Sharing Our Journey: 5 months

To Olen Ray,

Is it really possible that you are already 5 months old and already have so much personality? You are still the highlight of our lives and we enjoy every day with you.

One of your favorite babysitters, Laura, let us borrow a jumper with a lot of toys attached. It looks like a mini-spaceship and you love to play in it as you prepare for take off while I cook dinner. At first you weren't too excited about it, but now you "jump-jump-jump around" as I sing and talk to you in the evenings.

Speaking of babysitters, I think you have pretty much stayed with a different person every week this month as I continued to work one day a week. Mrs. Stephanie, Mrs. Sarah, Mrs. Trisha, Mrs. Katie, and Mimi all had a chance to snuggle with you and care for you while I worked. A huge THANKS to all of them for helping us out while we secured a more consistent babysitter for you.

Let's talk travel because I think you road in the car EVERY weekend this past month. We started with a trip to the beach in NC to visit cousins from VA. You loved spending time with the "big boys" (Adam, Andy, and Jake) and they were quite interested in you as well. We went to dinner one night and I needed to grab a few more bites of food (yes, I will talk about your food soon because I feel that might be the only thing you want to talk about in regards to your development as you get older) so I asked if someone would sit by you. All three boys volunteered! Adam even held you for a while after dinner. You now think you are a big boy too! The pool was a big hit for you again, just like the last time we went to the beach.

Next stop: Virginia for Allen and Gina's wedding. I was very proud of you at the ceremony! You only ate a small piece of the program and enjoyed looking at the guests behind us in an attempt to still the attention from the bride and groom. We had a great time staying with friends in a house on the lake and you loved all the attention. Now, sleeping, well let's not talk about it. It seems that when we are traveling you think it is time to party all day and all night will all the people in the house. Who needs sleep, right? (Just a little secret baby boy, one day you will have a baby and you will realize that adults need more sleep that babies. We are not as cute and happy when we don't get sleep as you!)

Prepare for take-off! For real this time! You took your first flight all the way to WA, followed by a boat ride to Stehekin. The plane was pretty fun for you as you sat in my lap on 5/6 flights. Fortunately we were sitting next to the engines on the one flight you were screaming on and it only lasted 45 minutes (the flight, the screaming lasted the whole time). I am hoping to post some pictures from that trip as well in a separate post. We loved showing you off to our "Stehekin family" there. It is a blessing to have such amazing friends all the way on the west coast.

I started a little rice cereal with you the night before you turned 5 months. We tried it on and off at night only for a few weeks. It DID NOT help you sleep and actually made your tummy hurt a little. A few weeks in to the routine, we added some fruit to help "move" things along. I also talked to your pediatrician and they recommended mixing a little pear juice with water in a bottle. You thought this was an AWESOME idea. It really did seem to help though. By the time we traveled to Stehekin, you were eating a fruit or veggie every night for dinner. I continued to add rice cereal every now and then. Dinner time was one of your favorite times of the day. I just had to nurse you before offering the solids because this stuff didn't seem to feel you up fast enough which resulted in one unhappy baby during dinner. I am still nursing you 6-7 times in a 24 hour period. You still nurse on one side only and it seems to be more than enough.

Your dad and I have decided to take a break from worrying about sleep. You were on a pretty good schedule until we started our whirl-wind of travels for the month of August. Now, we just do the best we can and try to get you to sleep as much as possible. Falling asleep at night is still a piece of cake for you. A warm bath, changing into your pajamas, and then nursing still seem to work well for you. Most nights you fall asleep while nursing around 8:00. I nurse you at 10:00 or 11:00 for a dream feed and then you sleep until 4:00. After that feeding, its back to sleep until 7:00. When we have been at other people's houses, you end up being flipped from back to tummy a lot in an effort to keep you quite and help you sleep. Why didn't we just give in and put you on your tummy earlier? It is a question I still ask myself a lot! You are napping quite well now regardless of the location (car, pack'n'play, crib). Most days you will take 2-3 naps each lasting 1-2 hours. If you go longer than 2 hours, I usually go in the check and make sure you are still breathing.

Let's see, hmm, oh yes! You love to move around. You are still rolling from tummy to back when playing on the floor and your scoot backwards pretty well. You can even reach down and get those toes for a little taste test while I am trying to change your diaper. Everything still goes in your mouth and you are getting pretty good at putting your paci back in your mouth independently. You love to hold toys, look at them for a few minutes, and then begin to chew-chew-chew on them. I am sure there must be some teeth in there somewhere that are bound to come through any day. Books are still a highlight of our day. You like to help turn the pages and snuggle with me or daddy while reading. It is so fun to watch you look at the colored pages.

I think this month we have really started to see your personality come out. You are so much fun to play with and your daddy has started to rush home in time to see you before bed. He even offers to get you in the mornings for some extra snuggle time in our bed on the weekends. I think the pictures from your 5 month session tell a lot about your expressions. (I don't usually post captions on these, but couldn't resist this time) Your baby blue eyes and sweet smile still light up a room when we walk in. You love to give me kisses and grab your daddy's hair/ears/or nose during playtime. We are so thankful to have you in our lives and praise God for your health every day. Keep smiling baby boy and keep sharing your joyous heart with the world.

Love, Mommy and Daddy

"Hey mom, what do you want me to do?"

"You want me to what? SMILE? Really?"

"Okay, let me think about that for a minute."

"How is this for a good smile mom?"

"Here is another one for you mom."

"Okay, here is a little more cuteness you can share with the world."

"Do you think you could use this wrap to actually wrap ME to YOU? I think you might have to put down that black box for that to happen though. Just thinking really."