Our little lady is suddenly FIVE months old. I cannot even. 

She doesn't look that much older, but she'd definitely made progress this past month. It's so crazy how time flies while things seem to stay the same. 

At five months old, Larkin:

1. Rolled from back to tummy! She's only done it a couple of times, but will get about halfway to a roll lots of times. 
2. Has a bona fide laugh, and it can be triggered by Quinn being silly or blowing raspberries, or by Joe or I making exaggerated faces at her, especially if we zoom in and out from her sightline. 
3. Has officially moved up to 0-3m pants and 3-6mo tops and dresses and rompers. 
4. Is still in size two diapers.
5. Has seen no change in her sleeping situation... except today I began swaddling her with one arm out. 
6. Is now taking 6 oz bottles. She tends to have one in the morning, then a half bottle before her first nap. A 6 oz when she wakes, and a half bottle before her second nap. Another 6 oz in the afternoon, then 4-6oz around 5-5:30 when she takes a short third nap... Then 4-6oz at bedtime (between 7-8) and a couple of ounces when she wakes for a minute at 10pm. 
7. Mostly sleeps from 7:30ish-10:00pm, then from 10:15pm-2 or 3 or 4 or sometimes even 5 am. She's really doing well! If she wakes at 2 or 3, I give her another bottle, then do our one-time nursing session around the 4-5 o'clock hour. At that point, she'll usually sleep til 6:30 or 7. 
8. Has had some time in the Jenny Jump Up. She's not jumping, exactly, but she seems to love the chance to "walk" her legs around on the floor. I plan to bring up the exersaucer here in a week or so. 
9. Is pretty good in the car these days. She can go on short trips with no crying, and sometimes even do longer trips! 
10. Loves clutching and grabbing and scraping at things... clothing and my face and necklaces and any burpcloth or lovey I put in her hands. 
11. Is noisy when she's happy! She coos, cackles, does the inward-breath gasp thing, and even fuss-talks when she's getting irritated. 
12. Loves her feet, looking out the window, having her cheek and hair stroked, is on the "too ticklish" side of ticklish, loves her daddy's face, and enjoys peekaboo. 
13. Is so chill in the mornings, thank heaven. She is so content to lie in her rock n play in the dining room with us as I get Lucy and Noah fed and out the door for school. 
14. Absolutely LOVES "Itsy Bitsy Spider", especially when I do her hands for her, and when we say "WASHHHHH the spider out!" Her face breaks into the biggest grin, and I am addicted to this moment. 
15. Loves the ring sling, and will let me prep food with her in it with almost no protesting. 
16. Has a crib!!! Joe got it assembled last night, and it is so cute. But she's not slept in it yet. That'll come. 

I wish I could bottle up her sweetness.... I wish I could share her with you all in more than photos. She's such a gift in our lives. She is so yummy and squishy and gorgeous and sweet. I continues to ache that she has to keep growing and changing so quickly.... I would love it to slow down. But every new thing is just another level of light in our lives, and I'm grateful she is healthy, happy, and so beloved by the rest of my kids. our Larkin Clementine.... ♥

(Photos taken on Larkin's amazing bird quilt made by my friend Melanie Hess of Thoroughly Modern Minis, on Etsy. See her 1 month photos HERE, her 2 month photos HERE, her 3 month photos HERE, and her 4 month photos HERE.)

Randoms This Monday

To begin with, enjoy this smattering of January cell phone photos, in no particular order.

 Next, I just got through, finally, to my two senators (McCaskill and Blunt) and the Kentucky Republican senator Rand and voiced my opinion on a couple of political issues I'm not in agreement with. I'm still shaking out my jitters. I am an extrovert by nature, and I am pretty comfortable speaking to strangers in general... but this was still totally intimidating. BUT I DID IT. And I intend to keep doing it until it feels totally comfortable. This is a season in our nation that I believe strongly requires actual, literal activism on my part. Not just an armchair opinion. So. Go me! (Still shaky.)

Today is Larkin's month-a-versary. I don't even want to say how old she is, because it cannot be so. I still haven't finished her newborn photos! I still haven't relished her tiny, sweet, new, early months enough! She cannot be one month away from baby food and beginning to sit up and sprout teeth. It's too soon, and I am not ready.

(Larkin at 12 days old)

I will be taking her month-milestone photos on her bird quilt a bit later, and hopefully post her blog update in a day or two. 

I'm already sick of the winter blahs. I am craving being outside, having real, uncanned air blowing through me, sun and vitamin D soaking into my depleted skin. I want to move and feel my muscles work and my lungs fill. I am craving pushing my kids out the doors and letting them get restless and bored enough while out there that they begin to come up with creative ideas to be entertained by the natural world around them. The other day, I googled "how to fight the winter blahs" and one suggestion had a phrase that has stuck with me--- "Make friends with the enemy"-- meaning, no matter how gross it is outside, be it freezing, wet, boiling hot, etc., find a way to get out there anyway and find some good in it. That phrase has stuck and I am trying to embrace it. Now I need to work on preparing my kids to embrace it too. I should just bundle them up like that kid in "A Christmas Story" and make them go outside anyway. Hm... something to work on. 

I accidentally was let go from Jamberry after three years, and it still kind of makes me feel sad, even though I was doing NOTHING to promote it to others or sell the product. I still use it myself all the time, and love it, and I think it's just my nostalgic, sentimental side that is feeling bummed that that era is over. ("let go" because in order to remain a consultant, you need to have a minimum of $600 a year in sales, which was always easy to do, until 2016 when I was just busy growing Larkin and keeping my head above water in my photography biz and parenting life... so... ) I have to ponder if it's worth the $99 to sign up again, if maybe I'd only be doing it to get that part of life back for nostalgia's sake. I dunno. 

I want: a fresh pedicure; to have a good solid three hours to sort and purge the toys in our basement; to have an easy way to fit a daily walk into my schedule; to have a place for all the random piles of "stuff" in my life; a haircut and color; to go see all the Oscar Best Picture nominated movies; someone to make yummy healthy dinners for me; good beef; to cross-stitch again; to sew a little again; to have a concrete way to help the Muslim population in my city; to have a girls' weekend with my OLW girls, stat; to be back in Hawaii (almost one whole year since I got to go there. I have photos! I should blog them! One year later! haha); to have a nap. 

Larkin is officially moving into her own room! Joe disassembled the old crib (which was a convertible crib and recalled anyway, and had the drop-down side broken beyond use right as we were switching it to a toddler daybed for Quinn) and the pieces of Larkin's sweet pale pink Jenny Lind crib have been moved in and and are awaiting assembly. I need to start thinking about actual fabric for her crib bedding. I have colors and scheme already planned, but need the actual fabric to make a crib sheet and ruffled bedskirt. I want to recover the glider cushions, so I need more fabric ideas for that. I have a canvas already printed of Larkin as a newborn in the ring of flowers, and I have an idea of a few prints/things I want for her walls.... So this is kind of exciting! A nursery! Finally, and one last time. ♥

Things that don't quite yet feel comfortable but feel inevitable: 1. I turn 40 this year. That is all I can say about that right now as it is still SO uncomfortable. I have some raw and tender thoughts about it I want to blog soon. 2. In the past several months (maybe a year or more?) I feel more active and concerned politically than I have in my entire life. I seek truth and I seek goodness and I seek ways to love and include and listen. It's weird. But it feels right. And good. 

I cannot thing of any more randomness for the moment. It's all good. I feel purged and blank-slate and ready for the week. And I am no longer still jittering from my phone calls. So ONWARD-- carpe diem. Time to see what to do next today. Peace to you all, and love, and .... and in spite of the dark and looming clouds of fear and dark WEIRDNESS that is enveloping our nation right now, I wish for you HOPE and remembering to list things you have to be grateful for. Gratitude is power. And it heals. So..... go be thankful, if you can. 

♥