5 months old!

We have been so blessed the past 3 nights with a baby boy that sleeps almost 11 1/2 hours, waking up around 8:30. We've been really consistent about his naps the past 2 weeks and are trying to maintain a schedule while I'm teaching lessons. However, he does great for his morning nap but doesn't particularly like his afternoon nap. Most of the time he goes down willingly, but the past 2 days has been a challenge. We've been experimenting with his rice cereal because we have found that giving it to him before bed results in night wake ups because of his tummy. So I moved it to lunch time, but he still struggles with an upset tummy. We're not for sure what to do about it because he seems to like eating it. I think I'm going to have to call the pediatrician to see if she can recommend something for me to try. I'm not feeding him baby food for another month, so I'm hoping she can recommend another type of food that is gentler on the stomach. Or maybe this is how all babies react to it. I'm not for sure! He's doing great with eating, though. He's sitting up by himself in the Bumbo and is opening his mouth when the spoon comes close to his mouth. Then he gives you a goofy grin and tries to grab the spoon with his hands. Raun is much cleaner at feeding him than I am. He's going to have to teach me his techniques. He requires a bath every time I feed him because he grabs his bib and puts it in his hair or gets his hand on the spoon, etc.

Blake is going to be dedicated on January 18. This is simply saying that Raun and I will do our best to raise Blake in the way the Lord desires. We don't want him to just know ABOUT God, we want him to KNOW God and to have a personal and deep relationship with Him. We want him to follow Christ and to lead others to Christ. I know that Raun and I will mess up plenty of times as parents, but we are making a public statement asking the church to pray for us, to guide us through his life, and for them to show Blake the importance of Christ. I'm very thankful that we have so much support and that those older and wiser are teaching us, just as Christ calls for. I hope that we continue to adhere to their wisdom and to God's. I just don't like having to learn things the hard way!

I'm beginning to teach my Kindermusik classes next week. I'm teaching the Baby Sign and Sing. I feel that sign language is very important for language development and helps to ease so much of the frustration because of the lack of language. I've already been signing a lot to Blake...pretty much everything I say during play time. I want him to be used to seeing sign, as well as hearing my voice. This class will have about 5 parents with their children all doing sign and playing. I can't wait! It's going to be so much fun to watch these babies learn to sign back so early.

That's it for now...got a crying baby that just woke up from his nap!