Shawn is 5 months old!!

I know I am a little late in posting this as his 5-month birthday was December 28th. But there have been so many things to write about that I am running a few days behind.

We didn't have a Doctor's appointment this month--YEAH! No shots!! :) But it also means that I am going to have to estimate his height and weight. Here are my measurements:

Height: 24.5 inches

Weight: 17.5 lbs

He is so much fun these days!! I am falling more in love with him as each day passes. Here is a quick run down of what he is able to do.

- He is eating cereal everyday, and he loves it. He makes this hilarious "Mmmm" sound as he eats--it is SO cute. We are looking at what to feed him next, but I am leaning towards Avacado for his first real solid food (thanks Sue Ann for the great idea!). I am going to try to make all of his baby food from scratch. I'll let you know how it goes!

- Along with the food, he is also trying to put EVERYTHING in his mouth. He will grab a hold of something and immediately open his mouth and lean forward. The funniest things so far have been: the kittie's tail and foot (two separate occasions), the kittie's face--he actually pulled one of Mia's whiskers out (OUCH!), the grocery bag recycling bin in our kitchen, everyone's finger that holds him, Lori's entire chair at Home Church (it kept Shelley laughing!),

- I have been teaching him some basic sign language. We are starting with the basics: food, more, finished. I am looking to add some signs as we go. If anyone has any ideas please let me know!

- He is really mastering the art of rolling over. It keeps him entertained for at least several minutes! :)

- He has also mastered pulling out his pacifier and putting it back in. There is a great video of him leaning down to the table and picking up his pacifier with his mouth (and then everyone in the room roaring with laughter). I will try to post it this week along with some other videos.

- He is sleeping through the night again. He had about two weeks of sleeping through the night in mid-October (around 10 weeks old) and then he reverted to 1 feeding midway through the night. But he is back on track and usually sleeps from 7:30pm to 5:30am, then feeds and goes back to sleep until 9:30am. Yes, that is 14 hours of sleep. YEAH!!

- He is adjusting to the idea of 2 midday naps. He usually puts himself to sleep very well, but occasionally needs a little more Mommy snuggle time before he is convinced to go to sleep.

- He is still very alert and loves to look at new things. He is inventing ways of looking at things not in his direct line of sight, ie. leaning his head completely backwards to view something behind him. Needless to say, I have to hold onto him very tightly.

- I think he is very close to crawling as he is starting to inch towards things. We are going to "Baby Proof" the house this weekend when we take down all of the Christmas decorations.

- We have been thinking that a tooth was imminent for several weeks now, but none have popped through. Trust me, there will be pictures posted of his first pearly white tooth!

That is all for now. Here are a few from his 5 month photo shoot.

In honor of all the snow we've had, we took some of Shawn in his warm hat and mittens.

Shawn with his cupcake.

Another of Shawn with his cupcake.

Shawn trying to get at his cupcake--don't worry, the picture makes him look closer than he actually was. (It is going to get increasingly more difficult to take this picture without letting him get the cupcake. We're saving that for his 1-year-old photo shoot.)

Shawn with his Aunty Chanty before she left for Austin.

Here are some with Uncle Jeremy (Kristen's younger brother). Shawn spent the first week just looking very intently at Jeremy. By the end of Jeremy's time here, they were great buds! With Uncle Jeremy, before he flew back to Austin.

Wearing Uncle Jeremy's hat.

Future Longhorn!!!