5 MONTHS

2/25/13 Dear Addison, You are 5 months old. I haven't kept your blog up to date. If I weren't currently on rest from surgery, I probably wouldn't have time to type this. Remember, everything has a silver lining. :-) You are the greatest little thing in the entire world. You weigh about 18 pounds and you must eat every 3 hours--6oz formula mixed with a scoop or two of cereal. If you do not get your bottle EXACTLY when you demand it, you will scream your little head off until it hits your mouth. You love to smile and laugh and you have the most infectious laugh ever. You are very dramatic and when you get mad, you cry huge crocodile tears and make the most pitiful faces. I usually laugh at you and then you will start laughing too. You are really a very good baby. You only cry if you are hungry or sleepy. You don't really like to take naps during the day, but you do take a few 15 minute ones here and there. You sleep all night long. If you wake up, it's at around 5am and I will put you in the bed with me and you will sleep 2-3 more hours. I think you are the best baby in the world. You wear size 3 diapers. You already wear size 9 month clothes, but I love all of your little baby rolls. The hardest thing is trying to find shirts to fit your precious, rolly polly arms. I can't figure out what size shoes you wear. You have fat, but tiny little feet and I haven't been able to work your feet into any shoes at the store. I usually don't take you anywhere without a bow in your hair and you don't mind them at all. That's because you started wearing one in the NICU. Everybody stops to talk to you and you are getting quite shy. You don't like a lot of attention and will smile and try to hide your face. You love all baby food. You don't turn down anything. I've let you eat part of a popsicle and you get juice as a rare treat. You love television and computers and phones and remote controls! I think you are a little engineer or a computer tech or something! I'm sure you could outsmart me on the computer already. You babble mamamama when you are upset. You try real, real hard to cry sometimes. You scrunch your face up as ugly as you can make it and try to make pitiful noises, but you still look beautiful and it doesn't work. 50% of people say you look JUST like Daddy and 50% say you look JUST like me. I think you look most like Daddy, especially when you are sleeping. You are equally a Mama's girl and a Daddy's girl. I think you love us both. We noticed recently that if Granny is in the room, you only want her to hold you. You still stay with Granny and Aunt Kelli while I work. You love your cousins and they love you. I absolutely hate leaving you for work, but you are in the best hands and I know you will understand one day. Your birth mark is causing some scary moments and I wish it would just go away. I had to take you to a pediatric dermatologist because the birthmark started oozing blood. She did a biopsy and put a stitch in your little head. Your Daddy had to lay down on his back and hold you down on his stomach. It was horrible. You screamed to be let up. You don't like to be confined. If I ever try to put covers on you, you stick your legs straight up in the air and fuss until I take them off. The biopsy was questionable and the birthmark started oozing blood again so the dermatologist told us we must take you to a surgeon to have it removed. You will have to be put under general anesthesia and come home on pain medications. That has me very nervous. I know you are in God's hands, but I want God to have one more physician to tell me the surgery is absolutely necessary. The risk of cancer is very scary, but I will not let them cut you without high need. So, I am taking you to a specialist in Gainesville on March 6th and we will go from there. In the meantime, I keep ointment and a bandage on your head and you look like a little wounded patient, but you are still beautiful. You are extraordinarily beautiful. Always. When you sleep, you look exactly like a doll. You love to cuddle. You are cuddled to my arm now watching me type this and watching tv. You do a lot of things beyond your age. You already hold your own bottle that has grasping handles. You like to feed yourself. You will get so tickled about it, you will start laughing and the bottle will fall out of your mouth. You will not keep two socks on. Ever. You always have one sock. I love to dress you up and you love to spit up on everything I put you in. You still take Zantac for GERD. You still get hiccups a lot, like you did when I was carrying you. You like to play in your activity seat and you like to roll and scoot all over the floor. You are very curious about everything and I think you are really smart. You love your baby doll and like to hug her and laugh when I tell you that you are a sweet baby. You love to "read". You will lean in real close to everyone's shirt and read everything on it, and mail and magazines and books. You like to play with your hands and anyone's hands that are holding you. You aren't crazy about a pacifier. You usually like one only at night when you are very sleepy. You occasionally suck your thumb or your fingers. In short, you are the best thing in the universe and I can't believe that I could love you even more than I do now. You are the reason I get up each day. I will try to keep your blog more up to date, but don't hold me to it. :-) I love you! Mama