five months.

Time isn't slowing down, folks. Brooks is five months old today! It blows my mind that next month he will be 1/2 a year old. WOW. WOW. WOW.

Month five was so much fun! We had a lot of firsts and new discoveries this month and have enjoyed watching our little one grow. 

Brooks chews on books now instead of just looks at them. Baby's Very First Touchy-Feely Animals Book remains his favorite. There is something about the "fluffy duck" and "shiny fish" that get those feet a kickin'. 

He also loves when mommy sings to him (but, hey, who doesn't?!). Sometimes he just stares at my mouth, other times he smiles or laughs. Either way, he is intrigued (again, who wouldn't be?!).  I hope John doesn't read this.

Other ways we get a good laugh out of Mr. Giggle-box is to tickle him. We discovered that his neck and thighs are the most ticklish. He also laughs when mommy creeps up to him when daddy is holding him and when we play "peek-a-boo." 

Some dates that I want to remember:

On April 15th, Brooks had his 2nd round of immunizations at his well check-up. He did great and didn't run a fever this go around. In fact, he was all smiles the rest of the afternoon. He went for his first run in the BOB later that day! It was fun for Brooks, but not so fun for mama. Ouchie.

On the 17th, little JB grabbed and held a full heavy bottle for the first time. He did it at his next feeding too! Now, he only chooses to shove it into his mouth and hold it when he is reeeeaallly hungry and it is the cutest thing. John thinks it's funny to toy with him at night just to see his reaction...I think he's plain old mean. Poor buddy. Let the little man eat!

And speaking of feedings, we noticed a great change in his eating habits this month. Brooks went from aggressively downing about 7 ounces at his 7:00 a.m. feeding to only wanting about 5 ounces. He is not eating as much throughout the day either. There are times we have to force 6 ounces down. He is turning into quite a lazy and messy eater, spilling milk or spitting it right back out when we try to burp him. I finally picked up on his queues that he is finished—he starts talking and singing or plays with the nipple. Queues that he isn't finished? He will throw a huge tantrum when I try to burp him and stares down the bottle until we pop it back in his mouth. So, pretty much mid-bottle-burps are nonexistent these days. He seems to do better with spitting up during a feed too if we wait until he is done with the bottle to burp him.

Let's talk about those chunky little legs and piggies. Brooks hasn't discovered his feet just yet, but he did pick up an odd habit of lifting both legs at the same time and slamming them down. I'm talking, I can hear it coming from the nursery during nap time slams. Boom. Boom. Boom. Thankfully, this was short lived. Now he just rubs his feet together like his daddy. I wish that this quirky habit would pass, as well, because he is actually rubbing his feet and toes raw and scratching the backs of his legs. He looks like a mini Edward Scissorhands. I have to clip his fingernails and toenails every other day. They grow SO fast and are doing some major damage.

And while we are on the topic of rubbing and self-soothing, Brooks rubs his eyes with the back of his hands when falling asleep at night. He takes a Wubbanub in his hand and goes to town. It is so sweet watching him fade out into dreamland. It will happen quickly if and only if he keeps his hands busy with the wub and doesn't pull out his paci. If his paci is out, he is not. Once asleep, it doesn't phase him if it falls out, but if he wakes up—that means mama is up and heading to the nursery in the middle of the night to pop it back in. And I feel like we have had a lot of those nights lately.

Brooks is still sleeping throughout the night, but we had some really bad nights this month—both due to travel, I believe. Let's just say, we relived the newborn days several times this month and it was no fun. Curve ball! Gotta love babies.

On April 27th, our beach baby put his toes in the sand and ocean for the first time.

April 30th was a big day in the Bryant household—our wiggle worm rolled over from his back to his belly! I walked into the kitchen to refill my water and came back to find him on his tummy! He also napped on his side for the first time that day. Then on May 2nd he started traveling by way of back to tummy, tummy to back, and so on. Now we can't get him to stop rolling all over the place! He is so obsessed with this new trick, he tends to do it during nap/sleep time. On May 5th, he rolled onto his tummy while sleeping. However, we still have a back-sleeper...as long as he is super tired when we lay him down. HA.

Some other random fun facts: Brooks' cheeks are always rosy red and I could just kiss them all day. His right cheek is more flushed than the left. We might have a lot of bad hair days in the future, as we discovered our blondie has a double crown. It's safe to say he will be able to rock a killer mow hawk. Yeah, in his dreams. Not while he is living under our roof.

Brooks started doing this fake cough/cackle this month and it is really funny. He also picked back up the "squeal" as his favorite form of communication. He gets the biggest kick out of that voice of his. There are a lot of goos and ga-gas. He also says, "hey" a lot and rolls his tongue.

As far as clothing goes, size 3-6 month clothes are pretty much out of the question these days. Brooks fits best in true 6 month, 6-9 month, and some 6-12 month outfits. I think that this is pretty normal, though. We haven't had to adjust the snaps on his cloth diapers and he is wearing size 2 in disposables.

I know I am biased, but Brooks is the cutest, sweetest, most loving baby boy on the face of the earth. I LOVE LOVE LOVE spending my days with him. Thank you, Lord, for choosing me to be his mommy! He is such a joy.

We are so blessed by you, Brooksie. We love you too much! Happy FIVE MONTHS, baby!

Side note: This will be my last shoot without a helper, a.k.a. daddy. When I put Brooks on his tummy, he rolled over to his back. When I put him on his back, he rolled over onto his belly. Also, he looks like Jabba the Hutt in the chair pictures because every time I sat him up straight he tried to nosedive off of the chair. And so it begins.