Five months

I have a five month old. Or, rather, we have a five month old. It is now a habit: at every month-versary, Jon gives me a smile and a high five. We have made it through another month. We have survived. What's more, we have learned and grown together. So while are still in the trenches, while we are still sleep deprived, there are plenty of reasons to celebrate. Our boy is healthy, and that's a big deal. We prayed every day of my pregnancy for our baby to be healthy and strong. He is definitely both of those. His Kung-foo grip is what most inspired my drastic hair cut. I lopped fourteen inches of hair off and donated it. No big deal.
If I had had more foresight, I would have also prayed more fervently for a calm baby who enjoyed sleep. I guess you can't always know what to pray for beforehand. Little did I know that our little guy would rarely nap, would stay up until 11 at night, and then would be ready to party by 6am. Oh, and he sometimes wakes up at 4am full of stories to share, so excited about things that we can't understand which he nevertheless attempts to relate to us in squeals and exaggerated arm gestures.
In those ridiculous hours of the "morning" I try to sing and rock him back to sleep after feeding him, but no, sleep is for suckers, he says. So then Jon will take a turn. It used to be that he would walk Henry around the house, but that has become too boring and routine. So these days, Jon straps Henry on in the Ergo carrier and walks him around the neighborhood for twenty minutes, and then we'll get to sleep again until 6:30 or 7. If I am super lucky, he might take a nap around 1 or 2 in the afternoon, but that is usually on while he is snuggled up with me. If I so much as get up to use the bathroom, he wakes up and is good to go the rest of the day. So while I always planned on taking friends' advice by napping when my baby does, what do you do if he doesn't?
It is not at 4 in the morning, but at 4 in the afternoon when I really wonder what keeps my kid going. At 4am we just go through whatever it takes to get him to sleep. But it is the next afternoon when my lack of uninterrupted sleep hits me, and it is then that I marvel at he does it, how we all get through it.
So, each month that goes by we celebrate this wonderful little person that was entrusted to our care. We constantly celebrate his milestones, his emerging personality, his quirks, and his sweet habits. And every month we also take a moment to acknowledge that this is real work, that we have all been changed and that we are continuing to change, and that we have all made it through another month. Yay us!
So here's to another month with our operatic-singing, nearly-crawling, smiley, loud, energetic, bathtime-loving, curious, and cuddly boy. We love you so much.