Five months

Dear Benjamin,

Tomorrow, you will be 5 months old. Wasn't it just yesterday we just brought you home from the hospital? First off, you met your Grandpa Casey. Your grandpa never thought the day would come he'd be holding you and it stirred up a lot of memories for him of when I was a baby like you.

Over the past month, you've developed your own personality. You love the Old MacDonald puppet book and you've graduated from the bouncy chair to the bumbo chair. You're favorite toy is froggy with the mirror and you love the sassy mirror though we have to take it out of the crib at night because you'd keep yourself up playing with it. We have started to let you play in the exersaucer and the jumper too. I think we're going to need a storage unit for all of your toys.

I'm happy to say, you've mastered sleeping. It was a rough week and mommy and daddy but we toughed it out and BAM, you can fall asleep on your own. You're favorite position to sleep is on your side with your hands on your face. Sometimes we'll find your on your belly but that's OK, you've mastered rolling. We'll put you in one position in the crib and find you in the complete opposite. On a good night, you'll sleep 9 hours straight but mostly it's 7-8 hours, then back in the crib until 5 or 6 a.m. and then you snuggle in bed with me. That is my favorite time of day.

You love to kick your legs too. I'm gonna have to take a video to properly explain what I mean by this but you love to kick.

Dr. V gave the go ahead for us to start feeding you rice cereal. At first, you didn't seem to care about it but then something clicked and you love going in the high chair for breakfast and dinner. I think it's helping you sleep too.

Benjamin, you have discovered your surroundings. You're reaching and grabbing. This past week you realized that we have a dog named Charlie and you reached out with amazement and petted him.

You have nicknames too! Benji is what they call you at day care. Daddy penned you Lil B on twitter and I mostly call you Ben, Benjamin or Benjamin Boo Boo Bear. Janette calls you Bennyhanapoopoo. Hopefully, you won't be confused in a few months.

Month five will bring more challenges but if we can get through transitioning from sleeping in the swimg to the crib, we can tackle anything. (I hope)

Love,
Momma