5.

My whole hand, I now have to use my whole hand to count my little Smushers age in months.



The transition between four and five months seems to have been a big one.
What's new? Well, Nolan is now rolling over from both his tummy to his back and from his back to his tummy. He started rolling very stealth-like. He had been stuck on his shoulder for months, but all of the sudden he figured it out and if you looked away for one second he would roll. It took several days of knowing he could do it before anyone actually saw it happen. Now he is our little Rollin' Nolan constantly flopping back and forth to while paying on the floor or in bed.



In just the last few days, he is even sitting up unassisted for a few seconds at a time. What a whole new world this opens up!



He has pretty much given up sucking his thumb, but loves to chew on his fingers and can often be found gnawing on his right foot. Yep, he definitely prefers the right foot over the left.



He is wearing mostly 12 month clothing and at a very estimated weighing on the home scale weighed in at 18.5 pounds. He is trying to catch up to his big brother and has even started sporting outfits G wore when he was already walking.



We had to get in our picture in Daddy's outfit before Nolan grew out of it. Here he is at 5 months, G at 7 months and I am not sure about Matt. We will have to ask Nonnie.



At 5 months our Smushers still has that Jackpot Baby disposition, even strangers comment on his sweet temperament. You laugh so easily and it is a favorite past time of the whole family to get your belly laughs going. All it takes is a kiss on the cheek or G jumping up and down and then we melt at that sweet sound.
Somehow that sweetness seems to disappear when you are away from momma. You don't always have the easiest time in the church nursery or when left with family. It makes it rough to leave you.
Your a good sleeper and can nap when we are on the go. You still wake during the night to eat but I enjoy the sweet snuggles while the world is quiet.
You have had tastes of food but still prefer milk to solids for the time being. You watch us eat like a hawk but when it comes to purees you aren't sold quite yet. I think you just want to wait for teeth so you can skip to steak.
Speaking of teeth those two little buds on the bottom seem to be getting bigger by the day. I bet that we see some pearly white soon!
You are reaching for anything and everything but especially love to reach for faces. G is always saying "Nolan got me!" because every time he leans in you grab him. It just gets sweeter and sweeter seeing the two of you interact.
It is hard for me to believe that in a few short weeks you will be 6 months old, half way to one. How did it go by so fast? I wish we could just stall every time my heart gets that flutter so I could always remember exactly the way you are at that very moment. Yet I know we can't so I will take hundreds of pictures and videos and try to be in the moment in all of the little moments that we have.

This is BIG!

I wasn't ready for it to happen. I didn't want it to happen at all. I actually thought about throwing a fit. A full on fit, you know, where I would throw my fists at the ground, scream "No!" over and over again, while my legs spasmed out of control. But, you would be proud, I held it together mostly and just let this happen.



That's right! He's in a Big Boy Bed! Why? Oh! Because after hearing him scream, then running to his room only to find him stuck straddling the crib rail stuck in utter fear we decided this was the better option.

As I should have known, when this guy is ready for something he handles it with ease. I was afraid of sleepless nights and a rough transition. I had nothing to fear. G loves his bed, whether it has a front or not and he has been handling naps and bedtime like a pro. The first time he saw his crib with out the front he was so excited and ran to it to climb in. And after that first nap he was so proud of himsself. It was darling!

Now we are only a week in and things could go horribly downhill, but I am not counting on it.



The next big thing will be getting rid of that night time pacifier. Another thing that will probably be harder for Momma than it is for him.

You Name 'Em

What a weekend! (Or at least it was when I started writing this 2 weeks ago) We were paid a special visit from Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Eric. Well, that is what they were called before this weekend anyway. G has now affectionately renamed them Pepaw, Memaw and Unc, Uncle, or Uncle E. I find it really sweet and special that he has come up with his own names for them but I have also found that when it is coming from the sweet lips of G, most people will answer to anything.

The weekend was spent just playing around the house and boy did G play. He has loved having all of the visitors since Nolan was born and he definitely soaked in the family this weekend.



G is still recovering their visit with an almost 3 hour morning nap. Morning Nap, what? Exactly, what I thought when he asked for a nap at 10 am. He is usually an afternoon napper. But between the weekend activities, late bed time and gloomy weather I guess he figured a nap was in order.

We had so much fun and can't wait to see Memaw, Pepaw and Unc again!

Did I Mention?

Seems crazy that I am just now mentioning here that we are adding a fig to our family. Yep, that's right, another baby and soon! Soon, like maybe, today?
Well, probably not today but most likely sometime within the next week.
This pregnancy has flown by, from keeping up with G, holidays, then enjoying the arrival of three other new babies in our close friends lives it seems crazy that D day is almost here. Since I am horrible about keeping up the week to week stuff here is a pregnancy summary.



Gender
We don't know and won't know until our little one makes his/her grand arrival. Based on a home gender test and the guesses of most friends it's another sweet baby boy. Either way we will be thrilled!

Movement
This babe seems to like the same places that his/her older brother did. Always sticking a back or bottom out on the right side of the bump. This little fig does hiccup quite a bit. I only felt G hiccup once or twice. This babe often hiccups twice a day.

Craving
This is hard. I crave food pregnant or not. It is hard to tell which are because of the pregnancy and which are just because I would like queso with every meal. I have notices a strong desire for Dr. Pepper in the last few weeks. I like Dr. Pepper but have never had a craving for one or rarely ever drank one in my life before. No worries I keep the caffeine to a minimum. Only a few sodas a week.
I have also noticed a desire for fried chicken, strips or the whole chicken. Yummy! Maybe one more trip to Babe's before the baby arrives?
I also seem to crave foods of my childhood when I am pregnant. Sugary cereal, pop tarts, oreos. Things that I allowed myself back then, or I guess my mom allowed, every once and a while at least. Foods that I allow myself to buy once a year now.

Aversions
This is hard too. I like most food and it has stayed pretty much the same. In the beginning I was definitely more nauseous than I was with G and the smell of most any food turned me off. Luckily, I was cured of that around week 14.

What I Miss
My body. Following after G has gotten harder and harder. It seems as soon as I sit on the ground to play he wants me to move to another room to play with something else. It's hard to resist his sweet request "c'mon mommy". He has learned that it takes mommy a minute to get back up. And as anyone who has been pregnant knows, it just gets uncomfortable at a point. The discomfort makes suggling hard. I miss snuggling with my boys!



Maternity Clothes
Oh My! This might just be the hardest part this time around. Nothing Fits. All the clothes I wore with G are just too small. I am carrying the baby lower which made all my pants seriously snug. By week 30 I was wearing them out and ripping them off to be replaced by seriously over sized yoga pants as soon as I got home. I am sure Matt will enjoy me dressing like a normal person soon!

Sleep
Hallelujah! I have been able to sleep during this pregnancy. Of course, there are sometimes four or five trips to the bathroom during the middle of the night but I think I can pee in my sleep at this point. TMI?

Symptoms
Other than having every possible sign of labor for the past few weeks this pregnancy seems to have been relatively symptom free. A little nausea in the beginning, some ligament/ groin pain in the end, and rounds and rounds of braxton hicks for the past two months.

Best Moments
The best moments of this pregnancy have been with G. He often talks to the baby, cuddles up with the bump, and has given many a kisses to this little one. I can't wait to see how he loves his little fig. I am prepared for jealousy and hard times but he is such a caring boy and I think he is going to love being a big brother!

All the pictures are by Raspberry Rain Images. Check them out! These gals are fabulous to work with and captured some sweet moments of this quickly growing family of three.

The Sweetest Moments

I saved a few of the sweetest moments from our Christmas adventure for their very own post.

This Christmas we had the treat of having G's greatgrandmother, aka BizNonna, visiting from Boston. She loves watching him run around and he is equally thrilled by her songs and sweet games. At the end of the night on Christmas Day, she was playing a game with G and this little cat. She would stroke the cat while saying something in Italian and then she would make the cat bounce. G thought it was hysterical and would have sat there and watched until BizNonna was blue in the face. Everytime the kityy went flying he was equally surprised and attached by laughter.







The other moment I loved was the day after Christmas. I had been in an extreme organization mode since we got home on Christmas night, so I had left the boys to fend/ relax by themselves while I scurried all around the house. Mid-morning I walked back through the living room to find them fast asleep.



A little over a year ago this would not have been such a shocking site, but since becoming increasing more mobile our little man typically will not fall asleep outside of a crib or car seat. If you try to get him to snuggle or go to sleep while you are still there he wants to play, poke your nose, or climb the bed. So when I saw them there on the couch, I knew how exhausted he must have been. Christmas is tiring sweet G!

Sweet memories in of a busy, busy Christmas!

Christmas in Pictures

The celebrating started on Christmas Eve with my side of the family gathering at our house to play for the afternoon. We exchanged a few presents, but mostly just played and enjoyed good food and good company.




G loved playing and reading with his Uncle Kyle and was caught red handed asking Grandmommy for more and more reindeer food.



We went to Christmas Eve service at church and since there was no child care G joined us for the service. Although he was seriously tired by the end, he did remarkably well. Only making himself known by saying "Mom, Mom, Mom" during the service. His voice was so precious I couldn't even begin to shush him!

The next morning G opened a few presents from Santa, Mom and Dad.







Then we headed out to Grandmommy Lola's for breakfast and fun with Lola, Kyle and Ashley. I didn't get many pictures because our sweet little bug was too tired to even open a present.



After his nap, we headed over to Nonnie and Papa's for lunch, family fun and more gift exchange.





G loved playing with his new Duplos and racing cars with Addie.



We had a wonderful time squeezing in as much family as possible and even have one more celebration to go this weekend!

Wake-Up Little Guy

I know I have a lot to catch up on Thanksgiving, but I only have a minute and just wanted to share one thing I absolutely love about my little fig (of course there are thousands more).
He wakes up just like his mom!
That is usually I hear him in his room wiggling or running his foot down the side of his crib. I turn on the video monitor and can see that he is awake, but just relaxing and tossing around. This goes on for 10 to 15 minutes.
Some days he will getup and start waking around the crib, so I go in to get him. When I go into his room I sit in the rocker near his bed and we chat. He points out his animal picture and a ball he would like to play with or a book he wants to read, while I ask him about his dreams and if he rested well. He is in no hurry to actually be removed from his crib. He will actually walk to the other side of his crib if I hold my hands out too early.
But some days like this morning, he goes right back to sleep. Almost like, I thought I was ready, but really I could use another 15 minutes.
On either occassion, as soon as I pick him up he tucks he head into my shoulder for a quick snuggle.
I just love him! I love how I get to see his personality develop in little ways. Since he is way past those sleepy baby picture age I will leave you with a reminder of this time last year...

9 months or 3/4

What a great day! Lola's Birthday, G is 9 months old and tax day. Ok, maybe not the tax part so much. After struggling with his monthly snapshot for the 7th and 8th month I finally figured it out this time...



Is there anything more irresistible than a baby sleeping with the hiney in the air? And here is a close up of that sweet drooling face.



So pure and again irresistible.

Oh Sweet G, you have no idea how incredible the love is that your life has created in our family! Our hearts burst with thankfulness for you!

Happy 9 month day to you!