5 Month Update

The little tyke formally known as Baby J is now a 5 month old!! And I have officially determined that this is my new "favorite age." Jack is SO MUCH FUN! He's such a happy baby, but I guess most babies are. Come to think of it I can't remember ever meeting an unhappy baby. But I'm sure they exist.
Jon and I love to hear him laugh. Jack usually has a very short laugh, almost like it got cut off at the end. Unless he's getting his diaper changed. Last week at Life Group I decided I'd just take Jack behind the chairs to change his diaper quick rather than leave the room and miss out on the study. Wrong move. The moment I put him down on the diaper mat he started laughing hysterically and couldn't stop. Discussions on last week's sermon were suspended for a few moments until I could finish up and get him back in my lap. Jack is also becoming quite the conversationalist. Although it seems like almost every sentence ends with a raspberry and some baby spit. Sometimes he'd rather tell me about his day than eat, which makes feeding times a little longer lately.

And the baby keeps growing! After a few days of trying to squeeze Tank into his 6-month clothes, we realized it was time to move on. It's always a little sad to pack up the little clothes. Who know when we'll get to see them again. Thankfully Marmie and Poppa's care package arrived just in time, and Jack has a whole new 9-month sized wardrobe to sport!
We've found that we can't go anywhere without getting comments on Jack's cheeks. Yes they are big! And yes, to answer many peoples' question, they are fun to kiss! Trust me, we do it all the time. :) As Jon says, Jack is a nice ice-breaker. We use him to meet our neighbors when we're out on walks, and he's also an expert at initiating conversations during "greet you neighbor" time at church. Thankfully, I haven't had any weird experiences where strangers asked to hold my baby. And I don't mind people stopping to check him out. He's cute, and I want to show him off!


Jack also likes to give kisses. He doesn't realize what he's doing yet, but he knows it's good because it always makes him smile. Someday I'm going to catch it on video so you can all see what I'm talking about. He's grabbing toys, tearing apart his colorful activity mat (boys!), and is halfway to rolling over. He gets stuck on his side, but that's okay with me. I'm afraid once he starts rolling over and scootching around we're going to have nap issues. He's also getting better at grabbing and has figured out mommy has lots of hair to play with.

We're now back to 9.5 hours between feedings at night. Jack goes to bed at 7:30, and I feed him one more time at 10:00. This is one of my favorite moments of the day, he usually stays asleep through this feeding and watching him lie there so peacefully reminds me of when he was just a tiny baby. After that he sleeps through 'til around 7:30am. Ahhhh, so nice! I love having a few of hours of free time in the evenings to pick up the house, finish dishes, and get things ready for the next day. Or maybe to just sit on the couch and watch home renovation shows. :) The beginning of our day together is also a sweet time for me. Jack loves to snuggle when he first gets up, and he always takes a few "time outs" during breakfast to look at mommy with those big blue eyes and give me a toothless grin. I love it!

So 5 months into this thing called parenthood and things are going well. We still have the occasional "off" day, the day when nothing seems to go like it's supposed to and all 3 of us just want to crash by nighttime. But afterwards is a new day. And then a new week. And then a new month. And it all goes by too fast!