Well, safe to say that this month has been a blur. A sweet and happy blur, but I still can't believe how fast it has gone. (If you want further evidence of this, dare to compare the date of this post with the actual date of your 5 month birthday.)
You have been super sweet this month. You are extremely laid back, squishy, and smiley. You are pretty easy to please, especially when we stick to your routine. If your belly is full, you are more than happy to lay on a blanket and look at your toys or bat at your toy bar. You may grunt/talk a little bit, either happily or to let me know that you are ready for a change of scenery. Often, when I hear you starting to grunt, I look at the clock and realize it is about the usual time for your nap. I lay you in your bed, wrap you up, you smile at me, and then you stick your fingers in your mouth and turn your head to the side and go to sleep. Sometimes, to add a little drama to this, you will drape your other arm over your eyes as you are going to sleep.
You are so easy to please that sometimes it is hard to come up with what you "really like." I would have to say that your favorite place to be is still on your back looking at your toys - either your "Hello Baby" toy gym, the Baby Einstein activity bar, or your crib mobile. You definitely prefer to be facing out when someone is holding you - you can tend to go a little ballistic if someone tries to snuggle you in any other way. Sometimes you will turn your head around backwards in order to look up at whoever is holding you while in that position. You will usually grant the person a smile once you see them.
You are doing better and better with sitting up on our laps. You will usually lift your head straight up and look at us if we are talking to you. Actually, I think you probably prefer standing on our laps and looking at us instead of sitting there.
Daddy has started doing the "Superman" game with you. When you hear him start to sing the song, you will usually give him a big smile because you know he will lift you up to fly at the "BUM-bum-bum" part.
You haven't latched onto a favorite thing yet. Sometimes I will give you your rabbit blankie and you will grab onto it, and sometimes you seem to like rubbing on your muslin swaddling blanket, but nothing has totally won your affection yet. (Except me of course, right?)
You are definitely noticing more and more about your surroundings. I love the big smile you give me when I come into your "bedroom" (yes, you still sleep in the bathroom) after a nap or nighttime. When I flip the light on, you take some time to squint and get used to the light, and then you usually will give yourself a great big smile in the mirror. You think you are pretty great, too. The other day, one of the cats walked by you and totally caught your eye. You followed him wherever he went after that. You are also getting more social with your feeding times. You have started the super cute thing of taking a break and smiling or just looking at me while you are eating.
You aren't growing by leaps and bounds, which seems pretty similar to what your brother and sister were doing at this point. You seem to have a healthy amount of chub all over your body, but you aren't gaining much weight. To be honest, you don't eat super frequently during the day, but you are extremely content between feedings and you are willingly sleeping all night. You still absolutely refuse a bottle (more on that in just a second), so I don't think that supplementing is a solution, even if I was interested. You seem quite healthy in this aspect, and I will hope that you either have a growth spurt in the next few weeks or that the pediatrician agrees with me at six months.
I did spend a couple of days away from you at the beginning of February. I went to a photography workshop down at Clearwater Beach. I had thought that daddy would be able to keep you and feed you while I was away. Even the idea of this made you very angry with us, and you let us know every time we tried to give you a bottle in the days leading up to the workshop. We decided it was best if dad just brought you down (with your brother and sister) twice a day for me to feed you while I was gone. You seemed to approve. If I haven't told you lately, you have a really great daddy.
At three months old, you were seeming to be turning into quite the chatterer. You have definitely mellowed out and quieted down. That is okay, but we do love to hear what you "have to say" so feel free to speak up whenever you would like. (Notice I said "speak up" not "scream up.") You do like to laugh, but not really at your immediate family. You cracked up at two of your little friends on Valentine's Day as they were jumping up and down and the same with a little boy in the nursery. When I try to do silly things to make you giggle, you look at me like you are bored stiff. I'll keep trying. (So will your brother and sister, so please continue to humor us from time to time with a laugh, even if it is just a courtesy laugh.)
You are happily looking at your loving brother in this picture.
And putting up with being snuggled by your adoring sister in this one.
I've mentioned before that you have been super sweet and laid back this month - to further emphasize that, I should also add that this sweet behavior has been in addition to me adding dairy back into my diet and weaning you off the Zantac. Sometime this month we stopped giving it in the middle of the day and then stopped altogether. You seem fine. I'm enjoying my cheese and ice cream again (specifically, baked ziti and double fudge brownie ice cream - not together of course).
On the day you turned five months old you took your first trip to the beach - Ft. DeSoto. You were great. You even took one nap inside the tent. You also were willing to chill out in there even when you weren't sleeping. Daddy was kind enough to come into the little tent and get you to giggle at him (Don't be fooled, he was also trying to get his charbroiled skin out of the hot sun).
We had a great day together as a family; we were so glad to have you along with us. I'm just so thankful that you are a part of our family - you are a great fit. We love you very much.
I'm going to try and not panic too much about the fact that in three weeks I need to begin writing a six month letter! I'll just keep soaking in your sweetness and telling you just how much we love you, our little Jocie Bit.
Hugs and Kisses,
Your Mama
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