{five months}

 dear sweet boy,

you keep growing and growing.  i am a flood of emotions.  you brighten my days with your ever growing awareness and strength.  my heart is so full when i think of you and your sister and all we are blessed with.

when i look at you, i see your daddy.  not in your looks necessarily, but in your mannerisms.  even now, i can already see you will be much like him.  not much phases you.  you sit with contentment on anyone's lap.  and even when you're not on a lap, you play so nicely and will let us know with mild complaint when you need to be picked up.  

will you be a swimmer?  will you be a chef?  will you be a musician?  will you be a daddy?  the questions are endless and so are the answers.  but no matter what you become, it only matters who you are and our hope is that we bring you up in a way that you discover that at an early age and use it to better the lives of others along your way.  we know God has a very special plan for your sweet little life and we can't wait to see all the wonderful things he has in store for you.

one of the reasons i said "swimmer" is because when you take your bath, you kick like a mad man.  your little legs just go crazy in the water and you love it so much.  and a chef?  well, this is wishful thinking on my part (lol).  how wonderful would it be for you to be my own personal chef? :-)  but i'm hopeful because of the way that you study me in the kitchen and are so interested in food and how it's being prepared.  it makes me wonder if you'll have a way with food...just like your daddy does.

you are sitting up so well now.  you even catch yourself from falling when you excitedly sway about with glee.  your giggle still sounds like you're holding back, but i love it just the same. 

your smile.  your smile is infectious and every time i look at you, you flash your big smile at me and i melt.

you are such a solid little man.  when i weighed myself on the scale and then held you and weighed us both, i did the math and it appears you are a little over 16lbs already.  i have a feeling you will be getting close to 18lbs by your six month appointment.  kaydence didn't weight that until she was 15 months old.  yes, you are a solid little man and i couldn't love your chunky little thighs and plump little fingers any more than i do.

your chill-lax attitude is evident by the fact that you still haven't rolled over from your back to your belly.  you are finally starting to roll to the side a bit while you play with your feet, but you still have no strong desire to completely roll.  though, you have gotten up on your knees on several occasions and scooted forward.  maybe you will crawl before walking, unlike your sister.  you stand very well and even take steps forward.  you also stand against the ottoman without me holding you and can hold yourself up for quite some time and even moved to the side to try and get a toy.  i foresee you scaling the furniture in no time.

you have been loving your oatmeal once a day.  and today we gave you avocado for the first time.  you loved it!  i am hoping you will be one of those kids who will eat anything and will beg for food off our plates.  what a new world that would be for us. ;-)

i think you have finally fallen into somewhat of a schedule during the day.  you will wake around 7:00 a.m. and i will feed you.  then you will go back down for a nap about an hour and a half or so later.  i read two books and rock you before your nap.  then i stand in front of your crib and sway back and forth for a bit while you nuzzle your head into the blankey on my chest.  then, i lay you down to sleep.  you have been sleeping a good hour and a half to two hours in the morning.  then, you wake up and we play.  you eat again between 11:00/12:00 and go back down for another nap around 1:30/2:00 and sleep for another one and a half to two hours.  the tricky part, that i still haven't quite figured out, is our evenings.  you always seem to want to take another little nap around 5:30 p.m. or so, but if you do, then you aren't quite ready for bed around 7:00 p.m., which is what time you had been going to bed.  maybe we just need to let you take a little nap around 5:30 and then put you to bed a little later?  hopefully we can figure it out soon.  night time is still all over the place too.  you had been only waking once around 2:30/3:00 a.m. to eat and would go back down until 6:00-ish a.m.  but then for awhile you went back to waking up at 10:30/11:00 p.m., 1:30/2:00 a.m., and 4:30/5:00 a.m.  lets work on that, ok?  what do you say you go back to your once a night feeding around 2:30/3:00???   mommy could really use more sleep.  if you think i'm a good mommy now, just imagine what a great mommy i would be if i got more sleep. ;-)  i promise!

your sister adores you.  she talks to you like you are her best friend in the whole world.  she even said that you are her "best buddy" the other day.  if you aren't up in the morning when she wakes up, the first thing she will ask is "where is quincey?"  and if i put you down for a nap and she didn't know it, she will always come to me and ask "where is quincey?"  if you cry, she will always try to figure out why you are crying.  "i think he wants to eat, mommy."  "i think he is tired, mommy."  "i think maybe he has a belly ache, mommy."  and about 99.9% of the time, she is always correct in her assessment.  she cares about you so much and loves to play with you.  i pray you both will grow to be best friends and do your best to always take care of each other.   

little man, little man, you are my little man.  i can't even imagine my life without you and i have only known you for five short months.  stay strong, stay healthy, and love much.

sleep tight and sweet dreams, my baby.  feel free to stay in dreamland until 6:30 a.m. tomorrow morning. xoxo

love and kisses,

mommy