Happy Graham 5 Months {5.26.13}

Graham,

I tilt my head and smile when I write your name. Smiling. Cheesing. Just thinking about your right now as you sleep brings so much joy to my heart. Thinking about what you have brought into our lives. Thinking about the relationship that is forming between you and your sister. Just thinking.

It's amazing to me how much faster everything seems to go by the second time around. How, within a blink of an eye, you grow. Just like that. You grow and you learn to do things that I swear you shouldn't be doing. Why? Because I feel as though I just brought you home and that you are supposed to stay a tiny litle helpless newborn that needs his mama... forever.

Okay, now that I have snapped out of fantasy land. Lets talk about what you have been up to lately.

MEASUREMENTS

Weight: 16lns
Clothes: 3-6 months
Shoes: What shoes
Diapers: size 2

FEEDING

You sure love to eat. I used to think that your sister loved to eat {which she still does}, but you my dear, I believe, love to eat even more than her. You BF every 2-3 hours during the day, and wake up once at night. For your papa, when mama works, you will eat at 6pm, and then eat another 4-5 ounces right before bed {around 8pm}, and then wake up again at 5am and eat another 4-5 ounces. Sometimes {rarely}, but sometimes, you may even wake up again at 1am and eat another 4-5 ounces. Like I said... you sure love to eat.

The next big question I get asked is... "When are you going to do cereal?" And my answer is, I'm not sure that I am. I did with Elliana. In fact, she was 3.5 months old when we first introduced it. But I haven't had a strong desire and urge to start with you. We may just skip it all together and go straight to baby food. Mama will be making your food again and I plan to do a mix of mushy homemade organic food and incorporate some ideas of BLW as well.

It will be our own little food plan.

SLEEPING

Since we are mentioning sleeping up there, lets talk about this. We are still not 100% consistent... but we are getting there. I would say 95%. During that 95% consistent, I would say you go to bed at around 8ish, and then wake up once in the night, and then sleep in until 8-9. If mama worked that night before and papa has to meet her with you kiddos, then you are up at 7am to get in the car with your papa. So overall, great sleeper. During that 5% though, you will randomly wake up an extra time in night for an extra feeding. We can't really complain though because you go back down so well.

You start in your pack n play next to our bed, and in the morning when you wake up for that feeding, after you eat you end up in bed with us. I cannot tell you how happy this makes me feel.

When will we transition you to crib? Never. Okay, okay, maybe sometime. Your sissy was transitioned at 5.5 months... which means I have about 15 days. HA. Fat chance.

NAPPING

We nap. That's a great place to start. Consistent? Not so much. Part of that problem being is that you are the second child and you get the "second child gets tagged along to everything" deal. I know, I know. I have a post all about that for another day. But in the meantime, you nap about 3 times a day. 1 hour in the morning, 1 hour in the evening, and 2-3 hours during the afternoon {if mama and sissy nap with you}. That last part is key. If you aren't napping with the two of us, then your nap is about an hour. I guess you like that warm feeling of mama being next to you. Again, I don't blame you. Plus, I love it as well.

SCHEDULE

Do we have you on one? Yes, and no. The reason I say that is because you are in fact on one. However... it is because of your sister's schedule. Not your individual one. You go with the flow depending on what she has going on. But it seems to work pretty well for you. For now at least. When all we do is eat, sleep, poo, pee, and play.

Not a pretty bad gig.

PLAY

Speaking of play, you are really enjoying toys. A lot. Things that light up. Pressing buttons. Holding onto things. Watching the books that we read to Elliana. You light up. Your eyes get big and you are so attentive to what is going on around you. I'm really looking forward to you being able to sit up on your own and decide which toys you want to play with and so forth. For now, I have put you propped up with the boppy and put toys in front of you, and you seem to really enjoy that already.

TEETHING

We are definitely in this stage right now. We have been for about a month now. I would say that it is affecting you much more than it ever did your sister. You have been very fussy throughout the day, your hands {both of them} tend to go straight to your mouth, and there is a whole lot of chewing. I think that is why you wake up randomly in the night sometimes. And why you get so worked up when you're tired. The combination of needing sleep and painful teething just does it for you.

LASTLY

You love to pull on mama's hair, a lot.
You are have the biggest chatter box, ever. All you do is babble babble all day long. Especially if we are at dance or toddler time.

You love the bouncer. You don't last very long in it... but you love it when you do.

You are a hold me always kind of guy. Your sissy was the same way. What can I say.. I raise some needy babies.

Also, you have the sweetest giggle ever. The other day when your sister was swinging, and I had you in my arms, I decided to take your little legs and pretend "get her" everytime she would swing towards us, and she would just die laughing, and then you would join in, and then... I melted. Right there and then. Seeing the two of you laugh together like that just gave me a glimpse of the future. Christmas morning. Family vacations. Bedtime stories.

I can envision the future just by closing my eyes.
It's a beautiful one. Even more beautiful since you entered our lives.

We love you more and moe with each passing day, and are so grateful to be your parent.

Love,
Mama and Papa {and sissy and Carson too}