Dear Griffin: 5 Months

Dear Griffin,

You are five months old and let me tell you this: these five months have been nothing short of phenomenal and that is because of you. Everything you do is beautiful and fun and I absolutely love every ounce of you. You are the kind of baby that every mother-to-be hopes for. Just perfectly amazing. I cannot believe that the next time I write you a letter you will be six months old. I refuse to believe we are almost halfway through your first year of life.

You have had a wonderful month, little Grif. We had some fun adventures, a couple of road trips, you hit some huge milestones, you definitely grew some more, and I can tell you are already absorbing tons of new things everyday.

My favorite thing that happened to you this month was on April 15. That was the day you were baptized and you spent the entire day surrounded by your friends and family. You wore the same little outfit that Clark wore two years ago and were baptized by my best friend's husband, Nate Bonham. Everything about the service was so very special. After church, everyone came to our house to eat and continue celebrating for you and it was such a wonderful time that I will never forget. You make so many people happy, Griffin Rice. 

We've been really busy for the past month. A couple of weeks ago, me, you and Clark drove to Hattiesburg to see Geez and Gam and you got to hang out with your cousin Leland and Aunt Hannah. And at not even five months old, Geez took you for a long ride on the four wheeler. He said you enjoyed it and that does not surprise me one bit. You and Leland got to hang out on your tummies together and even though that might not seem cool to you, it was ridiculously cute and I took about 50 pictures of it. 

Also this month you went on your first boat ride on the reservoir. You laughed the entire time. I loved seeing you squint in the sun and open your mouth like you were trying to eat the wind. We stayed on the water for about four hours and I didn't hear one peep come out of you mouth unless it was pure laughter. I repeat: You, my friend, are awesome in every way.

And last week, we loaded up the car and made the five hour road trip to Florida so we could hang out with Nikki and her boys for a few days. Again, you were so awesome the entire time. You are so laid back and are perfectly happy just lying on the floor kicking your feet. Having said that, you are not so laid back on the beach. I was hoping you would sit in your bouncer and snooze while I laid on the beach and got a beautiful tan, but none of that happened. Neither you or your brother are fans of sand or ocean, so I spent the entire time on the beach with you or Clark or both of y'all on my lap, and that made for awkward tan lines. But that's ok. I'll give you a pass this time. But I'm going to go ahead and give you a warning: in September, we are going back to Florida, and by then you better enjoy the sand because that is where you are going to be while I'm getting some sunshine on my snow white skin.

Grif, you are getting so big! At four and a half months, you weighed 17 pounds and were 26 inches tall (I think), and you have a huge head, according to the doctor. You are pretty much wearing only 6-9 month clothes and size 3 (sometimes 4) diapers. I came to the realization recently that you are now a "hip baby." I can just throw you on my hip and I don't have to worry about you slinging around all over the place. You are a sturdy little thing and not quite so wobbly anymore. You love to stand up and perform for a crowd. We have a little dance routine that I do with you and you LOVE it. It makes you squeal so hard every single time. You also enjoy holding on to your toes and swinging them around, which, in my opinion, is one of the cutest things a baby can do. You love chewing on toys, talking to anything or anyone you make eye contact with and making the sweetest little baby sounds. You have a huge personality for such a little boy. You have wonderfully animated reactions to being tickled, or peek-a-boo'd and when we blow raspberries on your belly. The first thing you do when you get excited or happy is stuff both of your fists in your mouth and let out a little squeal. And when I'm holding you and say "Hey Grif!" you bury your head in my shoulder and laugh. You also recently started eating oatmeal and smashed up bananas. I don't get the feeling we are going to have trouble in the eating department with you. You are a complete natural. I love watching you eat and make a beautiful mess. You attack the spoon and it makes my heart happy that you love food. Maybe Clark can learn a thing or two from you. Oh, and here is a fun fact that you are going to love reading about in 15 years: you poop, on average, once every five or six days. I have a feeling that's not good.

You already have a few little quirks that make me so happy. At night, you pull your blanket completely over your face while you sleep. At first it totally freaked me out. I would see you on the video monitor and rush in your room and pull the blanket down only to find it back on your face by the time I got back to my room. And when you wake up in the morning and I turn the light on, it never fails that you are going to greet me with a huge smile smile and then sneeze three times. There's something about morning light that makes you sneeze. I hope that doesn't end any time soon. Your favorite possession right now is your Johnny Jump Up. You bounce hard like you are on a mission. But when you are ready to get out, you don't realize that you need to stop jumping and you just cry as you jump until I come get you out. I think you've already put about 20 miles on that thing. You have a special bedtime blanket and a special car seat blanket. Your bedtime blanket was handmade by Yaya, your great grandmother, and you like to stick your little fingers and toes in it while you sleep. I've tried giving you the car seat blanket at bedtime and you made it clear that was not ok. Those are just a few of the little quirks I've picked up on. All of those things are dadgum cute, my friend, and I don't want you to ever change. Ever.

You and Clark have really come to be good buds this past month and I am absolutely loving watching the two of you interact. Clark loves to make you laugh and he definitely knows how to. He stands directly in front of your face and does this odd sounding fake laugh thing and you respond every time by smiling and then that turns into a whole body shaking laughter. You like to watch him and all his craziness, especially in the car. He's really smitten with you too. He always wants to know where you are, what you are doing, why you are crying, or when you are going to wake up. He loves saying, "Hey Grif!" even when you are not in the room. You don't seem to hold any grudges when he accidentally on purpose hits you or squeezes you. You usually react to his little antics with a quick cry that immediately turns into a smile. I'm really hoping you two can be friends and brothers. So far we are on the right track. I love watching y'all interact and I'm really looking forward to watching you two grow up together. 

You are a somewhat decent sleeper but I'm in no position to brag on your behalf. For some reason, you are not super consistent with your sleep habits. You might go five nights sleeping through the entire night and not making even one peep. But then the following two nights you might wake up two or three or 97 times. What's the deal, kiddo? I'm sure a lot of it is my fault. You rarely take good, solid naps because we are always on the go. You have learned to sleep in your car seat pretty good, and for that I am grateful. It would make me so happy for you to sleep all night long every night. But let me tell you a little story from a couple of nights ago. 

I put you down for bed one night and for some reason you had a hard time falling asleep. You were rolling around and fussy and couldn't seem to get comfortable. So I picked you up and snuggled up with you in your rocking chair and let you fall asleep in my arms. I closed my eyes and started thinking about you as an adult with a wife and children. That led me to think about your wife and pray for her. I wonder if she is even born yet? I prayed that God would prepare her even now to be loving and faithful to you, to support you in everything you do, to raise Godly children with you, to be funny and to laugh at you. I prayed that you would be a Godly husband to her and love her as much as your dad loves me. And then I opened my eyes and looked at you sucking on your pacifier and smiled. You are just a baby. You can't even sit up yet. But you are only going to be a baby for a tiny, tiny part of your life and I want to savor every single milisecond of you right now. I know you are going to be an amazing husband and father one day because you have some darn good role models. But for now, you are my five month old son who laughs at me when I hide behind your feet and play peek a boo. You are my five month old son who sneezes first thing every morning. You are our little baby Grif who everybody loves and we are excited to watch you turn six months old.

May we please get some good sleep by then? Thanks.

Love,
Mom