Dear Hadley,
Today you turn five months old. To celebrate the occasion (and the unseasonably sunny weather) I packed up you and your sister and we spent the morning at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn. I had an amazing time walking around admiring the stunning rows of my favorite flowers, basking in the warm sun, and enjoying the company of my precious daughters.

While you have always been a pretty happy and content baby, the fact that you can now entertain yourself with toys has made you even happier and more content. We are able to actual get things accomplished while you stare contently at the faces of your toys or chew happily on whatever unsuspecting toy got within your ever expanding reach, occasionally lifting the item to your mouth and coating it entirely in drool.

Speaking of drool, you are constantly covered in it. I do my best to wipe you off, but before I have even had a chance to set down the cloth I dry you with, I look over at you and you stare back at me with a huge drooly smile. Now how am I suppose to be annoyed about the drool when it makes you so happy? So I almost never get to set down the drool cloth anymore. Not being a fan of drooly, messy, or sticky children (your older sister will surely attest to this) I do my best to keep you looking presentable. Besides, who wants to nibble on a soggy baby? And you know how I love to nibble.

But in the grand scheme of things, I have to admit, the drool is FAR better than the puke. You use to be a projectile vomiting queen, but (and I finally feel safe admitting this) it’s been well over a month (maybe even two!) since you have thrown up. I have never been so happy to have a baby outgrow a phase of life. I think your digestive system finally matured enough that you are now able to keep all the food I feed you down. All the better to fatten you up, if you ask me. How else would you stay in the 97th percentile for height and weight and keep up those adorable rolls on your knees. I didn’t even know babies could have rolls on their knees, but you do. And they are simply irresistible.

While your digestion has improved, I’m sorry to say your sleep habits have not. I was really excited about those long stretches of sleep you teased us with, but those seem like a distant memory now. The last week or so (it’s so hard to judge time when you are sleep deprived) you have been getting up about every two hours. All. Night. Long. It’s not your fault. We’ve all been sick and between not being able to breathe properly and spontaneous coughing fits, you’ve had the hardest time sleeping. Not to mention the teething your pediatrician assures me you are experiencing. I know that can’t be fun. So all in all, you’ve been a hot mess when it comes to sleeping. But thankfully you aren’t up for long when you wake in the night, so I am able to quickly comfort you and feed you, then your Daddy wraps you up and rocks you to sleep. Then your father and I crawl back into our bed, asleep before our head even hits the pillow, knowing that in two hours we get to do it all over again.

In this family, we aren’t very good at just sitting around. We like to get out and enjoy all the lovely things Portland has to offer. One of those thing we did recently was the Shamrock Run and it was your very first race. Sure, you rode in the stroller for most of it, but you were there! The best thing about the Shamrock Run is the amazing energy of the race. Everyone is happy, dressed in silly St. Patrick’s Day attire and they don’t even mind the cold, the rain, or that fact that it was day lights savings time and we lost an hour of sleep. It was a lot of fun and hopefully we will be able to make it a family tradition.

While occasionally having two children can be complicated (like helping a preschooler go to the bathroom in a port-a-potty with a baby strapped to your chest) there are times when having a second child is significantly easier. Ana loves to help me with anything and everything that involves you. She doesn’t even mind throwing away your dirty diapers. But she simply loves entertaining you. Whether that be dancing around the room to elicit your precious giggles, serenading you with a song she made up herself, or reading you her favorite book, Ana is happy to step up. Don’t think you are missing anything by having Ana do these things instead of me. She is a much better performer and you clearly prefer her talents to my own. Just to toss out a few more clichés, you have eyes only for her and she thinks you are the bee’s knees.

The other day us girls were walking through the mall and I casually mentioned (mostly as a warning to Ana who is not a fan of “fluffy” creatures) that the Easter Bunny might be at the mall. Instead of growing suspicious and leery, Ana was very eager to take you to meet the Easter Bunny. We originally planned to just walk up and say hello, but both you girls were very happy to see the giant fluffy animal, so we just had to get the picture as well. As you can see, you clearly don’t have a problem with the Fluffies. Yet.

Of all the fun things we do on a daily basis, my favorite thing is walking into your room first thing in the morning, when you have just started to wake up and are babbling to yourself. I love peering over the top of your crib and in that one moment when our eyes meet, a smile–the most beautiful and pure smile I have ever seen–takes over your face and I know you are happy to see me. Just when I thought my love for you couldn’t get any bigger, I wake up and discover that I love you even more.

All my love,
Mama

P.S. I totally almost forgot to mention that you rolled over this month! On March 17th you rolled over for the very first time. You were clearly less than impressed because you waiting until today to do it again. And that’s just fine with me. I think mobility is totally over rated anyway. Can’t you just stay a baby forever?