Posts Tagged ‘6 months’

Finnegan: 6 Months

Friday, March 3rd, 2017

{Lincoln 6 months, Caroline 6 months, Evan 6 months}

Happy Half-Birthday to Baby Finnegan! This has been both the longest and shortest six months of my life. Somehow knowing this is the last newborn I’ll have has made every day more…everything. More exciting, more exhausting, more fun, more frustrating. MORE.

There’s also so much more Finnegan these days. He’s blossomed into such a nice, sweet baby with an easy-going personality. The kids started calling him Buddy, as in Buddy the Elf, because smiling is his favorite. He loves going places so he can look at new people and smile at them. He likes when I wear him so he can look into faces, but it means he doesn’t really nap when we’re in public. He does love to flirt with everyone though, so besides the occasional crying jag in the checkout line he’s a good shopping partner.

Speaking of naps, he finally has a schedule! Well, sort of a schedule. He takes a morning nap about 2 hours after he wakes up, so if he wakes up at 7 am like he did today he needs a 9 am nap. If he sleeps until 9 am, he needs an 11 am nap. After morning nap he’s ready to play or run errands or nurse and nurse and nurse and nurse for 4ish hours until he needs an afternoon nap. Then he goes to bed at about 9:30 pm. The nighttime schedule is…less predictable. He’s finally started going 4 hours in a row without eating, but sometimes it’s the first four hours of the night and sometimes it’s from 5 am to 9 am, but since I have to get up at 7:30 I’m not getting four hours of sleep on any sort of regular basis. We DID finally move him upstairs to the master bedroom, so at least I’m off the couch. The goal for March is to get him into the pack-n-play as opposed to sleeping in the swing most of the time.

Finnegan’s current biggest problem is that he thinks he can walk. He cannot walk. He can’t even reliably sit up without putting a pillow behind him. But when you are holding him, he spends all his time lunging for things, trying to throw himself out of your lap, and sliding off the couch onto his feet. He is SO DETERMINED to be mobile. And that’s fine! Please, learn to walk! But for the love of God, if you insist on being attached to me then just LET ME HOLD YOU.

At his 6 month check up today, he weighed in at 20 pounds, 5 oz, which is 90th percentile for weight. His head is in the 85th percentile and his height is right on the 50th, so yes, he is a super chunk.

Likes include smiling, friends, his siblings, socks, clean diapers, music, tickles, baths, rolling, the exersaucer, chewing on things, apple slices, the cat, the dog, grabbing things he isn’t supposed to have, standing, jumping, white noise, his green blanket, and me.

Dislikes include waking up alone, gas, when I leave the room, having boogers removed from his face, being tired and when I don’t nurse him the instant he wants to be fed.

This might be the last month I can get him to sit in this chair for photos, at least without bribing him with more that just Wyatt the fox.

 

6 Month Milestones

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Turns toward sounds and voices – Yes, especially if he’s supposed to be nursing
Imitates sounds – Ehhhhhhh he imitates laughing?
Rolls over in both directions – Rolly polly roller rolls everywhere

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do
Is ready for solid foods – I sure hope so, I’m about ready to start handing him pizza crusts (j/k, I gave him apples and sweet potato yesterday, he liked them)
Sits without support – We’re at that point where I keep forgetting he can’t quite sit, so he ends up falling over a lot
Mouths objects – HAHAHAHAHAHA Yes.
Passes objects from hand to hand – Yes, if there is one thing he is really good at, it’s fine motor skills

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Lunges forward or starts crawling – He’s pulling his knees under himself and creeping. Crawling is in our near future.
Jabbers or combines syllables – Not really
Drags objects toward himself – Yes, this is how I get things done. I put him on the floor surrounded by stuff and let him drag to his heart’s content.

Caroline: 6 Months

Monday, June 20th, 2011

Happy half-birthday to you
Happy half-birthday to you
Happy half-birthday my darling Caroline
Happy half-birthday to you!

Or if you prefer, the other song I’ve been singing all day

OMG HOW ARE YOU SIX MONTHS OLD ALREADY?
STOP GROWING! STOP TRYING TO CRAWL!
AND WHY WON’T YOU DRINK FROM THIS DAMN BOTTLE?

You are again (still) a delightful baby, who loves smiling and being smiling at. You’ve enjoyed both the aquarium and the seaport this week, plus Stroller Strides and knitting group – it is SO NICE that I can take you places without major meltdowns. Your teeth are still not through so I expect a few more crying fits before we’re through the woods but they don’t seem to be bothering you as much as this time last month. I could really do without the gnawing my nipple raw though. Not cool.

Although I was expecting you to be as chubby as your brother was, instead you’ve turned into a little munchkin, still fitting into your 3 month onesies most of the time. I’m thrilled, since all your cutest summer hand-me-downs are 6 month sized and I was afraid your leg chub would get so out of control I’d have to pack them all away. It’s kind of nice that you’re still small – it’s keeping me from feeling desperate for a teeny tiny baby again too soon. Also, it makes your already HUGE EYES look even huger in your itty bitty face.

You still don’t like bottles but you did eat some rice cereal so I’m hopeful you’ll like solids better than your brother did. The avocado didn’t go over very well – WHY don’t my babies like avocado?! – but I’ve got a bowl full of fruit to try out this week.

Some of your new favorite things include riding in the big girl seat of the stroller, being worn half on my hip in the Ergo (I should really figure out the RIGHT way to do a hip carry), stealing toys from your brother and play with the dog’s tail. You dislike the sun in your eyes, shoes, bottles, 7:30 pm and getting stuck under the couch.

Mobile baby is hard to keep in the picture

 

Look, I'm sitting up! Such a big girl!

Whoops. Fell down.

This picture is straight out of the camera, no touch ups at all

6 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usually)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Turns toward sounds and voices – Sounds, voices, music, everything. And half the time she tries to take my nipple with her.
Imitates sounds – I guess? She babbles a lot but I’m not sure if I would say she’s IMITATING anything.
Rolls over in both directions – CAN roll over in both directions, but prefers to just hang out on her belly although JUST TODAY she started barrel rolling to get across the room

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Is ready for solid foods – I dunno. Maybe. She sort of gummed an animal cracker the other day. I’m going to start offering stuff this week.
Sits without support – Yes, although she’s still a little unpredictable with the falling over.
Mouths objects – HAHAHAHAHAHA Yes.
Passes objects from hand to hand – Yes, but I’m not sure it’s exactly on purpose.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Lunges forward or starts crawling – Lunges and faceplants, although she is getting SUPER close to crawling and can get both knees under herself for several seconds.
Jabbers or combines syllables – Coos like crazy but nothing that I would call syllables.
Drags objects toward himself – Yes, she spins herself around on her stomach then reaches for her toys. I can scatter them around the floor and it keeps her entertained for close to an hour.

Those skills seem sort of weird, right? How is “drags objects” a MORE advances skill that sitting up? Sitting up is HARD.

You & Me Always

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Considering the amount of time spent comparing the baby’s features to our own (I think he has my nose but E’s eyes but my hair texture and E’s color but my toes and E’s wrists and my elbows, etc etc etc), it’s amazing it took me this long to actually dig out some old baby pics and compare tiny Baby Evan to Baby Suzanne and Baby E. It’s extra fun because my birthday is only 5 days (and, uh, twenty*cough*cough*cough* years) after the baby’s. So in July and September and December we’re almost the same age.  This is probably the last time I ever enjoy having a birthday so close to my son’s.

So is he definitely my kid or what?

I supposed I should include his father in this little game too, although I think it’s pretty clear Baby Evan got most of his cute genes from me.

Oh. Well. Ok. Fine, then, I guess MAYBE the baby got a tiny bit of his father too.

But just let’s not forget Baby Evan is just as much Glidden* as I am:

*Ok, so this relative isn’t actually a Glidden but it’s still my dad’s side. Whatever, I’m not a genealogist, you want historical accuracy go talk to someone who gets paid for that sort of thing.

(Edited so hopefully y’all can see the pictures. Anyone know WHY they wouldn’t work on some screens?)

You can sleep when you’re…bored to death with all this nighttime schedule talk

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

While E was out of town for a couple nights, I decided it was time to make a few adjustments to the baby’s nighttime schedule. (Changes go a lot better when I implement them myself and declare a new Baby Law.) As much as I loved our cuddles and the ease of nursing the baby without getting out of bed, this 7 month old little monster child is NOT the sweet little baby who snuggles. This one kicks and squirms and thrashes and the other night he stuck his fingers up my nose, Three Stooges style. Let me tell you, that is at the top of the list of uncomfortable ways to wake up, right behind with a car on top of you.

So I sat Baby Evan down and explained it was time for him to sleep in his own room, he agreed, and we lived happily ever after. AHAHAHAHA if only babies were that easy, I’d have a dozen more. The first thing I did was move our entire bedtime routine upstairs – bath in the bathtub instead of the sink, nursing in the nursery instead of on the couch. I also decided it was time to do away with the swaddle, in the hopes that he wouldn’t wake up trying to break free. And the third thing I did was drag out the Baby Go To Sleep music cd I tried months ago but never really seemed to work. I’ve also been trying to convince Baby Evan that the blue blanket my mother-in-law knit for him is his lovie (or as I called mine, Favorite Blankie) so it can take over some of the comforting during the night.

Pretty much the only thing my The Baby Books agree on is that infant sleep cycles are only 90 minutes, and ever hour and a half babies wake, check their surroundings and resettle. The “resettle” part is the key word in that sentence, because according to The Books, I have created some Bad Habits with my baby and breaking those Bad Habits means anything from 4 nights of screaming to 8 weeks of sleep deprivation to three more years of getting kicked in the kidneys all night. I have not allowed my baby to learn to resettle – because of the swaddle and the rocking or nursing to sleep – and now I must pay the price. Luckily for me, my baby didn’t read The Books and has no idea he’s supposed to torture me for my poor planning. Letting him sleep unswaddled allows him to literally check his surroundings at night, rolling around to get comfortable or scratch his nose or get closer to his blanket. Playing the Baby Go To Sleep cd while we rock him to sleep and setting it to repeat all night is enough of a reminder that it’s bedtime (and as a bonus it drowns out a lot of the tossing and turning noises so I can sleep more). And now he’s nursing just when he’s hungry instead of using me as a pacifier all. night. long.

While he was sharing our room, I was getting about 4-5 total hours of sleep. That is definitely not enough for a functional human being, unless you are currently the parent of a baby who sleeps even less than that, in which case I am so, so sorry. With the baby in the nursery last night, I slept EIGHT HOURS, even including getting up to nurse at 2 am and getting up to bring the baby to bed at 5 am, where he slept happily until 8:30. I’m not banishing the baby from our bed permanently – I’m not even taking down the co-sleeper yet – because when he’s teething/having a growth spurt/reaching a developmental milestone our night schedule might could will change again. And I’m dealing with a little bit of attachment-parenting guilt for choosing my sleep over maintaining a family bed. But after 7 months of exhaustion, I think even the most ardent attachment parenting expert would agree it’s time for a change.

Halloween Countdown

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

One of the great things about having kids is the excuse to do kid-related stuff you’re technically to old for. You don’t have to be the sad/creepy/weird/childless person attending a “Family Day” at the ballpark or aquarium. You can also go to petting zoos, get a balloon at the fair, have you face painted, show up at Harry Potter events, go to children’s museums…and take part in the ten million Halloween parties held during the month of October. Oh you have free candy? Let me just take one for my kid. No, no, I’m eating this candy FOR HIM, you see. He gets it later, direct from me.

Today at church the kids had a costume parade over to the nearby retirement home, where the kids sang Sunday School songs for the old people. Since Baby Evan is too young to sing, I sat on the floor with him and held him where everyone could watch him chew on the paper with the lyrics on it. He really liked “Jesus loves the little children” but wasn’t such a fan of “5 little pumpkins”. I think it needed more salt.

Last night we finally carved the pumpkins we bought up in Massachusetts, so no we have a little orange family on the front steps. I think Baby Evan’s pumpkin is my favorite, and looks surprising like him.