FIVE MONTHS OLD!

Dear Aria,

For some reason, these letters are getting harder and harder for me to get through without some kind of tearing up. I'm blaming on the hormones and the breastfeeding. As corny as it sounds, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't stop and think about how incredibly blessed I am to have you. First thing in the morning when I hear you scratching the mattress (that is your "Hey I'm up. Come get me" signal)I open your door and I'm greeted with this massive smile and it just kills me. You are such a happy baby and it makes being your mom pretty awesome. And those big blue eyes! I'm in so much trouble in years to come.

So lets see... You are doing so much these days and are so aware of your surrounding that I'm going to have to do a list.

Likes:
Mommy
Daddy
Watching your furbrothers play. You are memorized by all the movement.
Any toy that lights up and plays music
Chewing on EVERYTHING you can get into your mouth
All of Mommy's songs (This would be on Daddy's dislike list - so what if I'm tone deaf she happens to love my songs )
Standing!!! If you aren't getting your diaper changed, you want to be vertical.
Being held up so you can look at everything around you
Your swing (even though you are growing out of it)
"Typing" on the keyboard
Playing computer games with Daddy
Being on your tummy and trying to scoot (there is a 5 minute time limit on this one)
Music. You enjoy when I hum lullabies to you when you are having trouble falling asleep but you also like anything with a beat - unless we are in the car. You freak out when music is played in the car.
Mirrors! Still so vain
Being snuggled/hugged/kissed/held.
Having your fingers "eaten". You find it amusing every time. And now you have the coordination to actually take your hands out and then back in.
The Light
High pitched voices and funny faces
Feeling people faces and occasionally digging your nails into their eyes

Dislikes:
Food. Hated Rice Cereal. Hated Oatmeal. Hated Prunes. You just can't be bothered with having to swallow anything that isn't milk.
The car for more than 30 minutes. You will sleep for ONLY 30 minutes and then get antsy.
A warm room. Just like Daddy, you like to sleep/relax/play in a cold room. In the event you ever see a picture from the middle of August and Mommy is wearing a sweater, you now know why.

My extremely anal approach to your sleep schedule is starting to pay off and you are sloooowly forming a predictable schedule.

Side note: Yes, everyone reading, I know I'm anal about her sleep schedule and I know that at least a handful of you have been annoyed because of it. BUT in my defense you guys aren't getting up with her every three hours when she goes to bed too late after becoming overtired. After she is up for two or two and a half hours during the day she is ready for a nap and if she isn't put down she becomes overtired and only sleeps for 45 minutes at a time. And then when I go to put her to sleep at 8:30pm she wont go to sleep. If I follow my schedule she takes a short morning nap, a long afternoon nap, and a quick late catnap a day. Then goes to bed by 8:30 and then sleeps till 3am or 4am and then goes right back down till 8am. Yes mother this paragraph is directed at you! Take that!

You talk ALL the time now and by talk I mean a mixture of adorable coos/noises and screams. You have MASTERED the scream. If you feel like you aren't getting enough attention or are bored in whatever you are doing or just feel like being loud, you will just scream repeatedly. Its LOUD too. The best part is that if you talk or sing to you (or just in the same room) you answer back. It is on my top five list of things I love that you do.

Ummm...what else? You are in full swing teething mode. Some days you get motrin or tylenol because the pressure is just too much to bear and other days you just drool like no tomorrow and want to chew on my fingers all day.

You are getting to long for your one piece jammies. But the 6 month jammies are too big around the middle. Quite the conundrum.

You can now pull out and put back in your pacifier into your mouth. You can also throw them when you get angry.

I'm still working on new material to get you to giggle again and hopefully you approve some of them and we can hear you giggle again soon. It is beyond cute.

Your contribution:

gkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkjjjjjmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmuigu8jyttjyhjuhmf ,

I'm going to go kiss your cheeks till you scream at me. I LOVE you more than you could ever imagine.

Mommy