Dear Livia,

The theme of your fifth month of life seems to be growth. You are growing, in both height and weight, faster than I imagined you would. Grandma L. and I spent some time sifting through racks of fall clothes last week, hoping to find outfits long enough to rid you of that “highwater-pants” look you’ve currently got going on. At five months you’ve finally moved out of your itty-bitty 0-3 month clothes—they still fit around your tummy, though! But not for long… Today you ate a record-breaking 10 ounces at one feeding. Ten ounces? No wonder you didn’t move much after that; your stuffed tummy weighed you down!

A few days ago, cheered on by your daddy, you finally rolled from your stomach to your back. You pushed hard on your arms, leaned your head to one side, gave a push with one leg and voila! A roll! By our reactions one would think we’ve never seen anything ever roll over—we were so excited. In the past few days you’ve been babbling quite a bit and today I heard you say two consonants in a row—quite impressive language development if I do say so myself.

You and I are getting into a home routine now. You wake up around 7:20am and talk loudly until we come to get you. I’ve learned that once you’ve been picked up, you do not appreciate being put back down until you’ve eaten. You eat four more meals later and call it a day around 10:00pm. I’m learning how to be more organized and more intentional in my actions because of you. Woe is me if we go out with a diaper bag that weighs less than 10 lb.—we could be missing something essential! And bathtime! Oh, baths require critical planning. Baby tub, baby soap, baby lotion, baby towel and washcloth, baby comb, fresh diaper and fresh outfit. Fortunately, you enjoy the whole bathing process as long as I sing and pretend to have great fun with exaggerated happy smiles on my face.

All this to say that we love you in a way that we’ve never loved anything before. You are endlessly fascinating to us. We praise God for you!

Much love,
Mama