5 months {Jessica}

Well, another month has come and gone. Jessica is a such a ray of sunshine for our lives.
This month's photoshoot just happened to coincide with the 4th of July, so our little girl is very festively dressed for the occasion. We took her outside and got some pictures with the "Red Jeep" that's been in Michael's family for years and that he and his Dad fixed up a few years ago. It's a bit of a tradition. Can't wait until she is old enough to take a ride in it!

Enjoy the cute pictures of our "little muggins" as we like to call her!

Exciting updates:

Jessica has started to shake her head back and forth throughout the day. She's all smiles while she does it. I guess I tend to shake my head back and forth when I play with her and make funny sounds to get her to laugh, so I'm assuming she's picked up on this and is imitating me! Just a sign that children are always watching you!

She likes to hold my finger while nursing. Some babies, I've heard, like to grab onto their mother's shirts or necklaces, but Jessica always wants to hold my finger in her little hand. If I take my hand away where she can't grab it, she will reach up for it until I put it back where she can grasp onto a finger. She loves affection, that is for sure!

Jessica is still a wonderful sleeper, babbling to herself as she goes to sleep and when she wakes up. It's the cutest thing...ever.

She gets so enthusiastic during her bath time, kicking her legs and flailing her arms around. Things are starting to get very wet as she splashes about! Her favorite thing is the blue cup we use to rinse her off with. She reaches for it and wants to hold it (and chew on it) the entire time.

Jessica has started solids! We gave her her first rice cereal and she looked at us like, "What is this stuff? You have tainted my favorite thing to eat (breastmilk)!" She would almost shiver after taking spoonfuls in her mouth. Haha. But, I think she'll get the hang of it and enjoy veggies and fruits once we get to those.

We now go on walks almost every morning, around our neighborhood. We both enjoy taking in all the sights and sounds and Jessica usually falls asleep in the stroller by the end. I guess I'm a soothing stroller pusher!

We always get so many compliments on how cute and sweet she is. Just the other Sunday, a sister in our ward must've said how cute she was at least a dozen times in our conversation. She asked me, "(With a baby that cute) How do you get anything done during the day?" I jokingly told her I don't usually get too much done, and she said, "Good!" This same lady also made the gesture of squeezing Jessica when she talked about her. It's true. We love to hug, kiss, and squeeze her all day long.