Dear William,

I cannot believe you are 5 months old already. Time just moves so fast sometimes that I wish I could make it stand still. And yet with every new month comes a new adventure with you that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

On the day you turned 5 months, March 29, you rolled from your back to your tummy for the very first time. You had been working on it for weeks and decided that to celebrate your 5 month birthday that you would finally accomplish this goal. It was amazing, to say the least. And I'm so glad that Daddy and I were both home to witness it when it happened. Since that time you have become somewhat of a little master at it, although there are still times when your arm gets stuck underneath you and it takes you a little while to remember to pull it out so that you can finish the roll.

In addition to rolling over, you are now also very well versed in pushing yourself up on your arms and watching the world around you while on your belly. Sometimes you get tired and put your head back down after a short time and Daddy and I joke that its a lot of work for you to hold up that big head of yours!

You are still full of smiles and belly laughs and we do whatever we can to make you do both. You are such a joyful little boy and when you smile, you do so with your eyes and it makes my heart light up.

You have discovered your feet and absolutely love to hold onto them. You love to have your socks off (and really just your clothes off in general) so that you can grab onto your feet and roll to the side when trying to get them into your mouth.

This past month you have discovered what fun it is to walk on the wood floors in your walker, which has been your favorite toy since we started putting you into it at 3 months. At first, we would put your shoes on to give you good traction to be able to move across the floors. Now, you don't even need them and can get around just fine in your socks. You love to walk yourself across the house from the dining room all the way into the sunroom and have even figured out how to maneuver yourself if you get stuck on something. Or, you just whine until Momma comes to get you unstuck from wherever you are. This has given you a new kind of freedom to move about the house (always being watched by someone, of course) and has opened your little eyes to a whole new world around you. You love to look out the sunroom windows, to follow your dog and have also been trying to figure out how to get down the back hallway to the laundry room.

While in your walker you always have a couple of toys to play with and you have gotten very good at throwing them off in order to watch me come pick them up. I sometimes think that you don't know any better but other times I'm sure you know exactly what you are doing and it makes me laugh to think how smart you are.

You have discovered your voice even more and you are a little babbler and cooer. In the mornings instead of being awakened to the sound of you crying, I usually wake up to your sweet little voice talking to yourself. I'll come in and you will be playing with your feet through your sleep sack and you will look up and give me the biggest smile that melts your Momma's heart. You also somehow know how to turn your aquarium on and off, and I'm pretty sure you do this with your feet. I have seen you reach for it with your hand but I do not know yet if you have actually been able to turn it on and off this way as you usually do it while you are alone.

You are so interested in everything going on around you. You still like to watch TV, although we limit it to Baby Einstein or Sesame Street whenever possible. And sometimes we watch The Today Show together while Momma drinks her coffee first thing in the morning.

You are a very patient little boy, unless it comes to food. Once you're hungry, you are hungry and food is all you want. You understand that your high chair is for eating and we don't play games when it comes to getting your food ready. You have eaten everything we have given you and this past month we have introduced some more fruits into your diet to add to all the yummy vegetables you've been enjoying. You are also regularly eating 3 meals a day and nurse consistently every 3 hours during the day.

You go to bed anywhere between 6 and 7 pm and are usually down for the night. You don't wake up to eat until sometime after 4 am and after eating you go right back to sleep until 7 or 8 am. To say we are spoiled with your sleeping habits is an understatement. Which makes the nights that you deviate from your schedule that much harder on mom & dad because we are used to having such a good sleeper. There are definitely occasional nights where you request a diaper change in the middle of the night or when you just miss me and Daddy and want one of us to come and give you your nuk. Or, when I get up to rock you because you just don't seem to want to settle down. On those nights, I just remind myself that I won't always have these special times with you and I enjoy the moments of quiet while rocking you back to sleep.

You are a pretty good napper during the day, although the length of your naps still varies greatly day to day. Now that you are becoming more active with your rolling and walking in your walker I think that you nap a little longer than you had been. But, a good nap for you is usually just over an hour.

This month was full of meeting your cousins and hosting house guests while we celebrated your baptism. You were baptized on Sunday, April 14 during the 10:30 service at St. James. While you were being baptized, you didn't make a peep and after you fell asleep on Momma for the rest of the service. To say you were a good little boy for your baptism would be an understatement. You were amazing.

William, you are such a happy little boy. And we are so lucky to have you in our lives. I'm sure that during these next few months, when teeth start popping through and such, that our patience will wear thin with one another on occasion and that we will have some long nights ahead of us. But I look forward to these next milestones with you and enjoy every moment of the time we get to spend together.

Daddy and I love you so much and are so blessed to have you in our lives. Thank you for being our sweet boy and for bringing such joy and laughter to our lives.

Love,
Your Momma

William, 5 Months - March 29, 2013