five months of gwen

My Sweetie,

Five big months old. It frightens me to think that the next time I sit down to do this, we’ll be halfway through your first year. Impossible. You’re going like a weed girl. Especially this month as you went through a major growth spurt. Even after a few days of not seeing you, people said they could tell you were so much longer and chubbier. You are wearing mostly 6 month clothes but growing out of a lot of them. You’re in medium diaper covers and size 3 disposables.

Here’s how you’ve looked this month:

Currently, you’re battling your first bout of sickness as you’ve caught your Big Sissy’s cold. You are sad and pathetic and it just breaks my heart. Your nose and eyes are watery and your voice sounds like a sixty year old smoker. We’re snuggling lots. Spending most the day in the ergo and hoping to get rid of this thing fast. I don’t like seeing you sick, my sweetie.

You’ve been very busy this month. And in fact, you’ve gone pretty easy on me. In your 4 month post, I wrote about how it had been a tricky month with sporadic napping and such. You’ve generally come out of that and gotten back to fairly decent napping. However, throughout your growth spurt we went through a good week or two of not so hot nighttime sleep. You seem to be getting back into the swing of nighttime sleeping, though. I am learning to accept that you are just going to be an early riser and trying to savour the sleep I get, even if it has to end at 6 am most days. For the most part, it is becoming easier and easier to get you to sleep as you will generally put yourself to sleep when I lay you down. Occasionally, I still have to help you get your paci back in your mouth but many times, if it’s in your reach, you’re able to do it yourself. The big problem is that you’ve been doing a lot of practicing of your new skills … specifically, rolling. That has caused some disturbances during naps and nighttime as you roll over in your sleep and wake yourself up, or else roll over six billion times before going to sleep in the first place.

You have been rolling belly to back non stop for the last month or so. And just last week, while having some nakey hiney time, you figured out the whole back to tummy thing. And the rest is history. The next morning, you acted like you were an old pro and it only took you about five minutes to figure out that if you rolled from belly to back multiple times in a row you would actually move. Life’s about to get ca-razy!

You’ve also been practicing sitting up quite a bit. You can do it well in a cloth diaper because the extra junk in your trunk gives you a little more stability. You’re still pretty wobbly though. It won’t be long, I’m sure.

Of course, you are still laughing like crazy. Keeping you entertained is not hard at all. This month, you’ve added a shriek to your list of skills as well. The belly laugh is still there but is more commonly replaced by a high pitched squeal. It hurts my ears and I’m sure it’s got to hurt your throat but it’s funny nonetheless. It is especially hilarious when you do it to get your Daddy’s attention. The other day you were in your jolly jumper in your bedroom door frame while Eva played and Daddy and I moved things around in the living room to get ready for the Christmas tree to come in. I have never seen you shriek so much and so loud trying to get us to pay attention to you. I guess you’ve already learned that you’ve gotta be loud to keep up around here.

Speaking of getting Daddy’s attention, you are quite a daddy’s girl. You bust into the hugest smile and silly sounds and grins as soon as he walks in the door and you absolutely love playing with him.

You are starting to show many signs that teeth may soon be on the way. You are very drooly (although, hello, you always have been) and constantly chewing on Sophie. It’s so hard to say, though, as I know these “signs” can be present for weeks or months before we see any action. There is no visible evidence in your mouth that there are any teeth on the way, though, so we will see.

We are still exclusively breastfeeding and loving it all the time. Right now, you typically nurse 7-8 times a day. You are still a quick eater. If you nurse for 5 minutes per side, that’s a long feed! I am in no rush to start solids. I learned with your sister that life becomes that much more difficult once your entire nutrition is no longer attached to my body so I’m enjoying the ease and convenience while it’s here. You seem to be entirely satisfied as it is and have shown no interest or understanding of food – so we’ll hold off another month or so before entering that stage together.

The last month included you meeting Santa and seeing your first snowfall.

This next month will also be so full of fun and new things for you to experience … mainly, your first Christmas. I am so excited to have you in my arms this holiday season. Last year, you were just a tiny little pouch in my tummy. How exciting that at Christmas last year, we had just recently found out about you, cousin Kathryn and cousin Jolie and now? You are all here, healthy and happy. It will be a fun holiday season, that’s for certain.

As always, I feel blessed every single morning when I scoop you out of your crib … even if it is at 5 am (but, could we please knock that off?) You are God’s gift to me and the joy you bring to this family cannot be captured by words.

Stay sweet, my love.