.” And, we were out of there within 5 minutes, with 3 vials of blood drawn. Brantley hardly cried and I’m excited to get our results in about a week.

My productivity level is pretty low since she’s recently become so high maintenance. She fights me on taking a pacifier and she fights me on falling asleep. I’m not sure what it is but the girl thinks she needs to be nursing to be able to fall asleep. I’m over it.

Sadly, it’s seriously made me think about not nursing anymore. This is something I never would have said when Langston was 5 months old, but I’m having a hard time with not getting anything done or having time to myself, without her on my lap.

Development

Brantley’s starting to get more mobile and I love seeing her development. I’m already finding her several feet from her play mat when I leave the room and come back.

She digs those heels in to the ground and pushes her whole body back. It’s pretty funny.

Sitting up is something we’re still working on, obviously.

The Best Thing About Her

Her eyes light up and the smile spreads across her face for anyone. She loves people and I love that about her.