James is FIVE months old

Good gosh man! A lot happens in five months with an adorable yittle munchkin! :) James is officially five months and a day old, and just the cutest, most adorable thing ever.

I have a confession to make - the first few weeks were really tough and I was a little emotional one night (imagine)... and I remember laying in bed talking to Jimmy after a 2am feeding or scream fest - I can't remember which one - but I remember talking to Jimmy and getting very upset and telling him, "This isn't what I thought it was going to be like."

Well, THIS, my friends is what I thought it would be like....

James is laughing, talking, rolling, just hammin' it up and I'm loving it up. I remember posting about "The good, the bad and the ugly" of a newborn... Well now I'd like to post about "the good, the bad and the funny" of a 5 month old, because come on, there ain't nothing ugly about a 5 month old! :)

THE GOOD:
*Sleeping through the night. In fact this morning I decided to just let him go (I've been waking the little guy up at 7:30 a.m.) and he woke up at 8:10 a.m. Amazeballs.
*Laughing a lot. I think James and I are going to get along very well. He apparently thinks my corny jokes, faces, etc are funny, which just makes my day.
*Turning into a person. He has started figuring out he has hands... So he'll reach out and grab my nose, or my lips and he starts dying laughing when I respond. He is going to have quite the little personality.
*Cradle cap is gonnnne! Thank you Selson Blue and little brush-a-roo....
*Babywise is paying off - little boy has learned how to put himself to sleep! He goes down for almost all of his naps immediately without any fussing and wide awake. At first it was a pain in the you know what, but now I see why everyone says it is totally worth it. He has learned to sleep, so he is well rested, so he is happy, so mommy is happy. Win, win for the whole team! :)

THE BAD:
*Spitting up all the time... Still. Ugh. But maybe, just maybe, when we start solids next month it will help? Fingers crossed.
*Nursing is getting tough. I thought I'd put this under "the funny" but let's be honest - it's just annoying (except for when he just wants to unlatch and stare and laugh at me, then it's okay :). So James is a pretty big "nosse-piece" in the words of my friend Emily Apple's mom... He'll be latched on, nursing good and he'll hear Sadie, or Jimmy, or the phone, or the wind for goodness sake and his head immediately turns to check it out. Then it takes a good five minutes or so to get him back on. Ughhhh... Quite annoying.

THE FUNNY:
*Little man is a rolling pin! I put him on his little "gymnasium" I don't really know what to officially call it, but the little thing that they have toys hanging down from.... Well, can't really do that much longer. He rolls off of it in 10 seconds flat. Although the last couple of days he has forgotten how to roll over form his tummy to his back again....
*James squawks like a bird (all. the. time). Every time I'm on the phone with someone they ask, "What is that noise?" Yeah... That's James squawking like a bird. It's like his way of communicating when he'd like some more attention. I'm afraid he's going to be loud like his mom, instead of quiet and charming like his daddy...
*This is more of "sweet" than funny - but he has turned in to the biggest thumb sucker. And, although this is totally politically incorrect to say, but he loves his thumb like a smoker loves a cigarette. He'll be latched on, nursing, and then he'll pop off, roll his head to the side, take a couple sucks on the ol' thumb, then roll his head back over to me, and start nursing again. It is quite funny...

WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO LATELY:

For heaven's sake don't look at me in this picture, but I think it is hilarious of James... This was the morning of his first USC Gameday.

I haven't figured out how to flip pics in blogger, so tilt your head to the right :) - Pic of James and Daddy on Gameday 2011

Every baby needs a nakie shot:

James, taking bets for USC:

Jimmy loved introducing James to Marcus Lattimore:

He's doing great sans-swaddle.... Hands are typically behind the head like he is laying out in the sun... Hard to see in this pic, but it's all I got!

He has started making this adorable pouty face.. This isn't really it, but, again, it is all I got!

Grandpa & Grandma came to visit last weekend:

Doesn't he look like a little boy??

Holding his head up, good and strong!

Me & my babies :) (James has started getting a BIG kick out of Sadie now...)

Hahaha... thumb-sucker addict

Yesterday we said, "Peace out swaddle!" (Although we quit swaddling his arms, we were still swaddling his legs.) This was right when James was waking up from a nap, pulling his thumb out of his mouth. So sweet :)

FIVE MONTH PHOTO SHOOT (we had bit of "a day" yesterday, so his "shoot" was done in his PJ's right before bed :):