5 months old-- a state of the baby address

The Great Sosini is 5 months old today! According to our scale here at home, she weighs a little over 17 pounds (so THAT'S why I'm so tired at the end of the day). Sonia is definitely on the chubby end of the baby spectrum. That's all right-- I loves me the chubby babies! Her hair is starting to grow in, but it's either dark blond or light brown, so unless you look closely, she appears to be as bald as a cue ball. Niki and I were quite bald for quite a large part of our infancy, so this is not a surprise!

This picture is almost a month old now, but it still makes me laugh every time I see it, so I need to share it with the world:


I'm pretty sure the poor thing is teething.... Everything she can get in her mouth gets the NOM NOM NOM treatment, and her sleep patterns have gotten all out of whack. I'm going to try the chilled wet washcloth trick today. One of my favorite things is watching her jam Shakey the Octopus's fish in her mouth while she's on her play mat. Shakey may have lost his smile-inducing mojo, but he's making up for it in other ways.

Here's a picture of her wearing an outfit that I bought for Charlotte last summer:


I love this outfit! I'm so happy it came back to me just like a boomerang. We had to put a long-sleeved onesie on underneath the tank top because the weather has been in the high 40's and low 50's here in Chicagoland. It has also been raining so much that we haven't been able to go out on many walks with the jogger stroller. ARGH!! When we do go out walking, we either have to use thick blanket thingies that fit in & around the carrier or put Sosi in a sweater and hat. Carol Murray knitted this sweater and hat for Zach, and I think Sosini looks smashing in this hand-me-down from her big brother!


Last week, I took Sonia with me to my annual visit to the OB/GYN so she could see Dr. Hsia, the lovely woman who helped bring The Great Sosini into this world. Sosi was fussy for about half of the exam, but then she got quiet while she munched on her burp cloth. I totally forgot to get a picture of Dr. Hsia with Sosi in the delivery room 5 months ago, so we tried to make up for it with a "better late than never" photo session. Sosi was not in a posing mood! But at least this gives me an excuse to post a picture of one of Sonia's funniest expressions-- when she's getting ready to cry, she makes this "frowny face":


Sosi is almost over her very first cold. She never really had a ridiculously runny nose, but she was very congested and we had to bust out her penguin-shaped cold mist humidifier. Luckily her mood has stayed upbeat and the only change in her daytime schedule is the addition of another morning nap. I don't know how much longer that will last, so I'm enjoying her 4 naps a day while I can!

Li'l Sonia is getting so close to being able to sit up on her own! She loves to be pulled from a laying-down position into a sitting position (although this makes her spit up if we do it too soon after a feeding!) and then up into a standing position. She stands there, grinning and giggling, and it looks like she's trying to dance a jerky version of the hula as she strengthens the muscles that will help her stand more steady.

The last bit of fun Sosi news is that she has recently become more obsessed with watching the cats. When they walk by, she smiles and coos at them. Bobo has also decided that he likes the taste of the top of her head, and if I'm not watching closely enough, he'll lick her long enough to make her start crying (apparently, rough kitty tongues don't feel good on little bald babies' heads!). If you hung around with kitties this cute all day, wouldn't you watch them, too?