5 Months!

Dear Sophie,

Today you are 5 months old! I can't believe it. I know I say that or something similar every month. Actually all of my posts might be broken recordish, but that's ok I'm your mom and can tell you how awesome you are and how much I love you all I want! Someday when you're a teenager you'll probably hate it, and then you'll get a little older and love it again.

You continue to grow and change and learn new things before our very eyes. You are still shrieking and squealing and cooing the vowel sounds, but you've added consonant sounds to your repertoire. Your favorites now are M, B, and V sounds. You love to blow raspberries with your mouth, but you don't do it the typical tongue-out way. Instead you suck in your bottom lip and try to blow and it's pretty much the cutest and funniest face ever.

You're finally showing some interest in sitting! I was kind of wondering if you ever would because you love to and want to stand so much but now you're doing the whole tripod thing and doing it pretty well! You still try to stand sometimes when I'm not holding on to you and I have to be quick in order to save you from arching your back and throwing yourself over. Right after I took this picture you did it and bonked your head on the crib. It startled you, but I don't think it hurt. You just looked at me as if to say "Whoa, mama!?!"

We borrowed an exersaucer from my friend Keara and you LOVE it. It's a little too tall for your little legs so we have a couch pillow under your feet. You love the things that make noise and play music the most, but you also love the things you can make reach your mouth. You are a drooling machine, and you've been showing signs of teething for a good month and a half or so now, yet nothing seems to be coming through. Early on we thought it was an ear infection with how much you yank and tug at your ears, but your doctor said that your ears are clear and that referred pain to the ear is common with teething. Since then we are paranoid that you are in pain every time you touch your ears. Sometimes I think it's just because you know they are there, but your daddy starts to worry and wants to give you tylenol just about the second you touch them. Sometimes I let him because I know he doesn't want to see you in pain, and other times I tell him I gave you some already because I feel weird giving it to you very often without *knowing* that you are springing some teeth through, ya know? 

I got you an amber teething necklace. Apparently they help with pain and inflammation and are all the rage in Europe but I'd never really heard of them until recently. I'm not sure how much I believe in it, but I believe it enough to give it a try. Plus its super cute on, even if it doesn't work. It's not a necklace you chew on - it's just supposed to be absorbed through your skin.

At the beginning of September we started you on some solid foods and you are a natural!  You didn't push any out with your tongue and you seemed to really enjoy it.  You even grab the spoon and try to do it yourself already.  We started with rice cereal since it's cheap and easy, but since then you've tried bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes, pears, and plums.  You seemed to think I couldn't give you the plums fast enough so so far I think those or sweet potatoes are your favorite. I'll write more about this in another post because there are some funny and cute pictures to go with it.

Another huge change has happened lately too - you have moved into your own room and sleep in your crib now. I can't quite explain it, but you seemed to be telling me that you were ready to stop sleeping with us. So we got your room painted and decorated and moved you in last Saturday. I will write more about that transition in another post, too, but for now I have to say that looks beautiful in there and I find it very relaxing. You seem to like it too. I miss you to pieces at night, but I know that this was the right thing and the way we've done things all along were also the right thing. You babies don't come with instruction manuals, ya know.

Lastly, and this probably won't excite you as much as it excites me, but The Battle of the Epic Eye Boogies has come to a close. We've been dealing with an intense eye-boogie problem with you since birth because both of your tear ducts were too tiny and clogged to work right so the liquid from your eyes had no where to go. I had to massage and wash each one twice a day. You weren't a big fan, and I was even less of one because 75% of the time the massage pissed you off and made you cry (I hate to make you cry - it makes my heart physically hurt like it's being squeezed and wadded up in a tiny ball). You woke up one morning a few weeks ago and your right eye was clear. It took a few days for me to believe they weren't coming back and gave me new determination to clear up the left. As of 3 days ago, the left is clear too. Yay!

Well sweet bear, I think I've gushed about you to you enough for one evening.  I can't wait to see what the next month brings.

Love, Mama.

First dinner out.

Dear Sophie,

Tonight we took you to your first sit down dinner.  Granted, it was only a pizza place - but a good one!  You were SO good.  You were so tired, but all you wanted to do was hang out in the moby wrap and look around at the people.  You were particularly fascinated by the bar.  You didn't make a sound the entire time we were there and we were so proud of you.

We are staying the night at your grandma Linda and grandpa Andre's tonight  This is the second time we've done this (the first time you slept 20 out of 24 hours we were here - much to the dismay of your grandma).  After we nursed (aka "had the sleepy noms") we curled up facing each other in the bed.  You are getting so good with your hands and wanted to just explore my face with them...so that's exactly what you did.. As you drifted off to sleep, you did so with one hand on my nose, and one on my cheek.  It pretty much melted my heart.

Sweet dreams little bear.

Life as your mama.

Dear Sophie (and any future children we might have),

I've been putting this off for a long time because...well...I have no excuse other than Your Mom Is A Huge Procrastinator.  Since before you were born I've had this sort of internal dialogue full of things I want to remember from this time and would love for you to be able to see sometime in your adult life.  I would have loved to have had something like this so maybe you'll appreciate in someday too.

I haven't quite decided how I want this to go, but I know that I need to start writing.  Sometimes I might write directly to you...other times maybe just about you.  I can't decide who I'm going to share this with as I go.  If I share it with everyone (like I tend to do with all things), I might not be as comfortable saying all I want to say...but at the same time keeping it private would kind of go against what has always been "me".  I've always prided myself a little on my openness and ability to speak frankly...sometimes (or often) to my own detriment. 

You will be 3 months old tomorrow and I already feel like it's going so much faster than it should be. Every day there is a new sound or expression or skill you start picking up.  There are so many little things that I don't want to forget and sometimes I feel like they are already falling away from me.  I will write those things that I remember, and try to be good about the stuff that comes up. 

Nothing could have ever prepared us for the love and happiness you have brought to our lives.  It's like you've always been here.  We love you so much and I can't wait to write about our lives together.

Love,
Your mama

(here is where some people from our generation will insert some "yo momma" jokes - you'll get it someday)