I should probably stop calling my baby Linky-poo before it’s too late and I CAN’T stop. Seeing as how he’s a whole half-year old now and getting to be a big boy his baby nickname isn’t so cool anymore.

I don’t have any actual stats because we haven’t been to Linc’s 6 month appointment yet, but I can sum it up with: FAT. I tried to carry him in the bucket seat yesterday and my arm almost fell off. He’s HEAVY. He’s also outgrowing his 9 month clothes at an impressive pace, so I’m buying 12 month stuff. It’s hard to buy ahead for a kid who might keep breaking the scale or who might thin out as soon as he starts moving.

Right now his preferred form of movement is swimming. We went to a pool party yesterday and even though the water was a little cold he was SO HAPPY in the pool. He still loves his Otteroo neck floaty in the tub (despite the fact that it still looks insane) and I can’t wait for summer when he can float around our kiddie pool as much as he wants. I’m even considering mommy & me swim lessons, since he is such a water baby. You know his love is obvious if I would intentionally put on a swim suit to make him happy.

As of today, Lincoln has 4 teeth – top two front and bottom two front. They are very very sharp. He also has very sharp, very fast growing finger nails and a freakishly strong grip. He likes to show how much he loves you by grabbing the hairs on the back of your neck and ripping them out while biting your face and going “AHHHHGGGGRRRRHAAAHAAHAHAHAHA”. He’s a vicious baby zombie trying to eat you alive. It’s pretty cute the first couple times, but at this point I think he might actually be trying to kill me.

Likes include sitting up, hitting things, the cat, the dog, Evan, Caroline, singing, funny voices, when you tell him he’s kind of a jerk, laughing, tickles, patty cake, bath time, sleeping on people, sleeping in my bed, being worn, biting, shoving food in his face, blankets, flinging himself off high surfaces and anyone who will talk to him or hold him.

Dislikes include missing naps, tummy time, teething and being alone.

6 Month Milestones (from Caroline’s 6 month post, originally from BabyCenter)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Turns toward sounds and voices – He’s a nosey parker and wants to look at EVERY sound.
Imitates sounds – A little bit. Makes mamamama and babababa sounds but I’m not sure it’s imitating.
Rolls over in both directions – He still can’t roll stomach to back. Isn’t that supposed to be the easy way???

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Is ready for solid foods – SO READY GIVE ME ALL THE SOLID FOODS.
Sits without support – Excellent at sitting, only falls over occasionally.
Mouths objects – HAHAHAHAHAHA Yes.
Passes objects from hand to hand – He’s very good with his hands and grasp, but I’m not sure I’ve seen him pass anything.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Lunges forward or starts crawling – Flings himself around and can turn while on his belly, but hasn’t made muh forward progress yet.
Jabbers or combines syllables – Talky talky baby.
Drags objects toward himself – Surprisingly good at this one. Probably because he refuses to roll or crawl or lung, so he has to be good at reaching.

I asked my mom friends last week if they thought I should be concerned about Linc not rolling over or bearing weight on his legs yet. They told me no, of course not, all babies are different and they develop at different rates, I’m sure he’ll roll over soon, their baby never rolled over and now look at her walking! That’s basically the Lord’s Prayer of parenting – I can recite it from memory but don’t often pay attention to what the words actually mean. It’s comfortingly familiar though, to hear it from people I know and trust.

Right after that Linc decided his new favorite thing is bearing weight on his legs, so at least half of my worrying was for nothing. I’m pretty sure one of these days I’m going to set him on the floor, leave the room, and come back in to find he’s just gotten up and walked away.

I’m a few days late with this update, not because I forgot it but because I didn’t want to even LOOK at the 5 month sticker a single second earlier than I had to. I cannot believe it’s already been 5 months with Lincoln here in our lives. He’s the first baby where I haven’t felt any desire for time to go faster. I am trying to stay completely focused on enjoying him right now, as he is, and not rushing anything.

It helps that he sleeps. I would be praying him to get bigger and older and thinking about night weaning and freaking out over how exhausted I was if he wasn’t already letting me sleep 7 hours a night. Best baby in the world. Or at least right now, since he’s taking a nice extended afternoon nap.

Likes include smiling, snuggles, people, singing, talking about cooking shows, being held, standing, bath time, chewing on things, his feet, my feet, mirrors, nursing, watching people eat, having his picture taken, the swing, the rock-n-play, his brother, his sister and the cat.

Dislikes include loud noises too close to his face, missing nap time, teething and having boogers removed from his nose/face in any way.

/

5 Month Milestones (originally from BabyCenter, now from Caroline’s 5 month post)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Distinguishes between bold colors – Yeah, sure. How the hell am I supposed to know?
Plays with his hands and feet – Yes, with cartoon-baby-levels of cuteness.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Recognizes own name – He did this very clearly yesterday and I was like BOOM! MILESTONE MOMENT!!
Turns toward new sounds – Yes, he’s very nosy.
Rolls over in both directions – Still no rolling. In either direction. He doesn’t even look like he wants to.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Sits momentarily without support – Yes. He’s going to be sitting independently way before he’s rolling.
Mouths objects – Nomming is his favorite hobby
Separation anxiety may begin – A little. He doesn’t like it when everyone leaves the room, but he doesn’t mind new people or strangers.

Late late late late late. But we spent ALL day Sunday out of the house and I spent all day today finishing all my photography stuff so I am completely caught up! Now maybe I can blog this week! Or maybe I’ll just say that and not do it again. That seems more likely.

Sunday:

Waiting in the ER is a lot easier with technology

Not impressed with my wrap skills or the tape on his head.

I am not the only one who loves wraps

Monday:

I sold this one, pretty much thanks to this picture

Beautiful evening light…at 3 pm.

CHEEKS

Tuesday:

Yes mother, that is a very nice fancy teether. Now if only I knew how to PUT IT IN MY MOUTH.

I can’t be mad about the mess when they’re practicing their words

Brother time

Wednesday:

I was too sick to wear the baby, so we did the grocery-pile-on-the-carseat method

All we did. All day.

My mail lady leaves treats for the dog

Thursday:

One of the last buildings left at the old hospital is being torn down (taken from a stopped car at a stop light, I’m not dumb enough to do it while driving).

Back floats

I am the worst, because I forgot the iPad and she had to just SIT while her brother had swim.

Friday:

Parenting win: taking the kids to a friend’s house to let them bounce while I watch from inside the warm house.

Then the friends came over for pizza and wine. NAILED IT, FRIDAY NIGHT.

DUCK JAMS

Saturday:

Never ending Halloween candy

Linc found his toes

One last sleeping baby

I spent a LOT of time under that baby this week. Usually I try to get stuff done while I sleeps but I felt TERRIBLE for the first half of the week and was busy catching up and seeing friends the second half, so nothing got done. Thank God for antibiotics and Netflix. I cannot believe it is already the second week of November. I refuse to do anything Christmasy until after Thanksgiving, but now I’m worried I’ll wake up and it will suddenly be mid-December and I won’t even have noticed. Why is 2014 going so fast?!

I am tiiiiiiired. I don’t even have a good excuse beyond doing lots of stuff this week – my darling darling baby slept 10 hours last night. But this weekend was busy and this next week is going to be super busy. I feel like a broken record, because all I post anymore is complaints about how BUSY I am and I know it’s boring. But really, once you have three kids you’re pretty much always busy. Even the baby thinks I should try to sit on the couch more – he’s really tired of being nursed in uncomfortable chairs.

Sunday:

Sleepy stars and stripes

Obviously when you see a pile of leaves you throw them

What does the Caroline say?

Monday:

A very patriotic wrap for a patriotic day

Grocery shopping with 3 kids is not my favorite

A beautiful night to go visit a submarine

Tuesday:

Snuggly errands

Why do my eyebrows only look this good for the 10 minutes after I have them waxed?

I’m in love with this picture

Wednesday:

Baby Dr. Evil

I’ve re-purposed the stuff I knit for Evan, since no one knits for baby #3

Ignore my face and loooook at that pretty orange!

Thursday:

SMILEY

See, I swear, I buy the wraps FOR HIM. HE LIKES THEM.

I wouldn’t let a kid that close to my computer with a marker, but Daddy is nicer than me.

Friday:

We bought this car when I was pregnant with Caroline. It had 16000 miles on it.

THE MOST unflattering photo of myself I’ve ever voluntarily posted, but his face is too good to pass up. WTF IS ON YOUR HEAD, MOM?

New hairs are nice.

Saturday:

Stealth photo of my husband in uniform during the comissioning ceremony.

WHY AM I STILL AWAKE AT A PARTY AT 9 PM?

Yeah, I ate that.

I am once again shocked at how many photos of my own face are in this post. I’m not a selfie person. Or at least, I didn’t think I was a selfie person. But that might have had something to do with being hugely pregnant for what felt like the last decade. It was also SO NICE to get my hair cut (even if I had to bring the baby) that I’m going back in 5 weeks to refresh my color. I have nice hair when I take care of it, and since right now I feel old and fat, I need to work on what makes me feel good. Maybe in a couple weeks I’ll do something REALLY crazy, like schedule a facial or a massage.

Oh who am I kidding, if I had money for a massage I’d just spend it on another wrap. I cannot stop drinking the babywearing Koolaid.

This week was seriously insane. I tried to jump back in to work all at once and ended up really, really tired. Plus I think I pinched a nerve in my back. Also I have a weird lump under my armpit that is definitely not a plugged duct. I don’t think. Basically, I’m falling apart. But I got a new iPhone, so this week gets an A+ anyway.

Sunday:

The gingers found these and ate them ALL. They are lucky to still live here.

Third baby gets set on the ground a lot

#nofilter for real, the whole parking lot was full of people taking photos of this sky

Monday:

This is who helped Caroline wait for the bus today

Another amazing evening for a photo shoot

I am super lucky to have clients who actually LIKE my kids. Or at lest pretend really really well.

Tuesday:

Baby burrito

I love her little uniform so much

Only Tuesday and we’re already falling asleep on the couch

Wednesday:

Picture Day!

Same park, different gorgeous day

Emergency evening shopping trip for diapers and bread (and chocolate)

Thursday:

I feel exactly the same way when my alarm goes off

I had big plans to iron all those wraps, but I never did.

I plan to never be awake to see that time again.

Friday:

My first picture with my new phone!!!! I was too excited to care that it wasn’t a very good picture.

It’s so clear! You can see the mess so much better!

Literally two people who read this will know what I mean, but doesn’t this dress pattern look just like my Tekhni Ceres but in black instead of green?

Saturday:

Best view in the world

In looooove with that crib, especially because I put it together all myself.

This was amazing.

This weekend was rough. On Saturday I actually made the kids go back to bed and start the day over. They both napped for 2 hours and then we went to a festival, where everyone was well behaved and we had a nice time. Sunday was rough all over again. I like school days. Thank God the week is full of them.