Dearest Cora Katherine,

Five wonderful months have come and gone in a blink of an eye. Your days are filled with sweet smiles and Claire cuddles, and goodness it’s hard to remember what life was like before you arrived. You’re the smiliest baby we’ve ever known, and you love to flash your gummy grin at anyone that looks your way. What joy!

Weight: 16 pounds, 3 ounces
Length: Long & lovable!

Eating
It’s hard to believe we’re only a month away from introducing solids. You’ll be ready for sure — you’re already grabbing at food and seem super interested in what Big Sis is eating. In the meantime, nursing is still going really well. You’re starting to spread out your daytime feedings a bit, which is helpful. (You’re also a champ at the bottle, which is awesome.) You’re a curious little bee, though, and tend to get easily distracted. This means that nursing happens best when it’s quiet (or when Claire is distracted, too).

No teeth yet, but you’re chewing on every single thing you can get in your mouth…especially those tiny baby hands. You never took to the pacifier (neither did Claire), so your center two fingers are your favorite soother. Too cute!

Playing
This has been a big month for you, sweet love. You still aren’t rolling, but you’re sure making the moves to (silly arm is still in the way!). In the meantime, though, you’re staying mighty busy in your new walker. Although your toes don’t yet touch the ground, we pile the toys high and you can tolerate about 20 minutes upright.

The rest of your playtime is spent on the activity mat, which you still seem to adore. This is where we give you your beloved “nakey time” each day. Baby bliss!

Sleeping
Girlfriend, you love to keep Mommy and Daddy on our toes. We never know what kind of night we’re going to have! You typically go down around 6:30 p.m. (still swaddled and with white noise) and will wake up once during the night…and again around 5 a.m. The 5 o’clock wake is timely, since that’s when we get up for the day. But the mystery middle-of-the-night wake-up isn’t our favorite. Thankfully you’re quick to eat and then back to sleep…so we don’t mind it much. (Plus, we’ve certainly learned how quickly these baby days pass.) But it will be nice to get back our regular, solid-sleeping stage soon.

During the day you nap once in the morning around 9:30 (this lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours — ha!) and then a couple of times in the afternoon (usually 30- to 45-minute spurts).

Your first Valentine’s Day!

Your big sister…
is still simply smitten with you. She loves to hug you, kiss you, sing to you, talk to you, dress you, tickle you, (irritate you), and cover you with love. She proudly introduces you to friends and strangers…and is always eager to make you happy. The feeling seems mutual, as you grin from ear to ear when you spot Claire Bear in the mornings. Mommy and Daddy can’t wait to watch you two grow up together — a precious friendship is already in the works.

These next few weeks will be filled with new milestones (rolling! solid food! teeth?!) and lots of fun. Thank you for bringing us so much joy, Cora! You make our family complete.

Loads of love,
Mommy & Daddy