you are five months old {dear beautiful little lady}

dear beautiful little lady,

So what has your fifth month brought? Not any massive changes, but a lot of settling more and more into life as a five. Seeing you with your brother and sister is my favourite thing ever! You light up when you see them, and they'll do anything to make you laugh and smile. I sometimes think it can be a raw deal being the third one; because you spend your life getting dragged around to all the things that the older two do, so often you have to wait for a feed or a nappy change or a nap because they need to be somewhere urgently. But the trade off is that you have two little entertainers living in your house and they will bounce your bouncer, sing you songs, and pass you toys with unwavering enthusiasm all day long in exchange for a grin from you. 

We'd really expected to see your first tooth appear before you turned five months, but despite the finger chewing and dribbling ramping up to epic proportions, no pearly whites have actually cracked the surface yet. Although I'm almost positive that you will have one or two by the time you turn six months; but then I did think that last month too. Fortunately teething hasn't been upsetting you; you seem to be very aware of your gums but they don't seem to be hurting or unsettling you too much, which we are very thankful for.

You have had a nasty cough the last month which has sent your amazing sleeping a bit haywire on occasion. In fairness to you, a bad night with you is still only two, quick wake ups in 12 hours, which we know plenty of parents of babies would take as a massively good nights sleep. And it hasn't been every night either; some nights it's just one early morning wake up, and others you might sleep through. Add to that the fact that you've also stopped staying up into the evening and are now in bed not far behind your siblings; and it hasn't been all bad sleep wise. As I have had the same dry tickling cough I have nothing but sympathy, because I know how much worse it is at night, and how much sitting up and having a little drink seems to ease it; so we've just rolled with the punches with these new little night time wake ups. In all honesty I haven't minded the night feeding, as its been reminding me during a time when you seem to be growing up so fast, that you are still my baby girl. There is something quite special about those feeds; snuggled up in the dark, watching your eyelashes flicker, listening to you glug-glug-glugging, feeling you grow heavier and heavier in my arms as you slip back to sleep. And while to say I would rather be feeding than sleeping would be a lie, I also know how quickly this part of motherhood passes, and I am relishing it, absorbing it, embracing it and seeing the beauty in that quiet time; just you and me.

It actually feels pretty crazy to me that you are five months old already. I think the maddest thing about having a baby is how time seems to simultaneously speed up and slow down; you feel so incredibly new and at the same time, remembering life without you in it feels like the weirdest thing to imagine now. I look at you sometimes and feel surprised to see this miniature little person smiling back at me; you really aren't a newborn any more, you aren't a curled up tiny infant any more. You're a baby girl now, with that little twinkle in your eye and that sparkle to your smile that makes you a person, with her own personality and her own character. I am so loving watching the little person you are becoming, even if it does blindside me at times how quickly you are growing and changing.

It's hard to put into words how proud I am that you are mine. Everywhere we go people comment on how lovely your nature is; how content and chilled you are, how quick to smile you are. It's fair to say that most people who meet you fall head-over-heels for you. Complete strangers will totally coo over you, compliment us on our beautiful family and make a point of saying how delightful and well behaved and happy you are. We know that we are biased; of course we are, you are ours. But you really are quite simply the loveliest baby. And it's so lovely to hear that other people seem to agree.

I love you lots my little sunshine, my total dream baby.

mummy xxx

You can read her letters from months one, two, three, and four by following the links.

A fifth month in photos...