Five Months

My little buddy,

Five months old. I know I say this every month, but I really cannot believe how very big that you have gotten. The days just go by so fast and no matter how hard I try and just slow down and enjoy each one, I just can't seem to make them go any slower. With each day that passes I do my best to just remember your face that day because I know that tomorrow will have a look all its own and you will never look quite like you do today again.

You have grown like crazy this month. According to your four month well visit, you are not fat by any means, but you are however the size of an average nine month old, based on your height and weight average. You are in the 98th percentile for your height and head size and the 85th percentile for your weight. You are just getting so very big. Your little cheeks just go on for days and are so very kissable. You are now in all 9 month size clothing and size 3 diapers.

Your little personality has exploded. You are so smiley and you love to laugh. We know you wont find us near as entertaining in about 10 years, so we do everything that we can to get that little giggle out of you while we still can. You have the greatest little laugh. Its contagious. You cant help but smile when that adorable little gummy smile stares up at you. You make the best faces, and all of them look just like your daddy's. You are just so very expressive. Those eyebrows give you away every time. You also have become very interactive with toys this month. You will lay and play on your own with things and just explore them.

You are so strong and determined. You are pulling yourself up to standing when you hold onto our hands, and you are also sitting up unassisted. You are almost to the point where you dont need your hands to hold you up anymore. If we have you propped up on a pillow you will sit yourself up and then promptly fall over haha! But you are learning and exploring and that is what is important. We want you to explore always. You also push yourself up on all fours now. And you will arch your back all the way up when you are on your belly, kinda like the little Mermaid on the rock at the end of part of your world. It makes us giggle. And you are a rolling machine! You go from back to belly and then back again and end up half way across the room. You dont even hesitate anymore. You know what you want and you go for it. You also have started army crawling. Well not really crawling more like army scooting. You use your little knees and push and pull until you get where you want to be. And you grunt like crazy while youre trying to get there. Its one of my new favorite things that you do.

You love, love, love to talk. You will just babble away at us, or the friends or the floor haha. It doesnt really matter whos listening but you will just talk away. You have also become much more dependent on us this month. You like to be played with. And you have discovered the fake cry. If we don't get to you fast enough or we are busy making your food or attending to something else man do we know about it. We try not to give in every time, but man is it hard not to. Your dad has a really hard time with that. I know they say little girls have their dad's wrapped around their little fingers, but you are doing alright at that too haha! I love watching him love you. It reminds me every single day why I love him so much. He has also taken to calling you Little Buddy Diapers this month. Its adorable. 

You have fallen even more in love with Mickey Mouse this month. You love to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and will laugh and smile at it. We also got you a little stuffed Mickey for our big drive to South Carolina and you will not go anywhere without it now. And you and Duffy are even bigger buddies now. You love to watch his story on youtube and you love playing with him. You tackle him now. We keep telling you that isnt how you treat your friends, but you just dont seem to listen haha. You also love books! You will sit and look at the pictures and touch everything and take it all in. You love the books with the touch and feel spots, and you love your giant Mickey book of course. 

You got to touch the ocean for the first time this month. We went to visit your Morris grandparents and Aunt Desi in South Carolina and you really took to them. And boy did they love you. They held you and played with you and just loved on you for the three days we were there. You got to put your little toes in the water and feel the sand. I don't know that you were such a fan this time, but you most certainly liked the swimming pool! We put you in your little boat and just pushed you around the water and you kicked and splashed and played. If bath time was any indication to your love of water, I knew that you would love the pool. Im really glad we got to share that with you and that your grandma and Poppi got to experience those firsts with you too.

You had your first big cold this month as well as many sick visits with the doctor. You had an infection and antibiotic as well as a viral something that just doesnt seem to want to go away. You are such a trooper though. No matter how bad you were feeling, we would have never known it. If it werent for the subtle things I may not have even caught that you were sick. You are just the best little man. You really are.

You got over your dead stare of the camera this month. I let you play with my phone a bit so it isnt as foreign to you which really helps a lot. But you will smile and interact now when we are trying to get pictures of you and I love that. I want to remember this gummy little smile before those teeth finally make their way through the gums, which I am praying hard is soon. I think you might chew your fingers off if its not. We have four teeth trying to come in. Please just come in haha!!

Malachi you are the greatest blessing in this world. Your constant joy just brings so much life to me. When you were in my belly, i used to pray that you would be a joyful baby. That you would just be a light no matter where you went. And I cannot tell you how many people have told me how joyful you are. And that you are just the most pleasant baby to be around. And it is really so true. You bless me each and every day that you are in my world. Each smile and giggle makes my heart jump. Every new discovery is like someone has opened a whole new world to me. When we found out we were expecting you, I was so scared of what a baby would bring and all the unknowns but since you have come into this world, all the unknowns have been such a special part of each and every day. I love being your mama. More than any other job or any other role that I have every played. I love being your mama. And I hope that you always know how very loved and cared for you are. You mean more to me than you will ever know my sweet little boy. Don't ever forget that.

All my love,
Your mama

Four Months

My little man,

Four months. You are four months old today. I cannot even begin to wrap my head around the fact that you are growing so very fast. Each and every day holds a new memory and something just a little bit different than the day before. Every morning you look just a little bit different and to be completely honest, sometimes it make me sad. Because we will never have yesterday's you again. But then I get excited for the things to come and how many new adventures that our life with you will hold. I have a feeling if we are enjoying the now, we will really enjoy the tomorrows we will have with you.

This month has held so many milestones for you little man. It seems as though you make a new discovery ever single day. You are still rubbing your eyes when you are tired. But more than last month. Now it is a clear sign that its time for a nap. You also started cutting teeth this month. Which resulted in non stop chewing of the fingers and a never ending amount of drool. Thats been fun. And of course, in true Malachi style, you are getting your two front teeth first, even though most babies start on the bottom. They are almost all the way through the gums as of today so we should have some teethers within a week or two. You will be the cutest little beaver in town. I will surely miss that gummy little smile though. Its the smile that stole my heart. I dont know that anything will ever top that. But I bet I will say the same thing about your little tooth filled smile. I just havent seen it yet :)

You also started rolling this month!!! It has been a big deal. You would think we were cheering on an Olympic team or something every time you roll and we are looking. But you have a tendency to roll over every time you are playing on your blanket and I am making dinner or doing the dishes or something and all of sudden we hear your tummy time grunts and you are facing a different direction completely and are on your belly. You roll from back to belly most of the time but you have made it from your belly to your back a few times too. Either way, we are so impressed with you little guy.

You have become to interactive this month. You laugh like crazy and at just about anything. You love playing peekaboo and you also love to dance or to watch us dance around and make complete fools of ourselves. You love to talk too. You will have conversations with us and will just babble away at just about anything. You love talking to your friends too.  You use your hands to express yourself and you love trees. Like love love them. You will sit and stare out the window forever if we let you and you love to go outside and look at them. You have outgrown your kick and play mat which made us sad, but you can hold up your own head now so you are loving your exersaucer. You spin yourself all the way around and play with each toy as  you go. You have this sense of wonder in your eyes all the time. Everything is an exploration with you. And we love to watch you learn and grow. Seeing the world through your eyes is truly a magical experience. 

Your favorite toys this month have definitely still been Pluto and Duffy, but we added an exciting brightly colored ball to the mix as well as your teething monkey cocoa. We just love watching you play. You hold your head up like a champ so the bumbo has been a fun addition to our day too. You love being independent. So being able to sit up on your own has been great for you.

We also started feeding you cereal this month! You stopped sleeping through the night quite as well as you had been and so we started giving you some little man oatmeal and you love it! You eat it off the spoon like a champ and usually do some yelling for more :) We go for your 4 month well visit on tuesday night and we will get a schedule of introducing some more awesome foods to you. We really cant wait for that :)

You also had your first 4th of July yesterday. You loved all of it. We had you dressed so very cute for your first parade, complete with a baseball hat and everything. You looked so stinking cute. You sat through the parade like a champ and you spent the day playing and laughing with all of us. You even loved the fireworks that night! We sat in the hatch of our car so that the noise wasnt as loud for you, but you watched all the colors and that noise didnt scare you at all. You really are the best baby around.

You bring more joy to our lives then we ever thought possible. Each and every day is a new adventure and we love to watch you grow and change with every single day that passes. You are so full of greatness and your eyes hold so much wonder. Every time you look at me or you snuggle in to my chest and love me the way that no one else could, something inside me comes alive. I have found my purpose in having you Malachi. You have given my life, and your dad's life this whole new meaning and without you we wouldnt know what life was for us anymore. You have given us such a precious gift in just being you. Never ever change. 

You are our whole world. And we love you so very much. We want so much for you. Never forget that. 

All my love,

Your mama

Three months

My little man,

I really cannot believe that I am sitting here writing to you again. You are three months old today. Where has the time gone, little guy?

Currently you are sound asleep on Uncle Jonfin's bed, sucking on your binky and listening to your favorite white noise app on my phone. Your dad and I have gotten so used to that sound we honestly don't even hear it anymore. haha. But you love it and you sleep so very sweetly to it. Im thankful that we have it.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much you have grown this month. You look like my baby now. Not my newborn. You have gotten so very tall and have filled out so nicely. At your two month well visit you weighed 12lbs 10.4oz. I would say you are closer to 14 or 15 at this point. You are growing out of your three month clothes like crazy and the majority of your wardrobe is now 6-9 month clothes. Slow down kid. Your dad and I can't keep up with buying you all new stuff! haha

You are consistently sleeping through the night now, which we love a lot haha. You will sleep from 10:30ish until 6 or 7 am and only wake a few times for your binky. Sometime you surprise us and go until 8 or 9. But that doesnt happen all that often. We also moved you to your crib last week! You werent sleeping so well in your pack n play anymore and were getting too heavy for the elevated add on, so we figured it was time to move you on up! It worked out well because I had gotten your bedding stuff on sale last month so we were ready to go! Daddy put it all together for you and made sure you are safe and sound when you are sleeping. You sleep so well in there and you look so good with all your Mickey stuff. You really seem to like it.

Speaking of Mickey, you have fallen in love with him this month! The bedding I bought for you is Mickey Mouse with a giant M in the middle, because M is for Malachi! And I got you the Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Pluto stuffed toys to go with it! You love laying and playing with them. You also love, love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Its on Disney Junior around the time that you get up each morning and so I put it on for you while you drink your morning bottle and sometimes you smile so big at it that your bottle falls out of your mouth.

You have become so much more aware this month. You can recognize faces and voices. You follow things across the room with your eyes. You know when I am holding you as apposed to someone else. You cry for attention more than you have in the last few months and you have become so much more interactive. You play with your toys and you know which ones are your favorites. You still love your Deer Lovie and you have really taken to your stuffed Pluto. Because you are so much better with holding on to things and playing you also really love Duffy this month. Like a lot. You also started holding and shaking your own rattle this month. And you get the biggest kick out of the sound it makes. You also love when I use your little feet and ninja kick your dad's face with them. You will giggle and giggle.

You are also officially holding up your head on your own. When you are on your tummy you will hold it up and just stare at things and if we sit you up and hold you under your arms you can give us a good five minutes before you are ready for a break. We have been so proud of your milestones this month.

You have also really taken to putting everything, and I mean everything, in your mouth. Toys, hard or stuffed, your fist, my arm. lol. You will just suck away. You really love sucking on your fist. So that along with the drooling are oh so much fun haha!! And you talk so much more. You have really found your voice. You will laugh out loud now and you will have conversations with us with those adorable little noises. I can't wait to hear what you will have to say...

Your little personality has exploded this month. You are so smiley. You love love love to kick and play and smile at just about everything and everyone. You are so curious. You will stare at something new for a few minutes and never look away. I think you get that from your daddy. You also flirt with the ladies now haha. You do this little smile shoulder shrugg thing that melts my heart every time. You will mimic faces and you giggle now. A rolling giggle. Its my favorite sound in the world I think. Aside from hearing your dad tell me he loves me... that giggle wins for sure.

You also took your first road trip this past weekend! We made it all the way to Washington DC, met your Auntie Bekah and Aunt Ashe and Uncle Aric and stayed in a hotel! We had so much fun exploring the city with you and you were such a good boy. You travel much better during times when you normally sleep, so thats a good lesson learned, but you really did great buddy. And your aunts and uncle were so excited to finally meet you!

Malachi you are so incredible. Each and every day is a new adventure with you. The wonder in your eyes shows me the beauty in this world and its because of you that I have a purpose each day when I get up and each night that I go to sleep. The love that I have for you is unexplainable. I never knew that I could love someone so deeply. You have stolen my heart little boy. And I wouldnt have it any other way.

You are growing so fast, little man. Each day you look just a little different than the day before. Sometimes it makes me sad, but then I think of all the fun that lies ahead of us and I can't hardly wait to experience each stage of your beautiful little life. There is so much adventure out there waiting for us. Let's find it together buddy.

Happy Three Months, my little one.

All my love,
Your Mama