The Fifth Month

Piles of laundry are waiting to be washed, there are dishes in the sink, toys are scattered about the living room, the dust has become visible, and the crumbs that need to be swept are sticking to my feet. Maybe I should be upstairs trying to attack the mess and regain a little control. But, right now, it's not going to happen.

While I have a million other things to do, today I am going to blog. I feel a little guilty about it, but I'm going to give my self a little grace today because every time I blink my babies are reaching another milestone and I just need a few moments to get down the details of these precious days before they're gone. 

I try to think back to the days when Hadley and Caleb were Reid's age and there is so much I've forgotten already. I'm so thankful for the posts I wrote months and even years ago that I can go back to and remind myself of who they were, what they could do, and what was uniquely special about them as they grew from newborns to toddlers and now to preschoolers. There are days when I think blogging is a time zapper and I need to cut back or maybe give it up all together, and then I go back and look at posts like these and realize how much I would lose without this virtual baby book. 

How can it be that five months have come and gone so quickly? While it's unbelievable at times, it's true! Reid turned five months old last week.

This month the little chubster thankfully overcame his fear of bath time and has even begun to enjoy splashing around in the water some. While he doesn't go crazy and do the big time waves Hadley and Caleb liked to make, at least he's feeling more comfortable. Now instead of trying to calm him down, I just get to enjoy all those rolls.

At his four month check-up, the doctor told us that that he was old enough to start letting him try out saucers and jumpers.Though Hadley has been walking for well over a year, I still never packed these over-sized toys away yet. Sometimes when I need to take a bath or keep Hadley still for a little while to get something done, I still put her in them every once in a while to make sure she's safe, that I know exactly where she is, and that she isn't getting in to anything while I'm tied up. As a result, they were out and ready for me to try out with my growing boy. 

Even on our first trial run, Reid did well and enjoyed himself. Since he does't like to lay down, this was a perfect fit for us; he can be upright like he wants and my back isn't aching from toting him around constantly. While he has a pretty short attention span and won't stay in there for long, at least my arms get a little bit of a break these days. Ands, thanks to good yardsale deals, we now have three of these type of toys so I can keep one on each floor, which is important when you are already lugging an almost 20 lbs baby and a 28.5 lb toddler up and down the stairs.

Trying out a "new-to-him" jumperoo that he's finally grown into.  

Reid: Look at this! Cool!

Show him how to do it, Big Sister.

Hi, Froggie!

Reid has been figuring out his own method of keeping himself upright too. He isn't just doing minor stomach crunches in his bouncy set any more. No sir! This kid has figured out how to throw himself forward to play with his toes. I, for one, am pretty impressed with his balancing skills.

Even without the bouncy seat though, he's been working on sitting up. I remember Caleb learning to do this on his own about the time we moved to Virginia, which would have made him about six months old, and I believe Hadley was somewhere in that neighborhood when she learned this skill too. However, Reid is an overachiever I guess, because at four months old, he was already beginning to hold himself up pretty well. 

While Boppy pillows work for helping a lot of babies who are learning to sit up since they need the back support, Reid tends to fall forward, so I'm not sure how much good using one would do. Needless to say, a little help from a grown-up is needed, but he still does pretty good for his age.

Showing off at Granny's

Sometimes you just need a toy to help you prop yourself up.

Holding himself up for a few seconds on his own!  What a big boy!

If he has a toy to play with though, Reid sometimes will keep himself entertained laying down on the floor for short periods of time. He has a little play mat gym with lots of things to grab that works pretty well as long as an adult is nearby to guard him from older siblings stepping on our sweet boy.

Having that time to play on his back is important too for helping him learn how to roll over. Similar to how Caleb was, he's a pretty chubby little thing, which I think makes learning to turn over somewhat harder. Despite the extra weight, he has surprised us a few times this month with his increased mobility. 

Here he got his legs from laying flat on the mat to flopping them to the other side of this bar.

 Aside from enjoying those baby toys, Reid is a big blankie fan like his big sister. The only problem is that often Hadley ends up stealing his! My boy and I have a trick though. Since Hadley only likes the soft cotton blankets, we give Reid the flannel or fleece ones and she'll leave him alone. 

And, while he's enjoying all these new toys and things he's learned to do, I'm just enjoying him! I know to some of my blog followers it may seem like I post a ton of the same picture, but to me I just can chose because he has such cute expressions in each one. If I really want to capture his personality, one shot just won't cut it.

 

Some of my favorite pics lately though have been a few I took of him in a little VT hat I found at a local consignment sale. I thought the hat was cute in general because it was just his size and represented his daddy's Alma mater, but when he put it on, I was just struck by how much he looks like MY daddy. Though I've been saying all along that this baby looks like Dave, he must have a few genes from the Vaught side too and it's becoming more apparent as he's getting older. People have been repeatedly telling me over the past month or so how much he looks like his Pop, and I've noticed subtle similarities in a few pictures I have. But with this cap on, it was like I was seeing my dad when I looked into his little face.

 

Well...everything's still a mess upstairs, it's almost midnight, and it took me a few sittings to get this written with lots of interruptions today, but I think this post was worth it. :)

March Tease

A little over a week ago, I went to the grocery story and walked out with this impulse buy :

After all the snow we've had this winter, I couldn't resist! I'm ready for sunshine, flowers, and time spent outdoors. Spring, spring, spring!

Guess what it's doing tonight though!.....SNOWING! Again!

Nonetheless, rather than fretting about another cold spell, I'm going to reminiscence on the tease of spring weather we received this past week.

For starters, last Monday was beautiful. Though it was pretty windy outside, the temperature was in the 60s most of the day. Once Dave was home and able to help me keep up with the kids, we even got outside for a while after supper thanks to the extended daylight hours that kicked in last Sunday. While daylight savings hasn't been super fun for keeping up with our sleeping routines, we're glad to have some time to get outdoors before the sun sets in the evenings now.

The kids acted like they'd been kept prisoner in the house all winter. Out the door they went - full of excitement!

Due to the wind, Dave took Reid back inside after a bit, but the big kids stayed out until dark.

They were running every which way and I was having trouble keeping up. One minute Hadley would be running down the hill after the train, and the next, Caleb took off doing a lap around the house. Then, Hadley headed up the hill towards the neighbors' road, and not long after, down the hill went Caleb chasing a runaway ball. He even ended up getting stuck in some dried up sticker bushes and couldn't free himself until I came to the rescue, pulling his hair loose from the briers. Finally, I'd had enough, and using dusk as an excuse, I drug them both into the house, crying and begging to get back outside for just a little more fun.

Thankfully, they didn't have to wait too long for their next playdate with spring. The following day we went to Granny's for a visit, and since the weather was nice, back out to the fresh air we went.

Wednesday, we did a little more visiting and took a trip to Grandma and Granddaddy's farm. Though the wind was enough to blow them away, I took the kids out to look at the cows and enjoy running in the wide open fields.

After that, we didn't get back out to play for a few days, but we did have the opportunity for some outdoor family time yesterday after lunch.

While the snow keeps falling and the inches are piling up tonight, at least we had a glimmer of spring to renew our hopes that warmer days are just around the corner.