5 Months

Wow, are there even more changes happening as we move into Cooper's fifth month! Its so exciting to see him grow. His bottom front teeth are slowly coming in, causing him some discomfort and lots of drool. CJ and I can feel the pointy top of one of the two teeth. We thought teeth came much later than five months...silly us! Cooper has been great with the teething process so far. He's a little bit of a bear at night, but nothing we can't handle. He can now roll over like a champ and is sleeping mostly on his tummy, which makes Mommy nervous because his face is constantly buried in the mattress. He sleeps so much better on his tummy, I guess I better stop sneaking into his room at night and rolling him over onto his back. :) He is beginning to "crawl," if you can really call it that. He basically inch-worms himself around the play yard or crib, and if he's on his blanket playing on the floor he puts his forehead to the ground and drags his fat little belly forward. Its certainly interesting to see! He's reaching for everything he can get his little chubby hands on and his grasp is quite strong. He is also becoming very vocal. He loves to cackle and scream out loud, which makes for some surprising moments when a loud, high-pitched squeal echoes throughout the house without any warning. I think the dogs find his squawks and squeals very interesting. Miss Quincy likes to bark back in response. I imagine they must be having deep conversations about the weather and current state of the economy - the two things babies and dogs worry most about, right? Cooper is also getting much better at sitting up. He can't do it totally on his own yet, but is really getting there. We picked up a Bumbo seat for him, since he seemed to like the one at daycare, and its great to have him sit with us. He loves to watch Daddy cook dinner. Speaking of food, Coop has sampled quite a few solids to date and is getting a little better at actually keeping them inside of his mouth. Still working on that skill! He seems to enjoy bananas and rice cereal the most. He doesn't seem very interested in his veggies - gee, what child ever is? And oatmeal cereal doesn't seem to be a menu favorite either. But we continue to introduce them and watch as his palate grows. He has tried rice and oatmeal cereal, bananas, pears, applesauce, green beans, sweet potatoes, peas and carrots. Just wait until those teeth come and he can really gnaw on foods, haha! We celebrated our nephew Cayden's 2nd birthday earlier this month over Mother's Day weekend, and recently spent time with CJ's side of the family after Grammie was buried last weekend. It has been a hectic month for everyone. My first Mother's Day was wonderful! Cooper and the dogs (haha) bought me a beautiful blue topaz birthstone ring, since CJ, Cooper and I share the same birth month. The first part of my Mother's Day was spent working at this little event called SU Commencement, you might have heard of it - the Vice President gave this year's address. The preparation for the event was a really crazy time at work for me, but the end result was fantastic. It was great working on the event this year, since its not typically an area I normally cover. CJ is gearing up for the end of the school year and will spend the summer months with Cooper at home instead of teaching summer school. We are planning a trip to VA in July, to see our friends down that way and meet all of the new babies. We are very excited to get back down to the old stomping grounds! We've also been doing some work on the house and CJ has the super-fun task of painting the exterior over the long weekend. Anybody just dying to paint? Bring your brushes and ladder, we'll supply the beverages! :) We hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! As always, here is the next batch of photos.