Six Months

Liam,

Hello once again, my darling little man. It is here! Your half-year birthday. Six months old and as adorable and happy as you've ever been. I simply cannot believe you are now closer to one than I care to think about.

Like your sister before you, we had a small little half birthday party to commemorate this momentous occasion. And, like your sister before you....everyone enjoyed the cake, except you. Sorry, bud. You'll have to wait for your actual birthday for that one.

We did, however, let you start n few weeks early with some solid foods. You just seemed to want to eat so.badly that I couldn't stand it anymore. I tried a few purees with you and you gobbled them down like gangbusters, so then I grabbed some Mum Mums and you gobbled those down too. So then we switched gears right over to BLW solids like we did for your sister. Your actual first food, even before the purees, was a slice of grilled bell pepper. We were eating steak fajitas and you kept trying to grab it from my plate (because naturally you were in your favorite place - on my lap) so I sucked off the seasoning and handed it to you. And man, did you go to town mashing and gnawing that pepper.

You were aided in your mashing and gnawing by your two newest possessions - your bottom teeth! Hooray for you! They came in within one day of each other, and your poor miserable little mouth was so much happier, and we have a small break in the "everything in the mouth all of the time" routine. Maybe.

You have been looking so big and strong and independent this month. You have been standing against everything and trying to reach up and pull up to standing from sitting. Your sitting is even more solid and your tummy doesn't seem to bother you as much lately. You have begun sitting in the front of carts thanks to some solo trips to the store with Mommy, but you also have gotten to sit up there when big sister wants to be a BIG GIRL and walk alongside the cart.

(Sometimes Mommy needs to keep you both contained and she rides happily in the basket as well.)

We have been chatting about all of the big kid stuff that we will need to be doing for you soon, like getting a bigger car seat and all that. I have started leaving your infant carrier in the car the majority of the time and treating it like a convertible car seat anyway, because you are just too dang heavy!

You aren't really a huge fan of being in the carseat lately and that is because you are on the move! You are rocking out the mobility with what your Dad and I affectionaely call  your "push up crawl" which is sort of a mix between crawling and scootching. It is pretty funny to us, but you make some good time with that little maneuver.

You have gotten your belly off of the floor and have been trying to do a legitimate crawl, but so far, you always go back to the good ol' push up crawl routine.

You really love standing and you really, really, love to bounce, so you spend  good portion of time in your bouncer. So long as someone is in the room with you, you are content to explore and play and bounce and bounce and bounce.

You are just the happiest little baby and you are so, so very happy when you have slept well. Which...is a struggle. You still don't consistently sleep through the night which is quite honestly driving your Mom a little batty. We have started you in your own room at night and naptime consistently since we got back from Wisconsin and you have great nights and not so great nights. I have been trying and trying and trying to get you on a schedule before your sister starts school and ballet next month, because then we will have actual places that we need to be (every week! ack!), but you are resisting with the best of em.

You sometimes take killer naps, and sometimes they are twenty minutes. You sometimes sleep through the night and sometimes you wake up three or four times. (Thankfully there aren't too many of those nights.) Sometimes, you fall asleep peacefully and easily on your own and sometimes you fuss and cry forever until you are held or nursed. There just seems to be no telling with you, my son. But, we shall keep at it. You are trending more and more toward sleeping through the night, but I am scared to even admit that publicly for fear of the backlash of the moon and the tides or some planet in retrograde or something.

You, my son, are just the embodiment of silliness and joyfulness here as of late. You make your Daddy and I swoon with your coos and giggles and your sister is officially smitten with you (when she isn't tattling about you trying to touch HER toys, that is...) Even the puppy is warming up to you quite nicely now that you have real food to share.

You bring so much laughter into our house and I can't imagine our family without your precious little soul inside of it.

All my love,

Momma.


Evelyn Rae is two, Liam is six months old

...and he is looking so, so grown these days. Be still my heart.