I asked my mom friends last week if they thought I should be concerned about Linc not rolling over or bearing weight on his legs yet. They told me no, of course not, all babies are different and they develop at different rates, I’m sure he’ll roll over soon, their baby never rolled over and now look at her walking! That’s basically the Lord’s Prayer of parenting – I can recite it from memory but don’t often pay attention to what the words actually mean. It’s comfortingly familiar though, to hear it from people I know and trust.

Right after that Linc decided his new favorite thing is bearing weight on his legs, so at least half of my worrying was for nothing. I’m pretty sure one of these days I’m going to set him on the floor, leave the room, and come back in to find he’s just gotten up and walked away.

I’m a few days late with this update, not because I forgot it but because I didn’t want to even LOOK at the 5 month sticker a single second earlier than I had to. I cannot believe it’s already been 5 months with Lincoln here in our lives. He’s the first baby where I haven’t felt any desire for time to go faster. I am trying to stay completely focused on enjoying him right now, as he is, and not rushing anything.

It helps that he sleeps. I would be praying him to get bigger and older and thinking about night weaning and freaking out over how exhausted I was if he wasn’t already letting me sleep 7 hours a night. Best baby in the world. Or at least right now, since he’s taking a nice extended afternoon nap.

Likes include smiling, snuggles, people, singing, talking about cooking shows, being held, standing, bath time, chewing on things, his feet, my feet, mirrors, nursing, watching people eat, having his picture taken, the swing, the rock-n-play, his brother, his sister and the cat.

Dislikes include loud noises too close to his face, missing nap time, teething and having boogers removed from his nose/face in any way.

/

5 Month Milestones (originally from BabyCenter, now from Caroline’s 5 month post)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Distinguishes between bold colors – Yeah, sure. How the hell am I supposed to know?
Plays with his hands and feet – Yes, with cartoon-baby-levels of cuteness.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Recognizes own name – He did this very clearly yesterday and I was like BOOM! MILESTONE MOMENT!!
Turns toward new sounds – Yes, he’s very nosy.
Rolls over in both directions – Still no rolling. In either direction. He doesn’t even look like he wants to.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Sits momentarily without support – Yes. He’s going to be sitting independently way before he’s rolling.
Mouths objects – Nomming is his favorite hobby
Separation anxiety may begin – A little. He doesn’t like it when everyone leaves the room, but he doesn’t mind new people or strangers.

Oh Sweet Caroline, if I had written this post the day before your monthday I would have had not one single bad thing to report. Unfortunately, your 5 month mark seems to be the beginning of some serious teething as evidenced by constantly stuffing your hands in your mouth, drooling, refusing to sleep, an angry red diaper rash and the EXTREMELY LOUD SCREAMING that is totally out of character. After just one day I’m already banging my head against the wall and praying your teeth come in as quickly as your brother’s did.

But even despite the soreness in your gums you are still a darling baby. You were such a good sport at your Aunt Kristi’s wedding, even though we kept you awake for four days and handed you to countless strangers. I’m happy to report Kristi’s new in-laws passed the breastfeeding-coolness-test, and none of them even flinched when I nursed you – even sitting right next to me or during meals. I got to show off my magical baby-wearing skills when I stuck you in the sling at the reception and everyone commented on how much you seemed to like it (p.s. thanks for finally liking it!!)

You don’t have a real routine yet, besides sleeping 8 pm to 7 am with usually just one wake up for a feeding. Thank you SO MUCH for that. You usually take one long and two short naps during the day but it’s hard to predict when you’ll need them. I don’t feel like you’re constantly attached to my boob but if I count the number of feedings a day it’s close to every 2 hours. I’m a little nervous about getting you to take a bottle before August but we’re going to start working on it this week. I also bought you some rice cereal, which I’m hoping you enjoy more than Little Evan did. I can’t believe I’m already talking about solid food in regards to my brand new baby girl!

Some of your favorite things are your blankie, your swing, your brother, your daddy and standing up with our help. Your least favorite things include wind, the sun in your eyes, really loud noises, and waking up in strange places.

Happy 5 months Caroline!

5 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usually)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Distinguishes between bold colors – This isn’t really something I need to determine as something BabyCenter is just TELLING me she can do, right? Because I have no idea how to judge this.
Plays with his hands and feet – Constantly.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Recognizes own name – I suspect she responds equally to “Caroline” “Baby Girl” and “Boogaboo”
Turns toward new sounds – Yes
Rolls over in both directions – She rolls back to front the SECOND you put her down but still has a hard time rolling front to back.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Sits momentarily without support – Yes, with “momentarily” being the key word.
Mouths objects – Constantly
Separation anxiety may begin – Definitely, and it sucks. I miss being able to stick her in the exersaucer and go do laundry for 20 minutes. Pretty soon we’ll be at “bringing her with me while I pee” levels of anxiety.

…we go to Target. And also to Chili’s.

Check out my adorable pumpkin hat. My parents bought it for me.

Haha! Just kidding! They're way too cheap to buy me stuff. They just took pictures of me in the store.

Oh hey Mom, those boots are pretty stylin'

But those boots over there are way cooler! I would throw up on them any day!

Cutest thing ever, we are. Going back to buy this doll for sure, my mom is.

Waitress! Bring me more coasters to chew on!

P.S. We went back and bought Yoda today. Expect to see a lot more of him in future pictures.