Eden is 5 months old!

I have been having computer problems off and on for a few months now, and so I have quite a bit of catching up to do on our family's happenings this past month. Since Brynn was born, I had made a goal to do a monthly photo shoot of each of my kids during their first year of life, and time just got away from me this time. So sorry, Eden! I feel really guilty, but I at least want to document what she is up to at 5 months (since she will be 6 months old in just a couple of weeks).

Eden, you are now doing the army crawl like a real pro. I am quickly remembering how hard it is to get anything done with a child your age in the house. Much of my day is spent redirecting you away from the tile and back onto the carpet. I have also had to rescue you several times from under the couch. We are back to the "no food or drinks outside the kitchen" rule, because you are putting everything in your mouth now.

We finally have you on a bit of a schedule, that includes two long naps a day, rice cereal or oatmeal once a day (we also thicken your bottles with rice cereal as per the GI's recommendation), and a bottle every 3-4 hours during the day.

You have really started to develop quite a personality. You are an all-or-nothing baby. You are either very happy and content or ticked off at the world, and you have a unique ability to switch back and forth between the two on a moment's notice. (OK, maybe that's not such a unique ability in this family). One of my favorite things about you is your smile. I will catch your eye frequently throughout the day, and you will often smile so big that the smile takes over your little body and it makes you shake and squirm a bit. You have to take a moment to regain your balance. Its so cute!

Surprisingly you have taken well to eating baby food. Unlike your brother and sister, your first experience eating baby food from a spoon was a good one. You happily ate quite a bit your very first time.

Church has gotten tricky, since you rarely fall asleep in my arms. The good part of that is that you fall asleep much better in your crib. You have officially made the transition to sleeping in your bed full time for both naps and nighttime.

You are definitely still an early bird, but you continue to wake up happy and chatty most mornings. You still want to be up for the day at 3 am, but we have been working on getting you back to bed after that. We are usually successful, even if it takes a couple of hours. That is usually the only time you are up during the night.

You continue to bring so much joy to our family. Your sister is still as smitten with you as ever. In fact, she has to constantly be reminded not to pick you up and to play with you gently, because she gets so excited to be around you. You brother has started taking more of an interest in you. They both like to sing to you and make you smile. Your dad comments at least once a day about how cute you are, or how cute something you did was. He's such a proud dad! And, of course, you are such a huge source of happiness in my life. Even on the most difficult days, one little smile from you makes it all worth it. I love seeing you learn and grow. It's interesting that I have gone through the baby experiences twice already, and yet it is just as fun and amazing to me as it was the first time. I love you, Eden!