5 months

Dear Gideon,

September 20th, 2018

Happy 5 months!

You have grown so much the past month and I am excited to see what new skills you continue to learn. You have been excited about sitting up. You aren't quite there yet but try to hold yourself up as best as you can. You love to play and sometimes I feel like sleep and eating get in the way of you wanting to play. Lately you have grabbed anything you can and just put it in your mouth to explore. The first thing you want to do when you get up is play--especially in your exersaucer.

I have felt as of late that every month you have a tiny sleep regression. I haven't discovered why yet, but some changes must be going on in your head. Every month around when you gain another month of life, you don't sleep well. My goal around this month was to wean you from one of the times you wake up at night to eat. I tried this last month, but you went into a terrible sleep regression then when I tried to insist upon it, so I backed off. This month you did the same, but you have accepted it a little better this time. We are still working on you sleeping through the night and only waking up once until the morning. We are hoping to transition you into Juliet's room and have you guys share because now with having you sleep in the bassinet in the living room is not working out as well because Dad wakes up early and tries to move you and you usually wake up. One day we will get the sleep down.

Sitting up in your bassinet while visiting Uncle Kurt in North Dakota

You have taken to only taking three naps a day, which is great. Your naps are getting better and you have only taken an extra fourth nap a couple of times when you wake up at 5 am and then won't go back to sleep. Daddy usually stays with you when you do that.

Nauvoo wagon ride

You have been eating well--about every 2 and a half to three hours during the day and at night I have been trying to get you to go from 7:00 pm until 4 or 5 am. You have done it for a couple of nights and I hope you keep it up. I usually read while you eat and Juliet likes to play on the phone. I let her because I would rather her not destroy the house while I am paying attention to you.

Nauvoo wagon ride

You have started to laugh and giggle more--especially when you are tickled. You love giving open-mouth kisses which are so fun. You recognize Dad and Juliet really well and always give them huge smiles. You love it when all of us are around. When it is just you and me, you usually start looking around for either Juliet or Dad to see if they are near.

We go out on outings everyday and some days you like being in the car seat and other days you really don't like it. Once we get moving in the car, you are usually amenable to the idea of being in the car seat. Even though you sit by Juliet, I don't know if you can see her, so I think that you think you are alone in our van.

You wear size 9 month clothes and size 3 diapers. You don't blow out very much, which is great. You also have never spit up very much all over your clothes. I like to dress you in button up collared shirts. The colors that look the best on you are blue and red. You are starting to get pretty blonde hair and we even saw a little curl in it this past week! You have very blue eyes and the best smile around. Many people stop to look at you when I am in the store, at church, or taking you out of your car seat. You really want to be able to sit up in the cart when I take you to the store, but you are not quite there yet.

Something I love about you is that you never cry when I give you a bath, even when you get cold. You just smile up at me and you are so fun. Your dad and I have done more yoga together and we realized there is a pose called "baby pose". You do this pose all the time every time we put you on your back.

Baby yoga pose

Something that you experienced this month that was really hard was you and I got stranded at an airport for 24 hours while I was trying to go to my cousin's funeral. It was very hard to be alone with you but you were the perfect baby. You didn't even really cry (until we got to the hotel at 3 in the morning). You were a champion through it all--the perfect baby. You helped brighten a lot of people's days that were having a hard time. You slept in your car seat, ate when you needed to, and were awake and happy the rest of the time. I was so grateful to call you mine.

waiting in the airport

You have changed all of us for the better. We are so grateful you are in our family. I love learning from you every day and having your spirit in our home.

You, Juliet, and me at Lake McBride

I love you,

Mom