6 months old!

Well the results our in.... our little nugget's 6 months stats:

Weight: 15lb 9oz (25%)

He is falling off the curve, so it's time to increase to solids 2x day and add olive oil to the cereal!

Height: 27 3/4 inches (90%)

Head: 16 1/2 inches (10%)

Also falling off the curve but rounding out ever so slightly thanks to all of his new 6 month tricks!

Here's what else we've been up to this month!

This boy loves his excersaucer, and he especially loves to suck on the fish he's holding in his hand. This little gem was totally worth the $20 I paid to the woman selling it on Craig's list! He bounces and giggles, and it keeps him off of his flat head! (By the way, we had the appointment at the craniofacial clinic @ Children's hospital and we are just going to monitor until 8 months before we decide for or against the helmet. The 'head' NP said first born boys often have trouble with the shape of their heads because the mother's uterus doesn't accommodate/stretch as well the first time around. Interesting.. he did measure small the whole time, and he was engaged @ 36 weeks. She thinks the engagement + delivery with a vacuum might have contributed to his neck muscle weakness and subsequent 'plagiocephaly'. ie: flat head).

LOOK! I can sit all by myself for about 10 -20 seconds. Then I topple over. I'm a pretty tough guy though, because I don't cry if I hit my head!

As of last Friday 6/24, I can now roll from my tummy- back and back-tummy. I'm pretty impressed with myself, and I much prefer to roll around in my crib than take naps! (This is also making diaper changes a new adventure for mommy!)

Oh I'm so cute!

I still love to put everything in my mouth, and my hands are on absolutely everything I can touch. I wiggle and wiggle, and never sit still!

This is my friend Zander (DOB 3-25-11). We had one sunny day a few weeks ago, and we weren't sure what to do with our eyes!

So mommy bought me a cute cute hat.

I think this might be one of my favorite pictures of the two of them. I just LOVE it! Owen and his daddy are the best of friends. O loves Mike's hats, giggles, stories, songs, etc. They play SO hard!

I love my solid foods!

So what else can we say about the little bug except for that he is just absolutely perfect and we are so in love? He still goos and coos with the best of them, and I think from time to time he throws in a 'p' sound. We haven't heard many other consonants yet though. He also blows raspberries and screeches quite a bit.

Developmentally he seems to be right on track. The only 6 month 'milestone' he hasn't quite yet met is responding to his name, but I think we have some time with that.

He's quite the arm flapper (so much so that I googled '6month old flaps arms, sign of autism?'). You would think with my doctoral degree in nurse practitioning that a) I would know that it's way to early to draw that correlation and b) google answers to those questions aren't worth two cents, but I did it anyway. It's something I'll just keep an eye on.

He is also very in to tactile stimulation. He scratches his fingernails over every surface. Lately he rubs his head back and forth on blankets/sheets, etc. It must scratch or tickle the back of his head. It's pretty funny, too.

Sleep wise we are really making some progress. On 6/17 we started a combo 'cry it out + wean the swaddle'. Most babies don't need the swaddle after a few months, and now that the little man is rolling over, I need him to be able to sleep with his arms out. (He had rolled to his belly while swaddled.. scary!). Also, the swaddle has been a handicap. In the middle of the night he would get out of it which would require Mike or I to go in and re-swaddle. It's time he learned to soothe himself unswaddled. It's going well! We started with one arm out and we've now graduated to two. We still wrap his legs in a blanket because it's still cool here. (It got up to 68 yesterday, and Mike and I felt like we were in heaven.) We are also weaning the 3 am feed. I've fed him in the middle of the night every night since he was born because he's so skinny, but it's time to increase the solids and teach him to sleep through the night with no food. The last several nights have resulted in waking up at 2am, 3am, 4am with several nights of crying from 4am-5am.. but I think this will be better for all of us in the long run. I will do this MUCH earlier than 6 months with baby #2.

Thanks for reading my babbling about the joys, triumphs, and struggles of parenting our little gift from God. We love him SO very much!