Samantha is 5 months old today!

I thought about saying something like "where have the past 5 months gone?", but I know exactly where they went. They're in the world of very little restful sleep, lots of diapers, spit up and poop, crying/screaming marathons that seem to last forever, and some of the most amazing moments of our lives. I wouldn't take away these 5 months for anything, but I would seriously question my sanity if I wanted to rewind them and live it all over again!
While we were in Oak Lawn visiting my family this weekend there was a night when everyone was outside and Sammy was sleeping in her pack-n-play downstairs. We had the video baby monitor on (I very highly recommend one!), so it's not like she was being neglected or anything. At one point I had to unplug the monitor to bring it with me to another area in the yard. As soon as I unplugged it Chris poked fun at me and my (probably) unnecessary need to watch her while she's sleeping saying,
"What if she stops breathing while you have the monitor unplugged?!"
I just looked at him, shrugged, and said
"It's been a good 5 months..."
Okay, okay, don't go calling CPS on me! I was kidding! In all honesty though, it has been a great 5 months. Not every moment has been enjoyable or easy, but the good times outweigh the extremely difficult ones. I'm definitely looking forward to the next 5 months, and the next 5 years after that, and on and on and on...

So much has happened since Samantha was born. In the past 5 months she has: found her voice, held her head up, rolled over, smiled, laughed, eaten avocadoes & bananas, figured out how to hold toys, been on numerous 6 hour car rides, eaten lots of dog hair (I'm sure, though not intentionally), learned to enjoy a bath, peed in her bath, had countless diaper blowouts (one which required the carseat to be laundered and sanatized, yuck!), grown out of her newborn clothes, gone swimming (twice), tasted ice cream (she can thank her dad for that one!), been covered in paint for her Father's Day gifts, slept through the night (not consistently, and not anymore), slept in her crib occasionally, and changed life as we knew it completely.

Humans are the only animals that have children on purpose with the exception of guppies, who like to eat theirs.
~P.J. O'Rourke

In spite of the six thousand manuals on child raising in the bookstores, child raising is still a dark continent and no one really knows anything. You just need a lot of love and luck - and, of course, courage.
~Bill Cosby

Most of us become parents long before we have stopped being children.
~Mignon McLaughlin

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.
~Charles R. Swindoll

Insanity is hereditary - you get it from your kids.
~Sam Levenson