5 months old

Dear Liv Riley,

It's hard to believe you have only been in this world for five short months. I feel as if you've been a part of our family since it began. You are such a joy. You smile and laugh so much. I love to see your eyes light up and your dimples shine. You love to listen to Ingrid and Daddy talk and play. You seem mesmerized as you sit in my lap and soak in everything around you. You are getting very strong! You love to stiffen up your body and legs to let me know you prefer to stand up. You are getting good at sitting up, however. Your balance is pretty good and you can sit up on your own for 15-20 seconds before you start toppling to one side or another. You can roll over both ways. Actually, you can roll all over the place. You are very mobile. You can be off your pallet in no time flat. You are working very hard on getting up on your knees and crawling. You can scoot/crawl backwards quite a long distance. This makes you furious, because you keep getting farther and farther away from whatever toy you are trying to reach. And when you are mad, I'm quite sure the neighbors can hear you. You have such a loud voice! I hate to hear you cry, so I will quickly scoop you up and try to soothe you and calm you down. You are still dealing with some gas/tummy issues that make you upset at times. This breaks Mommy's heart. I hate when you have painful cries. I kept thinking it might have something to do with what I was or was not eating, but now you are strictly on formula and you're still having the gas pains, so I know that wasn't it. Mommy got super sad when you stopped nursing. I loved that bond we had and the closeness it provided. I tried so hard to make it last as long as possible, but I ran out of milk for you. I could only pump once each day at work and I couldn't keep up my supply. You were getting very angry when you nursed, because you weren't getting full. I'm very thankful you take your bottle well, and your formula for that matter. But I'm still sad my breastfeeding days are over. Especially when I'm making a bottle in the middle of the night. You are sleeping a little better. We are on the same sleep routine as last month. I lay you down between 8:00 and 9:00 in your crib. You sleep between 3-5 hours and then wake up to eat. Sometimes you go right back to sleep and I put you in the sleep and play beside my bed. More often than not, that nighttime feeding reenergizes you and you are wide awake and ready to talk to Mommy. This makes Mommy very tired in the morning. But it's all so worth it Liv Riley. I love you with my whole heart and I cannot imagine a single day without you. You are definitely the sunshine on a cloudy day. I love you so!

Love,
Mommy