Month 5

Where to begin?  How about guy time out on the deck?

You have gotten pretty good at hanging out with us wherever we are, at least for a while.  You are still on a schedule to eat every two hours or so during the day, and so there is a steady rise and fall of your mood on a 120 minute cycle, from a post-prandial satisfied stupor, to amiable, to playful, to aware of the growing gap since your last meal...

Luckily, Dad knows how to make Mai Tais and is happy to entertain you in the outside sunny warmth while Mom takes a break from the nursing.

You have yet to pop out any teeth, but the constant sucking on everything and continuous stream of drool falling from your face suggests that your bark will soon be joined by your bite.  In relation to that every 2 hours feeding cycle, I can tell you that Mom is none too excited to experience first hand the gnashing and weeping concurrent to the introduction of teeth to the nursing environment.

I love it when you are awake, but those moments when you conk out, especially the rare afternoon naps, are so sweet.  5 months in, you have gotten pretty consistent at sleeping for nice long stretches at night, and while I still feel constantly tired, I am markedly less delirious now.  But...most of our FWK (friends with kids) tells us that their sweet little devils take multiple long naps every day.  You?  Not so much.

Instead, we get huge chunks of this adorableness, interspersed with the occasional burst of inconsolable, the world is going to end, break out the whiskey and the ear plugs screaming drama...I have a video of such that I will refrain from sharing with the world, to protect them from the mental scars, not to save you the legacy of embarrassment.

I have, now, as of this writing, successfully fed you maybe 6 ounces total of your mother's milk.  Since a normal mealtime dose should be around 4 ounces, and my 6 were spread over 4+ attempts, it should be apparent that my success in giving you a bottle is nothing to boast about.  However, this month has brought a nanny into your life, and she has been far more successful than Dad at getting you to take a bottle.  She's got skills.  And a bag with endless surprises, and she sings, and just the other day a chimney sweep came by to call on her...

Sometimes you act like you know we are taking your picture.  And look at those toes!  Hopefully, for you, learning to run barefoot will not require unlearning how to run in foot-tanks.

This shot, taken at your aunt's bridal shower, captures a moment about 6 minutes removed from a full on demonic possession - note the joy evident in your face at having raised Dad's blood pressure 15%.  So adorable...the joy of a short memory.

The day after the aforementioned out of town shower, when we got back to the homestead, you and Mom (see her elbow?) crashed in the big people bed for a nice long nap.  I love how you assume the position: hands behind your head, legs all star-fished out, like you own the place.  And according to about 2/3 of the household, you DO own the place now.

Drinking problem?  It is fun to watch you learn how to solve problems.  Mind, you tend to forget the solution from last time you faced the same obstacle, but the time to resolution is shrinking each iteration.  Soon you will be ready to escape the Matrix.

See?  And now for a series of representative scenes that need no commentary:

This sunny shot came during what has become the best part of our family day; in the early morning, just after your long sleep and first feeding, you are so sweet.  You smile a lot, you are calm, you're patient with us, and Mom and I have yet to jump into the adult world of deadlines and computer screens.  It's awesome, even though I could have slept 15 minutes longer.

See you next month!

________________________________________________________________________

technical notes: I did a batch upload of pics directly from Picasa this month, selecting all of these shots and hitting "Blog This" - the upload settings must use a lower resolution version of the shots, with the result of more pixelation than I like to see.  I'm going to have to work on that before next month.