Sunshine, Rainbows and Bananas: Cael

We arrived in Ohio on your five-month birthday, and Momma forgot the tie stickers. So this is the picture we have, which is pretty fitting because you probably would have just ripped off the sticker and jumped through a photo-session making everything blurry anyway. :)

Well little mister, you are the biggest joy I never knew I was missing in life. Your laugh is infectious. You giggle and make everyone around you melt. You giggle most when you are scared, so peek-a-boo gets you going the most (See video of it, here) And once you get going, people keep trying to make you giggle...I think Auntie Michelle holds the record for funniest/longest game of peek-a-boo yet. This month was another full of firsts, fun and fumbling through new-parent adventures. You have taught us a few things this month, and hopefully we are teaching you a few things too. For starters, your daddy and I probably lost our "parent of the year" certificates when we met our friends for lunch and you had your first trip to HOOTERS! haha You were, of course, flirting the whole time with the ladies, and they ate you up. And I have a feeling when you start walking, you will be running around everywhere. You have the most active legs ever, and love to be in your "Jumper" bouncing away. You also finally met our friends Jeremy and Katie, and you loved them too. There are a few friends left in Virginia that you haven't been able to meet yet, but we are working on it. I cannot wait for the next month, but will be sad when you hit the big half-birthday! It seems like time is flying by so fast and I'm constantly trying to catch up! Watching you grow has been a treasured gift, and I can't wait to see what you do next!

Height: Not sure, we will find out at your six month appointment. You are very long, so we are curious how many inches you are now!

Weight: Found out at an appointment to check your ears out (you had a cold and were pulling on them the day before we left for Ohio...luckily, you were fine) and you weighed 17 pounds 9 ounces! You are huge, and I love it.

Size: Still trying to squeeze (literally) out a few more uses of the 6 month outfits, but you are pretty much in all 9-12 clothes. Still rocking the size 3 diapers, which is good because we have at least three boxes of them!

Sleeping: It has been a bit of an adjustment period moving into your crib exclusively. You will literally wake up, eyes still closed, pacifier dangling out of the corner of your mouth and "fuss" until we go in and put it back in your mouth, rub your head and whisper "I love you"....little stinker! You are doing this like clock-work at 3:30 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. Otherwise, you are sleeping perfectly from 8:30-9 at night until 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning. You are very flexible though when we are out late and you don't get to bed until a bit later or fall asleep in your carseat on the way home. When you nap lately, you still have to have your beloved Mr. Bear, and you will either put that, or a blanket over your face to fall asleep. At first we were worried about you not being able to breath as well, but you clearly do not mind it one bit and stay asleep for about two hours. You still nap three times a day, your morning nap is around 9:30, afternoon around 1:00, and then a quick 45 minute nap while we get dinner ready around 6:30 until we are all ready to sit at the table.

Eating: You still love to eat! "Mommy and Cael" time is in the morning when you nurse and we watch the news together before I have to get ready for work. Then you have two bottles with Ms. Millie around 12 and 4, I nurse you again when I get home from work around 6 (pretty sure this one is more for comfort for you than to fill you up, but at least it tides you over for a bit before bedtime), then your 8 oz bottle of breastmilk at bedtime....that you drain to the last drop...everytime. haha About mid-month you showed us all of the signs our pediatrician told us to look for so that you were ready to start eating some solids. So we started making an ounce of baby oatmeal mixed with breastmilk and fed it to you with a spoon. You love it (see video of it, here)! After two days of trying, Ms. Millie gave it a try around 10:30, and you now eat it all everytime for her! We give it to you again while we eat dinner. Mommy is so excited to make baby food for you to start next month!!!

Playing: You like to watch mommy sign language things to you! You babble like crazy every since you realized that if you make a constant noise (especially in church!) momma will wiggle her finger in your lips (see video, here). And huge milestone...you started "SUPER" rolling! You go from your back, to your front, and to your back again. When you get in push-up position, you wait for me to look at you and you just grin from ear to ear, so proud of yourself!! It makes me so proud to be your momma, and makes me feel like you are a little SUPER baby. :) You love to chew on everything in sight and drool like crazy! You are starting to show a little bit of toy preference, and get angry if I take one away that you intended to play with....sorry sweetie, I can't read your mind (YET...haha).

Milestones: Sitting up almost on your own; Crawling like an inch worm crawling; ma-ma and da-da and a few other consonants; found your toes with your hands and then pull them straight over your stomach into your mouth...so cute, except when you are in the bath tub and almost pee in your mouth!; found your reflection in the mirror and touched it (almost bringing down the mirror!!)...time to child-proof!; Sitting up in bathtub; Eating from a spoon; Bouncing in your jumper (see video, here and here); Taking your binky out and putting it back in your mouth; moving things from hand-to-hand and learning what toys do different things

"Caelisms": Mommy preference, which makes daddy sad sometimes; bouncing into the door-frame in your jumper and when I anticipated you would cry, you just gave the frame a look like "get out of my way fool...can't you see I'm bouncing here?!?!"; Laughing; Watching any TV that you see (Daddy's wrestling banquet was at BW3's...and you were in TV heaven!; Dive-bombing momma's chest when you are hungry as if the milk could come through my shirt; Rubbing your eyes when you are tired; Waking up with a huge grin and waiting with the biggest anticipation for Mommy or Daddy to say "good morning" so you can squirm and squeal with the biggest excitement!

Now for picture overload (but seriously...this was what I was able to narrow it down to, after going through probably 200+ pictures!!)