5.5

Liam is almost 5 and a half months old. Here is a photo of me when I had a 5 and a half month old fetus inside me.
How different my life is 5 months after birth compared to 5 months into pregnancy! When I was 5 months pregnant, I really started getting a complex of how big I was getting, I was growing SO fast! And at that time I really started feeling Liam's first movements. It was so surreal to have this person inside me... and here we are today, it's a new experience just like it was then... only he's not as portable now. It amazes me how babies grow so fast... from the moment they are conceived and then from the moment they take their first breath! Why such a concentrated amount of time that we have with these fetuses and infants? It just goes to show why people have big families... they get baby hungry... it's nature's way of making more people. I understand that concept, I do. I also understand why it's so important for us to be home with our babies. When we only have this small window of time to witness this monumental growth, why be separated from the miracle? It's really only right that we value every moment with our babies.

I am so blessed to have a fairly flexable schedule so I can be close to Liam all but 5 hours of the day. There are even nights I crave his closeness and hope he'll wake up for a feeding or a cuddle before I go to sleep. I remember before I went back to work, I would put him in bed with me and savor the serene picture of his sleeping face right next to me. Oh it couldn't be true that he was mine! And still today, Ian and I marvel at how blessed we are to have such a good natured and good looking boy in our care! He is growing so quickly, and witnessing the fast-paced growth brings me joy and also a little melancholy of the days not long ago when he was just a little smaller, a little more wobbley and a little more helpless.

That coy look he gives his dad, that cute new laugh, those chubby legs that kick kick kick, his suck reflex if you get anywhere near his mouth, the blank stare when he's tired, the suck suck suck on that pacifier, the slick way he removes the pacifier, the way he dives into nursing, the way he reaches to touch my face while nursing, the excited look on his face when he sees a toy, the satisifed look on his face when we help him stand up, the joyful squeals he emits when placed on his belly to play, the non-stop cry when he won't open his eyes to face the day in the morning, the way he never fails to sneeze after the first bite of cereal, the way he spits and coos, the way he lays his sweet head to sleep when his cheek is touched by the soft blanket, the sweet surprise that he is awake in his crib when I thought he was asleep (with his head held high in the air) and the way he talks loudly to me while I get ready for work. All things I shall freeze in time of when Liam was 5 and a half months old.