A Typical Photo Shoot.

First, I prep Eli. I tell him it's his 5 month birthday and we are going to celebrate with some pictures. Generally, he gives me this look below.

This time, since the weather was decent not 105 degrees , I took him outside because the lighting is one hundred times better out there. Unfortunately, every picture I took was met with the same squinty-eyed stare. He just couldn't keep his eyes open even in the shade.

Since I didn't want every picture of him looking away from me or squinting, I asked him how he felt about moving this party indoors. This is the look I got.

I took that as a yes.

Once inside in his usual spot (the brightest room in our house), he did a little better.

This is the first picture we took, and incidentally, my favorite. He looks like such a little boy here, and like he is posing for the camera.

Sometimes he needs some pillows for support...he doesn't quite have the unsupported sit mastered yet, but....

He does LOVE to stand. His skinny little legs are so strong, and he will screech until you let him stand on you. He really wishes he could run around the house all day, and I think he gets pretty frustrated sometimes when he's stuck in my arms.

He's getting pretty close to sitting, but just not there yet. He topples over pretty quickly. If he is reclined in our arms, he will struggle for minutes to try and sit up on his own. His abs much be rock hard from all the effort he puts into it.

This is the look I get when I make high-pitched tongue-rolling sounds to get his attention. I was going for a smile, but I think I just startle him instead.

He's got legs for days. And clearly, his feet are too long for those socks. I just bought those not too long ago too. I'm pretty sure they said 0-12 months, whatever that means.

And this is usually how we end our photo shoot, with one big meltdown. It was nap time, and he just couldn't take the posing and screeching mommy in his face anymore.

Let's see, at 5 months, Eli:

-weighs 14 pounds (14%)

-is 26 inches long (76%)

-squeals and shrieks whenever he feels like it (all the time)

- is EXTREMELY vocal (which baffles me b/c his daddy and I are pretty quiet people)

-wears every size (mainly in the 3-6 month range)

-can sit for 5 seconds before toppling

-can stand assisted

-"crawls" (shoves his face into the carpet while pushing off with his legs...he can move across the room with this maneuver)

-eats 6 oz. every 4 hours

- STILL wakes up to eat 1-2 times a night

-"sleeps" from 10:30 - 7:30

-eats rice cereal and peaches

-is allergic to mosquito bites (gets awful blistery rashes)

-learned how to arch his back to throw a mini-tantrum

-LOVES his Baby Einstein dvd

-hates his car seat still

-takes 2 naps a day

-smiles a lot

-laughs (usually with his daddy)

-loves to bounce

-wants to be held from 7- 10:30 at night ( and you have to be standing)

We are loving this new stage with Eli. He gets more personality every day and makes us laugh all the time. We can't believe he is already 5 months, and we are looking forward to each new stage with him!