5 months!

Zoey turns 5 months old today, and her grandma turns 708 months. (Happy birthday, Mom!) Our happy girl continues to amaze us with all the new things she's learning and doing! Here's a short list of what she's been up to lately:

- Learning to sit unassisted! She's gotten so much better at balancing in the last week or so, and she can now sit by herself for about a minute or so...or until she reaches for something and topples over in a fit of giggles. :)

- Eating. As I mentioned a few posts back, Zoey is now eating baby food purees once a day. So far, we're still on sweet potatoes, peas, and apples, but next up are mangoes and green beans! We've also got bananas, squash, peaches, carrots, pears, and prunes (eww) stocked in the cupboard for her.

- Becoming mobile. This child has the ability to somehow get from one side of the room to the other in no time flat, without actually crawling yet! Seriously, I'll put her down on her blanket, and I'll turn my back for a second or go to another room quickly, and when I come back, she's on the opposite side of the room, totally pleased with herself. :-)  I have a feeling crawling is not too far away, followed closely by teething. We haven't spotted any up-and-coming toofers yet, but gnawing is her new favorite pasttime, so we shall see..

- Waking up happy! When Zoey was a little younger, every time she woke up, no matter how long it had been since her last feeding, she was crying. It was just a part of our lives back then. In the last 4-6 weeks or so, she's really done a complete 180 in that department! She now wakes up happy and smiling, cooing and babbling. She doesn't hesitate to squawk at us, though, if she deems we've taken too long to come and rescue Her Highness from her crib!

Zoey has become such a pro at anything we throw at her - weddings, church services, restaurants, long car trips, outdoor festivals, etc....so much that we have decided to really tempt fate, and we've planned our first camping trip with Zoey for Labor Day weekend. We'll make our annual trek out to the badlands at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota, and brave tent camping with our baby beast. I told Aaron that it will either be really awesome or really awful. We're hoping for awesome, of course, and I really have no doubt Zoey will have a blast. I'm sure we'll have lots of pictures and stories when we return!

Happy 5 months, baby girl! We love you!