5 Months Old!

Harlan is now a whole 5 months old! Can you believe it? We can't!

This month was full of milestones for him: his first Halloween, his dedication and his 4-month checkup

We saw Dr. Jackson on Nov. 7 for his well baby visit. Harlan is weighing in at 15 lbs 1 oz and is 26.25 inches long. That makes him 40th percentile in weight and 70th percentile in height. I mean really, did we have any doubt this kid would be tall? He is just getting a head start I guess.

There was a scary moment for me at the visit. Dr. Jackson noticed something that hadn't healed right since birth. He said it is fairly common in boys but if it doesn't correct itself by 12 months Harlan will need surgery. Talk about making my heart stop. I can't even imagine him having to go through a surgery. Once Dr. Jackson saw the terror in my face he reassured me that he sees this a lot and only about 10% of his patients who have this need surgery. That made me feel betters so I'm not going to worry myself about it just yet.

Harlan doesn't love laying on his playmat anymore but his new favorite thing is bouncing in his Jumparoo. Man does he love that. He will go crazy in that thing. And then when you take him out of it, he will continue to jump.

He has also started giggling a bit this month. Especially when we play peek-a-boo. He loves that game!

Sleeping has been interesting lately. Right after his appointment there was about a week when he was getting up 3 times a night to eat. He must have been going through a growth spurt. We are back to sleeping through the night for the most part for now, fingers crossed!

We are still losing hair, still in size 2 diapers and still only eating breast milk. Still no teeth either but he wants to chew on everything, including his toes. That is a pretty impressive trick. He can roll all over the place and if we set him on the floor, he is liable to roll clear across it in a matter of seconds.

I can't wait until next month when we start celebrating the holidays. It is going to be so much better this year now that we have our little man with us!

Dedication

We had the privilege of dedicating Harlan at our church on Sunday, Nov. 4. This was a very special time for me, Ryan and our families. I love the fact that our family started at First Christian Church with our wedding and now we will get to see our children grow up here. We love our church family and couldn't imagine being anywhere else. The ceremony was a symbol of our commitment to dedicate our son to the Lord and raise him in the church.

Harlan wore the Smith Family christening gown. He was the 20th child to wear the nearly 60-year-old gown for a christening/baptism/dedication. My mom was #2, I was #8 and Spencer #10 now Harlan at #20. The gown is beautiful but definitely very fragile. I am pretty sure we added a couple more holes to it. Oops! Ryan also assured Harlan that this was the last time he would ever have to wear a dress.

We were so lucky to have our families there to witness and celebrate with us. We love that Harlan is so LOVED by so many.

Ryan and I are truly blessed to be able to call Harlan our son and thank God everyday for our precious gift.

Harlan's First Halloween

I've never been a big Halloween person but man, it's a whole new world when you have a little one. It is sooooo much more fun to dress them up rather than having to dress up yourself. And it's especially nice when they don't complain about it just yet. 

Four months is a hard age to buy a costume for. Baby costumes come in two sizes: 0-6 months and 6-12 months. And there are a lot more 6-12 month size than the other. Plus he can't walk yet so you kind of need something that doesn't have to be identified only if he is standing up. I started looking online for a costume and all I was seeing was lions and monkeys and dogs. They were all super cute but I wanted something different. Don't know why, call me crazy.

And then I saw it! Harlan's first ever Halloween costume was going to be a Shrimp! And I put him in a pot because I thought that would be cute (and assured he was sitting up for pictures).

Ryan was out of town all last week so I knew Harlan and I weren't going to do a "real" Halloween. Mom and Dad always host a Halloween chili dinner for our extended family during the week so we headed over there for Harlan's costume reveal. Our cousins were there including this adorable "bat" family - Batman, Batgirl and Baby Bat! 

Harlan's uncles are slightly obsessed with their little shrimp

And here is the full costume, tail and all. 

We had lots of fun this year and I look forward to future Halloweens full of more costumes and lots of Trick-o-Treating. I can't even begin to imagine what Harlan is going to want to dress up as.