You are 5 months old now! Time continues to fly and you continue to get bigger and bigger. Everyone who holds you says, "Wow, this boy is solid." And you are indeed! We went to the doctor a couple weeks ago and you weighed 16 pounds 11.5 ounces and were 25.5 inches long.
We have been very busy this month kicking off your very first holiday season. We had your first Thanksgiving. I had to bake a cheesecake so I waited until you fell asleep to work on it. Of course you woke up right as I was finishing up, so we just brought your bouncy chair into the kitchen and you "helped" mom finish baking.
After the cheesecake was finished, we headed out to your Grandma Gerry and Grandpa Rick's house. You had so much fun playing with your cousin Alyssa there and you just played and played in your exersaucer while everyone else ate Thanksgiving lunch. After that we went over to Gram and Poppy's house. That place was crazy! There were so many people there. Only a few people were unable to make it this year so it was a madhouse. Both you and your cousin Harrison were a little overwhelmed at times, but for the most part you just went with the flow. Next year you are going to just LOVE this though. You will have so many people to play with! So much fun. Here is a picture of mom with most of her first cousins on Thanksgiving:
After Thanksgiving, we started getting ready for Christmas. We headed out to Eckerts farm to cut down a Christmas Tree. We picked out a nice white pine and daddy cut it down:
When we finally got the tree home, you just weren't acting quite right. It didn't seem like you felt very good, so we decided to hold off on decorating and we put you to bed. I decided to go to bed too since it was a very long day! Luckily I did because at 3:30am you were not breathing very well. I tried everything I could think of to make you feel better but it became obvious that I needed to call your doctor's office. When the nurse heard how labored your breathing was she had me call 911 to get some EMTs to check your oxygen levels. Well, long story short, we ended up taking your first ambulance ride to the ER. Please, let's make this your LAST ambulance ride to the ER! Anyway, you were diagnosed with croup. It took a while to get through it, but once you were finally feeling better we decorated the tree.
We also took some pictures for our family Christmas Card this year. Everyone LOVES our card this year - I KNOW it's because YOU are on it. You are just such a fun, smiley baby! It was so good to see your smiling face after your week and a half of croup!
I wasn't sure how you would take it when I put those lights on you, but you LOVED it! You may as well have been in Disneyland! So anyway, we are all ready for Christmas now! Just a few more days till your first one! We are so excited!
We had a couple "firsts" this month. Your doctor told us we should try to give you some rice cereal for solid food practice. Well you did not like it AT ALL! You started off so happy sitting in your bumbo smiling at mom and dad:
And then once I started putting the spoon in your mouth, you just lost it.
We'll try again in a few weeks! Hopefully we can start trying to give you vegetables soon.
So you still prefer bottles. And another development you have this month is that you are starting to hold the bottle by yourself. You cannot do it for any length of time yet, but you have still really started to have much better hand/eye coordination.
We are very lucky because when you are healthy, you laugh and giggle all the time. Daddy loves to play "transformers" with you and you just laugh, and laugh and laugh! It's awesome. You continue to be a morning person kicking and smiling as soon as I come get you from your crib. You have also become a total maniac in the bath! You kick and splash like it is your job. Mom and dad can't wait till you can sit up all by yourself so we can get rid of the baby tub and just let you loose in the big tub! It's so fun to watch and I don't even mind getting all wet while bathing you!
You also REALLY like to jump and go crazy in your jumparoo!
This is my favorite picture of you right now:
It has been a great month and we have so much to look forward to! Your first Christmas is coming up and I'm sure we will have a blast. Looking forward to it! Here are your 5 month pictures:
Christmas here we come! I love you!
Love,
Mom
