Has it really been 1/2 a year since our darling baby boy came into the world? It's hard to believe that he's been here that long, but it's also hard to remember a time when he wasn't a part of us. It's amazing to compare the
tiny, skinny newborn to our bubbly, round, smiling happy baby! He has grown so much physically, cognitively, emotionally, and socially. And, this means we have survived the first 6 months! It's supposed to get easier from here...or at least different.
This month we got some help with Chase's 6 month pictures. On his birthday, Chase was tired and in a bad mood after dinner. Plus, he didn't really like this sticker on his shirt!
Nasya helped Chase take his pictures. She said "It's okay!"
And helped clean up his drool
He appreciated her friendship
And that she provided a shoulder to lean on
But Chase was done with pics for the night and walked away.
So we tried again today. This time, drool was the problem. But luckily...
Mueller was there to help!
All better!
On Thursday we went to the Doctor's Office for Chase's 6 month appointment and he weighed in at 16lbs 14oz and 27 inches long! Both are at the 50th percentile. He's "SO BIG!"
The Dr said he's doing great and hitting all of his developmental milestones on time. Chase got 3 shots and cried a lot (the flu shot hurt!), but was smiling at the nurse by the time we left.
At 6 months Chase is:
Sitting unassisted for about a minute. He likes to sit and play with his toys or flip through a book. He likes the new perspective on the world. We usually prop him up with pillows or sit him in the Boppy. He's been sitting in his bathtub too.
But if he's tired or tries to reach something farther away, he falls over in slow motion. Timber!
"Walking"...only in his walker, but he's clearly gotten down that if he moves his feet and leans in a direction, he goes there. He's even figured out how to turn himself around (although he still drives the walker into the corner on a regular basis). It's quite hilarious to watch him run from one side of the room to the other when he's trying to get to Mueller.
In both his walker and his exersaucer, he bounces. He also does this when he's sitting or standing on us, and especially when he's excited.
Obsessed with Mueller- Chase could spend hours looking at, smiling at, and talking to Mueller. It's hilarious. His face lights up when Mueller walks in the room and when we're carrying him he cranes his neck to look down and see if Mueller is there. While I don't think that Mueller is quite as excited about Chase, he does give Chase some big kisses on the face (the exersaucer and walker put him at the perfect height) and Chase sputters and leans away. I'm not sure if that helps or hurts his obsession...
He's also loving books. After he dropped a board book on his face and got a bruise, we found some soft books for him to use. Then Kristin & Brice sent us some great soft books, including a taggie one that he loves! Here is Chase reading in the tub:
Rolling Over- A couple of weeks ago Chase was rocking and rolling over so much that he was waking himself up at night. Now he's not rolling over nearly as much, but he still does roll from his back to his stomach. He also holds himself up high and locks out his elbows. All he needs is to get up on his knees and he'll be in crawling position!
Still wearing 3-6month clothes, but quickly growing out of them. He's already too long for his 3-6 mo sleepers and will soon be too long for the onesies, but many of his pants and other jackets/tops still fit. He'll be on to all 6-9 month clothes shortly.
Sleeping....or not. The good news is that (thanks to Kayla) Chase is consistently napping 3 times a day. He goes down for a nap 1 1/2 hours after he wakes up for about 45 minutes (while I get us ready in the morning), naps in the stroller on the way to/at the park/library for about 45 minutes in the morning, and takes a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.
The bad news is that the last time I got a full night's sleep was
May 11. Chase is now waking up 2 times a night (around 1am and 4am) pretty consistently and nursing for a good 10-15 minutes. He also has not adjusted to the end of Daylight Savings Time, however, and his 6am wakeup call has become a 5am wakeup call. I swear Daylight Savings Time is an institutionalized practice to torture parents of small children. This morning he slept "in" until 5:45. We're very slowly getting him to sleep later. Needless to say, I am exhausted and about ready to start sleep training. The only problem is that in order to get him to sleep, we'll probably have a few nights with long bouts of crying (no mater which method we use) and frankly I'm too exhausted to do that. Sigh...and yawn.
STILL teething- I can't believe his teeth haven't come in yet. He's been teething since he was less than 3 months old! The doctor did say that he's actively teething and that it looks like his gum line is thinning so he expects we'll see teeth in the next month. I hope so-- Chase can't keep his fingers out of his mouth!
Eating- So far he's had rice cereal, oatmeal, avocado, banana, sweet potato, apple sauce, peaches, and (starting Thursday) yogurt. His favorite foods are avocado and peaches. I think he could eat avocado for every meal and be happy! He's gotten better at opening his mouth when we're feeding him, although he still wears a lot of food.
6 month post-partum update: Well it's been 6 months since I was pregnant and my body is pretty much back to normal aside from the breast-feeding related changes. I'm still up 6lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight, but then again I only run for about 25 mins/day compared to the 60+ mins/day pre-preg. My hair loss has slowed down- My stylist told me she had the same problem when she had kids and recommended Nioxin (yes, the shampoo for balding men). My hormones are almost back to normal, although I occassionally get super-emotional or anxious about something. Then again, it's usually something related to Chase, so maybe that's just motherhood! I'm also happy to report that I'm still breastfeeding/pumping. We are proud (and lucky to be able) to say that Chase has only had breastmilk and, so far, only eaten food that we've prepared for him. Hopefully we can keep this up until his first birthday.
Gosh, he's so cute!
And finally, this is our
100th blog post and it's 1 year (and 3 days) after
our first post. Happy 100th post and 1 year blog. And more importantly, Happy 6 months, Chase!
