Oh boy, I remember when I thought having a newborn was tiring, then it got busier. Then I thought having a 5 month old was tiring, with her eating solids and moving around some. Fast forward to now and she’s crawling super fast, and before I know it, her hands are splashing water in the dog’s water bowl! 

Here’s what she has been up to: 

• Loves closing doors, even if it hits her in the face as she closes it. Thankfully not quite reaching the doorknob yet. 
• The dog’s food bowls are great cymbals to bang together to make very loud music and now so are the 6″ baking pans I bought for her birthday cake.
• My singing “Locked out of Heaven” by Bruno  Mars keeps her entertained during diaper changes (some of the time). “Oh yea yea! Oh yea yea yea yea…!” and she tries to mimic me, haha.
• She loves smoked gouda cheese!
• Scrambled egg yolk with whole milk yogurt and a tiny sprinkle of cheese is our new breakfast! She loves scrambled egg yolk! (I’m staying away from egg white just in case of an allergic reaction)
• YES to Trader Joe’s Chicken Chardonnay Apple Sausage boiled, then cooled in the fridge was a success two days in a row! Whew.
• Other than that, we still only like deli turkey.
• Loves cooked sweet peas and corn, thankfully, since she doesn’t eat my fun sautéed veggies in herbs and spices, haha..
• Does not like any yummy creative pancakes or snacks that I’ve made now, like those yummy zucchini spinach and apple pancakes or broccoli cheddar bites. Sigh. 
• Loves Happy Baby Teething Wafers! We tried Plum Organics teething crackers but the texture isn’t as preferable. Loves her purple carrot and blueberry wafers, though. I’ll have to try peanut butter on these wafers because she doesn’t like PB on crackers or toast. 
• Definitely doing only 1 nap per day, still sleeping 11 or 12 hours through the night. (Visit this post here for sleep training tips) She’s completely happy to be awake and playing up until about 6:15ish, so I think we are in her 1 nap routine. 
• We have to either take the pugs outside while Jia eats or put them behind the baby gates away from the kitchen, because generous little Jia wants to share her food as soon as she sees hungry looking faces look up at her from her high-chair. 
• She’s much better at playing independently, now that she is a crawling expert. Basically the entire room is full of entertainment and mischief, so now I can actually run upstairs to the bathroom, go downstairs and throw a load of laundry in the washer and dryer, pack up for an outing, etc. while she happily plays and explores. It warms my heart instantly, though, when I see she misses me and speed-crawls over to me so I can pick her up for nuzzles and cuddles. Mmmm…
• She can flub her lips. You know, when you take your index finger and you move it up and down across your lips and you can make funny noises that go, “blublublublub” She gets a kick out of this now. 
• She knows how to sniff something. I would take her feet, sniff them and go “pew!” and she would laugh. Now, she leans forward and curiously sniffs whatever I put in front of her face. This may or not be my toes. 

By the way, I can’t believe there are this many things to write in just a 7 day span since the last post!

Mom thoughts: 

• Uh oh, her 1st birthday is really coming up pretty soon. I have to plan. Well “Plan” is the operative word. I’m “planning” on making her a no-sew tutu to wear with a white onesie, possibly in shades of pink/coral/turquoise… and making some easy flag banners out of paper and twine. I need to pick out some month-to-month photos to print. I’m also planning on baking a no-sugar added banana smash cake for her with this recipe. Maybe topped with raspberries. We aren’t having a party extravaganza, more of a small gathering of family.  I don’t want to make myself crazy, I want to enjoy our big day and that means do less hostessing and entertaining. 
• Baby or Toddler? I can’t believe I’m teetering on the edge of “Do I call her a baby? Or do I call her a toddler?” I always figured toddlers are walkers, but I with her curiosity, movements, and ways she expresses herself, I really can’t help but think of her as a toddler. 
• No recipe this week, not til I find something Jia truly enjoys!
• One friend and reader Sara asked for more pictures of Jia during WSDW posts, so here they are! 

I now understand why they have little kiddie magnets for playing!

Belly Kisses

Can’t believe we’ll be putting a 12 months sticker on her soon

Til next week!