Asa is 5 months old

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  We have one sweet, mellow little guy on our hands.  He is doing all those things that 5-month-olds do: kicking his feet up, grabbing at everything in sight and trying to put it into his mouth, holding and exploring (mostly with his mouth) his first toys, and so on.  Although, he has yet to officially completely roll over (back to front).  He's been able to flip his whole body over for a while now, but still hasn't figured out how to get his arm out from underneath him.  He's not super motivated, though, and often prefers just to lie on his back and look around and chew on his hands, so I think it's very much a matter of temperament. 

Speaking of temperament, above all else, I'd say that Asa is a really social baby.  He started smiling and laughing fairly early, and he loves nothing more than to be held and make eye contact.  It doesn't take much to induce an ear-to-ear grin or sweet giggles.  One look at his daddy or his brother will do the trick.  His sweet, social nature made for a harder adjustment to daycare than I expected, though, because he really prefers things calm and quiet, with plenty of time to cuddle and be talked to and sung to.  We have an awesome daycare, but it's been a little overstimulating for him at times and, obviously, he just doesn't get as much attention as he does at home.  Thankfully, the owner of the daycare hired a friend of ours who has a son Ewan's age to be there on the days when my boys attend, and she is incredible.  Ewan and Asa both love her, and she is happy to wear Asa in the Moby wrap for the majority of the day if that's what makes him happy.  I don't think it's easy to find a daycare provider willing to do that.  So that's helped a lot and, overall, he's doing really well there.

What else?  Ah, sleep.  Asa has fallen into a pretty consistent routine by now, so I think I can safely say that things could be a lot better, but, as we know from experience, they could also be a lot worse.  It's amazing how, having had a terrible sleeper first, we find ourselves completely satisfied with what many other parents would probably consider horrible.  Up every two hours instead of hourly?  We'll take it!  45 minute naps with an occasional hour and 45 minutes?  Yes!  I also have a much more laid back attitude toward the whole sleep thing this time (which is maybe part of the reason why Asa is at least a slightly better sleeper than Ewan was).  I've resigned myself to the fact that babies just do not sleep well, and I know I'm not willing to let Asa cry it out, so there's nothing left to do but just accept it.  We do work on his sleep in little ways, but mostly I find myself just gravitating back to what ultimately worked best for us with Ewan: nursing to sleep and co-sleeping.  It can be really hard when you find yourself with a two-year-old who still wants to nurse all night long, but it can also make things much easier in many ways.  Plus, life is too short not to cuddle.  Which is good, since most mornings we end up with four of us in our bed.

Well, that's pretty much where we are.  We are totally in our groove as a family of four, and it's almost hard to remember those days when we were only three.  Asa just fits.  I think we'll keep him.