Dear Ruby

Ruby Tuesday,

Happy five months, sweet girl! You are growing by the second, I am afraid. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about my life so far with you, beginning with pregnancy, emphasis on the birth, and how far you have come since the moment you were born, caught in the doctor's arms. I replay your birthday so often, I often wonder if it's a little strange. I can't help it-it was the best day of my life. I have never experienced so many raw emotions at the same time.

Your daddy and I are caught wondering often what we did without you and just how we were lucky enough to be blessed with such a beautiful, perfect child. Love for a child is something I never understood until I met you. Cliche, but true.

You are the snuggliest, touchy-feeliest child I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I'm not much like that, so prior to you, I wouldn't have believed I would have enjoyed having such a physical little being in my life. But, I love it. You are still sleeping in our bed and are quite the bedtime bully. We have had to start swaddling your legs again because you flail all around and kick me in the belly! You need touch me or have a blanket near your face for you to even think about falling asleep. You have, however, slept in your crib for the first time (and three times since) this month, so we're making progress on that front. We were beginning to wonder why we even purchased a crib!

We found out the hard way that Huggies definitely do not work for you. They don't fit you right and you blow out of almost every diaper when in them. We'll skip the part where I tell you that I think the problem is your big baby bottom. You're a Pampers girl!

Unforunately, I knew I couldn't keep all of those nasty germs from you forever, and you got sick this month. It was the most awful thing to hear you cough and struggle to breathe through your nose. Thankfully, you got over it fairly quickly with lots of snuggles, Tylenol, and the humidifer turned on.

You have also figured out how to roll over, but you refuse to do it consistently. You'll flip to your side with no problem, but you then proceed to fling yourself back over all dramatic-like and look quite offended. It's amusing. I think you'll be sitting up by yourself before you completely master the whole rolling over charade. Your ab muscles seem to be better than your mama's! You can use them to sit all the way up (and then tumble forward!) if you're laying in a reclined position.

Your ability to grasp things has improved ten-fold. You have mastered grabbing your pacifier and [unfortunately] throwing it on the ground. If we hand you your pacifier, you know where to put it too. We can almost see those little wheels turning, which is so much fun!

I'm glad you won't remember the things your mommy and daddy did in order to hear those beautiful giggles. We know you would be quite embarassed (and probably believe us to be mentally unstable), but we're willing to do anything to hear that laugh! There have been a few occassions where I come home, just burnt out with school and exhausted. Hearing that laugh takes everything away, and I am taken to a whole different wonderful world!

We tenatively started you on cereal and a few vegetables which you have loved. You did not love the banana we let you taste! I wish I had thought to take a picture, because your face was too funny. So funny, in fact, that I kept sticking it near your nose to achieve that horrible look in the process. I expect to see that face quite a bit more in about 13 years.

You still prefer nursing the most. You go to sleep that way and any time we're together, you would just assume be eating. You have discovered that you don't need me to help you either-you can maneuver yourself so that you can get it all on your own. And you make the cutest scrunched up face in the process.

You are up to 16 pounds and are 27 inches long!! You are growing like a weed, and I can't wait to see what sort of flower will bloom. You have changed our lives in an imaginable, blessed way. We love you more than you could ever, ever imagine beautiful girl!

XOXO,

Momma