dear luca

Luca Jack,

Five months old today - how can it be?  I feel like I just sat down to write you at four months, and yet you have discovered new things since then and you have grown even more.  You tip the scales at a whopping 16 pounds, officially doubling your birth weight (34th percentile) and you are 25.25 inches tall (21st percentile).  You're my smallest baby and so delightfully chubby and dimpled, I can hardly help but eat you up.

You light the world up when someone smothers you with smooches, and you have the best laugh.  You love to be lifted in the air and bounced around - I'm slightly worried that the giggles that come from gentle tosses will transform into laughter elicited from jumps off of things in the near future.

I love the way you like to snuggle in close, and the way that you can't resist sleep as I trace the outline of your face--just like your sisters.  I love the way you wrap your chubby little arms around my face when I lean in next to you.  I also love the way you wake up smiling - everyone should wake up that way.

You are grabbings things fairly well now.  If it touches you, you can get it; if it's in front of you, it takes a minute to get the message to your little fingers, but you can usually do it.  It won't be long before we are putting things up and out of reach before little things find their way into your mouth.

Sleep is as predictable as the weather.  It's a gamble each night, and I'm looking forward to being more consistent with that.  Some nights, you sleep all the way through the night and others you wake up more than you did as a newborn.

I used to carry you around the house as I did things and you were along for the ride but just content to be touching me.  Now, you still need to be carried but you are very curious about the things that I am doing.

You are close to sitting!  A little more work on the core muscles for you to sit up straight, and you will be able to sit longer than a few seconds.  You can't get your arm out of the way to roll back to tummy, but you try so hard.  Keeping things honest - you don't spend much time on the floor to practice.  You can spin full circles if you are on your back and I know the days that you are mobile are right around the corner.

Your daddy gets the most laughs, so I expect "mama" to be your first word.  I get the most snuggles, which I'll happily take.  There's something so special about being your comfort - I am thankful for that role and hope I will fulfill it for your entire life.

You are learning new sounds, some cute, some extremely loud and not telephone conversation friendly.  Or any conversation really.  Most of the time, you sound like the most precious owl I have ever heard - "Whooo. Ohhhh. Whooooo."

Precious boy, I cannot believe you are mine.  You are the best addition to our family and we love you so much, I cannot possibly begin to put it into words.

Love you to the moon, lovebug.

XOXO,

Mama