A Pair of Fives

My 5th child turned 5 months old yesterday.

How 5 months went by in what felt like about two weeks is a mystery to me.  That pesky ol' calendar is playing tricks on me again!  ;)  Just think: in only one more month, Moriah will be half a year old already!

But for now, she is 5 months, and I am loving each day with her.

 Jeff said recently that he thinks Moriah has been our easiest baby.  I think he might be right.  Although none of them have been very difficult (with the exception of Shav's sleep issues), Moriah really does take the cake when it comes to being easy-going, content, happy, AND a great sleeper.  I don't take any of that for granted!!  :)

 Today when I was snapping pictures of her, Moriah decided to switch things up by sucking on her thumb for a while.

 Show-off.  ;)

But before long, it was back to sucking on her two fingers, her standard mode of soothing herself.

As always, I am having a ball dressing Moriah in pretty little girl things.

 The details of loveliness don't go unnoticed, as I delight in each embellishment on her garments.  Thank you, clothing designers, for making such beautiful clothes for little girls to wear.  :)

And speaking of clothes...  As I've mentioned before, we have been blessed over and over again by hand-me-downs, and we've always been grateful for that.  But we know, of course, that we can't count on hand-me-downs forever; and at some point, we'll have to start buying more clothes for Moriah.  I thought we were at that point.  As I had gone through her clothes recently, I had noticed that she didn't have a whole lot of things for this coming winter, especially sleepers.  "No problem," I thought, "I'll just get some the next time I'm at Walmart," and I wrote sleepers on my shopping list.

Two days ago I went shopping, and the only reason I didn't get any sleepers for her is because I had used most of my money for grocery items.  I probably had enough money left to buy a couple of sleepers; but knowing that there was really no hurry for bigger, warmer sleepers, I headed to the check-out and didn't buy any.

Yesterday I walked into the parents' room at church, and Brittany said, "I have some baby clothes for you from Lisa." At the puzzled look on my face, she said, "Didn't Lisa tell you she was sending some with me for you?"  Uh, no.  But I'm always thrilled to get hand-me-downs from Lisa and her little girl Annabelle; more than anyone else, they are responsible for clothing Moriah.  :)

When I looked through the clothes, I couldn't believe it.  Warm sleepers, big enough to fit Moriah all winter long.  Other winter outfits that are so cute and cuddly they make me wish it was cold right now.  Everything Moriah needs for the winter, right there in that box.  Thank you, Lisa!!!

And thank You, God, who provides so richly, sometimes even before I specifically ask.  It wasn't as if I had prayed about sleepers for Moriah.  I just expected us to buy some!  But God poured out EXACTLY what I needed, EXACTLY when I needed it.  It reminded me of Isaiah 65:24:  "Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear."  Indeed.

What else to say about Moriah at this stage?  Let's see...  In the past month, she has gotten very good at rolling over from back to tummy.  She is definitely a tummy sleeper these days; I rarely find her in any other position when she's asleep.  This past Wednesday, I saw her, for the first time, roll from her tummy to her back.  She was in her crib; and when I went in to get her up from her nap, I got down on my hands and knees on the floor to peek through the crib slats and be silly with her.  She grinned at me with that smile that melts my heart, then pushed up on her hands and rolled herself over onto her back.  Just like that.  :)

Another thing I noticed this past month is how cuddly Moriah is.  It's not as if she wasn't cuddly before, but I paid more attention to how much fun it was to hold her, how sweet it was when she was so relaxed and content in someone's arms.  Sometimes I don't even want to put her down because it's so much fun to hold her.  :)

 Moriah has no teeth, as you can see.  :)  But she is becoming more expressive...

 ...more vocal...

...and, if it were possible, more loved.

Just when I think I couldn't possibly love her any more, I discover that I can...and I do.

I thank God every day for the privilege of being this dear girl's mommy!!!