Five Months

My dearest Elyse.  Please stop breaking your momma's heart by growing so much. I just can't believe that you are five months old. You are just a big lump of squeezable joy, and I can't imagine a better baby than you. (I'm aware that I probably said the same thing about your sister, and I would have about your brother if I'd been writing at the time, but they already broke my heart and got bigger. )

You are SUCH a happy girl. You smile and coo and are a perfect delight. The way you knock out your paci and chew on your fist instead leaves me all googly eyed. At night when you fall asleep in my arms it takes an hour of will power to finally put you down.

 

Okay. Enough gushy mom talk. Cause honestly, I could gush all day. So what have you been up to? Well, two weeks ago at your 4 month well check you were 14 lbs and 25 inches long- 50% in each category. That is exactly double your birth weight and 5 inches longer than your birth length! You wear a size 6 month in clothes (although we do still have to roll the sleeves) and a size 2 diaper. The eczema on your calves is giving us a hard time, I'm about to start you on a 4th product to help clear it up. Regular lotions haven't worked. essential oils in coconut oil hasn't worked. Hopefully this next oil will. It doesn't seem to bother you, but I feel so bad when I feel how rough it is! You nurse once during the night, but as of last night we are working to get you sleeping through the night. It's not that you wake up crying, you still just get really restless and the fastest way for you to be still (and me to go back to sleep) is to feed you. So last night I started only giving you the paci. Now look. If you were crying and hungry I'd of course feed you in an instant. But you're not. You just keep rolling into me in the bed. Not a legit reason to feed you. It took a couple of hours for you get back into a deep enough sleep to be still, but you go there. And I only over slept by an hour and a half this morning.

 

Your brother is still the one that gets the biggest laughs from you, but a few days ago your dad was over and he finally got to hear some of them from waving an elephant in your face. Whatever works right? Believe me. We'd stand on our heads to hear that precious sound. Your sister has started pretending with you. She'll bring her little cups and things over to you and let you drink "tea" and have "tea parties". I so hope that you two girls will be the best of friends.

 

I'm sure this next month will bring even bigger changes. At the end of the month I'll probably have to start you on solids. You'll probably be pretty close to sitting up. And all this will lead to even more devastating heart break on my part. But for now, I'll just continue to hold my baby, squeeze you till you squawk, and smother you in kisses (all of which I'll do until you can run away from me like the other two do. whomp whomp)