The "best" is HERE!!

Little man, you are already 5 months! You are such a sweet, sweet boy and I think we all agree that we cannot wait for tax season to be over so we can spend more family time just hanging out! I will say that daddy has been doing a great job at making both you and your sister feel special in the midst of the busyness and he is busting his tail to make sure he sees you both every single day. On one hand I can't wait for the 15th to get here but on the other hand, that will mean you are already 6 months old....

What are you up to this month?

-You are getting to be a pretty content baby. You absolutely LOVE your playmat and will sit and play with your princess and toys on it for a really long time. Your sister likes to steal the princess off it to be tricky... I'm sure in no time you'll be stealing her toys, too. I do like to put your blue ball hanging from one side of the play mat and you sure do like to roll over to it and play with it - the only "boy" thing you can find. Ha! The other day I found you completely turned around on it using your feet to turn the music on and make the birdie chirp - you had the biggest smile on your face you were so very proud of yourself.

-You are definitely a people person. There is nothing you love more than eye contact and you will reward anyone that talks to you with a big old smile and toothless grin. You are quite the charmer and flirt:)

-I have a feeling teeth must be right around the corner because you are a DROOLER! You've always been but it seems its gotten worse in the last few weeks. And the last few days you've been pretty cranky which is unlike you. Oma and Papa were here this week and you were going to town gnawing on her fingers.

-You are still not a very good sleeper. You did make it through the night this month, but only once. Some nights you are up just twice, other nights you are up every 2 hours. I'm hoping this next month is better, especially as we get crazy busy at work and this mama really needs her sleep. At this point, daddy is getting up and going into work super early so he can be home to tuck you kiddos into bed. Mommy takes care of getting you both ready for school and the sitter in the morning before work and then works again after you go to bed until 11 or so. That worked out great before the time change because you would wake up about 11 or so to feed but now you are getting up closer to 12 or 12:30, just in time for mama's head to hit the pillow and drift off to sleep..... gonna have to work on that this month!

-We are still working on naps - you are quite the cat napper though from time to time you will give me a good hour or 2 hour nap.

-You are almost ready for your exersaucer. I have put you in there a few times, but you were a little too short and not quite strong enough to last in there too long.

-You love it when mama stands you up in front of her or in front of the mirror. You think you are such a big boy and get the biggest grin on your face. Mama's favorite part of the day is getting you ready for bed. You love laying on your changing table and you will talk and talk to me and give me the biggest smiles. Its no wonder I have so many picture of you from on that changing table

You are just starting to reach for your feet and very soon I think you will be able to get those little toes in your mouth

Foods - we still aren't quite starting you on solids yet. You seem perfectly happy with mama's milk. Tonight I did give you a taste of my avocado just to see how you would do with it. You seemed a little confused by the whole ordeal at first but soon figured it out...

Well, just enough to have a big green spitup as I was getting you ready for bed - ew!

-Makenna - your sister is really starting to adore you. I've caught her more than once going over to try to play with you and make you smile and it really makes me happy.

She is such a great helper and any time I ask her to grab me a burp rag or put in your nuk, she is happy to help. You took your first tubby with her last night in the big tub and she thought it was pretty cool.

You loved it, too! Her new favorite thing to do is take pictures of me and you with my phone. She is finally learning to take her finger off the lens and actually even got a few good ones this month. Mommy is excited to have pictures of us other than selfies since Daddy isn't so good at taking pictures of us.

Makenna knows that when you are sad or crying that you like it when we sing to you. Lately when we are driving in the car and you start to fuss - she tells me "Mama, we need to sing!" and then she belts out "Nigh Nigh ____" and fills in the blank with every character from the Frozen movie. It actually does work and you usually quiet down pretty quickly.

-Mommy - Your mommy is crazy about you, buddy. People told me that having a mama's boy was going to be something pretty special but I don't think I fully understood it until I held you in my arms for the first time. I love you sooooo much, Alex. You are such a sweet little boy and I just love to see your whole face light up when your mama gets home from work or walks in the room. You have totally stolen my heart, little boy. This month I have started calling you Alex a little more - I guess you are finally starting to grow into your name. I also call you Snooks, buddy, pook-a-choo and blue eyed boy.

-Daddy - Your daddy is really starting to enjoy your little personality and getting you to smile. He gets frustrated when you don't sleep so good at night, but one big smile for him in the morning when he wakes up and he forgives you every time. Daddy likes to call you his buddy-boy. He wears red all the time because he knows it is your favorite color.

This month's pictures were a piece of cake! I made sure to do it first thing in the morning and you were all smiles!

Timber!!!!

Oops - sorry bud!

Last weekend, we had a little last minute girls weekend planned for My mom, sister and I along with Makenna and Madison. Alex had to tag along so I could feed him and Bryce decided to come at the last minute, too. It was a tight squeeze, but we all fit into Grandpa's mini van....

Off to Ikea.... Frozen music blaring away!

We made a pit stop at the outlet malls on the way.... this is how a 7 year old boy entertains himself in the fitting room:)

Notice the window.... mom warned me that "sometimes" dad's window doesn't actually roll back up. Enter Chicago tolls, 70 mph traffic and 20 degree weather.... .brrrr, that was a chilly ride! Thankfully we were only a few minutes away from the Oasis and I was able to pull over and get the window up...

We made it to Ikea only to find the play land that the kids were SO excited to play in and us mama's were SOOOO excited for them to play in was closed. Boo!!!

Plan B.....load the kids into a cart..

Look, baby Alex woke up - he is WAY more fun that shopping!

Love this one!

Gotta strech out those piggies!

This was just after a blow out poop and emergency change in the car on my lap right after I fed him....and right after Oma opened the van door to expose me feeding him to all the others loading up their goods. Oops!