overjoyed: Five Months!

Hello my Sweet Baby James!

I can hardly believe it, but you are FIVE months old! Wow! Here are five things that describe you right now:

1. ACTIVE - You like to go, go, go! We try to get out a lot because you get bored just hanging around the house for too long. Your favorite activity is to wheel around the kitchen in your walker. When we first put you in it, you would sort of just hop/lunge to push yourself forward, but now you put one little foot right in front of the other. It is so cute and it really keeps you busy! You also just love to be outside and thankfully we have had lots of beautiful fall weather to enjoy. I'm kind of dreading the cold dreary winter that I know is around the corner... we are going to have to find new ways to fight the cabin fever!

2. AWARE - You notice everything around you, and you want to touch/chew/reach for/grab whatever you see. I love to watch you watch your world! You see and reach for specific items that you want. Practically, this is great - you can now totally get your own pacifier back in your mouth whenever you want! If I'm holding you or nursing you, you like to look up and smile at me. And you love to look at me and Daddy and then reach your little hands out and touch our face. You are not exactly gentle about it, hence we have lots of little scratch marks, but it is so cute we can look past the nails.

3. AWAKE - Sleeping... yeah, you're not so great at sleeping. You mostly take short naps, and you still wake up every three hours all night long. This is exhausting, I won't deny, but we'll get there. I'm not in a rush to rock your boat with any severe sleep training, because you're just doing so great with all other areas of development and temperament. So right now we are just working on you going to sleep without having to be held or rocked. You're getting pretty good at it; we just lay you down and then lay next to you and most times you will eventually go quietly to sleep. The next thing we want to work on is weaning you from your swaddle, but one thing at a time!

4. AMIABLE - This is just a fancy word for friendly and good-natured, but I wanted to stick with my 'A' theme. It's funny, but ever since I wrote that blog about you not being a happy boy, you have set out to prove me wrong! Sure, I wouldn't call you particularly flexible or easy-going, and believe me, you can still cry (and now scream) when things aren't going your way. But overall, we have so many smiles and laughs to fill our day! I love your laugh so much; you sound like you swallowed a squeaky toy. Unless you are overly tired or upset, you don't mind when strangers hold you. You enjoy playing with other people - we've even left you in the church nursery two times!

5. ADORABLE - This is somewhat subjective, I realize, but c'mon. You know you're pretty stinkin' cute. Everyone - and I mean everyone - who meets you always comments on your bright blue eyes. Those big peepers plus your sweet rosy cheeks are a lethal combination! We are obsessed with taking your picture, and you already seem to be a pro at posing for the camera. Here are a few of my favorite shots from your fifth month of life: