August Wells, 5 Months

I went with a bunch of my girlfriends to visit our dear friend in the hospital last night who just gave birth to a sweet baby girl.

I'm surprised our whole entourage, including two babies of our own, made it there in the great blizzard that is happening right now as I type.
The trip in the snow to the hospital and holding that tiny baby girl reminded me that somehow these tiny newborns change right beneath our noses every single day into little babies, and then big babies, and then.

Before this snowy weekend passes, I have to capture for myself a few notes of August Wells, 5 months.

Chews on anything and everything!  You are like a little puppy, desperate to chew on anything you come in contact with: fingers, hands, our faces!, toys, you name it.  Probably this is called teething, but we first time parents can never be too certain.  Sometimes you make us laugh so hard with how frantic you are to chew.  It's pretty adorable, little puppy.

Sleeping on your tummy.  While you rolled over for the first time at 4 months, you didn't roll from your back to your tummy so easily until 5 months.  It's easy for you now though, and immediately when we put you down on your back to sleep for a nap or for the night, you flip right over and sleep on your tummy.  This is obviously your preference now and you look so cozy!  You started doing this for the first time on our New Year's Eve trip with friends in OH.

Baby Beluga.  This is your song.  You love endless renditions of it, and I've noticed recently that it is also the way to whisper you into calmness if you're crying uncontrollably in the car.  The Baby Beluga song is the secret!

Solid naps.  I look back now on you at 3 and 4 months and see that all our nap struggles were just you growing and developing into napping.  At five months, you take the classic 9:00 and 1:00 naps, which I can almost count on now to be two hours each.  It's a beautiful thing, Augy Bear!   Just in time for Momma to start studying for her licensure exam.  And no, I'm not expecting your napping to be perfectly predictable every day, because we know you'll just stop if I do that. ;)

Such a happy baby!  This is the number one comment we get from family, friends, babysitters, and even strangers.  "He's such a happy baby!" they exclaim.  It's true, you love to smile and you love people.  A funny story I don't want to forget is your first Christmas coming to Grammy & Big Papa's.  Somehow there was a mix-up in our expected arrival time, and so no one really knew we were coming when we did.  We drove up to your cousin Connor's birthday party and when we opened the door there was literally about a 5 minute screaming party with your aunts, uncles, and grandparents who were so surprised to see you.  You thought that was the greatest reception you've ever been given and never once shied away or got scared of all the noise and attention.  You just smiled as big as you can and let yourself be passed around and hugged and kissed to pieces.  But don't get me wrong, you are a normal little baby and you get waves of being grumpy and discontent and fussy on a regular basis with just me and Daddy at home.  No one seems to believe that though. ;)

Night sleep.  It's not great, it's not horrible.  5 months in, you still definitely do not sleep through the night, typically waking up for feedings twice and then needing your paci or whatever else numerous other times a night.  

Reaching.  You're reaching now, for toys, for food, even a little bit for us.  Reaching seems like not that big of a deal in and of itself, but somehow it feels to me like it marks the transition from a little baby to a big baby.  You want solid food so badly, you just stare us down while we eat.  The other night at Chipotle you were sitting on Daddy's lap staring and leaning in towards his burrito bowl until, quick as lightening, you reached out and plunged your chubby little hand right into his bowl for a fistful of rice, cheese, and sour cream!  I cannot wait to give you your first taste of rice cereal at 6 months.  All signs point to the prediction that you're gonna love it.

Last funny thing is this new smacking noise you make with your bottom lip.   You think you're pretty funny doing it, and surprise surprise, so do we.  

August Wells, 5 months.