Six months since I've given birth. Six months since we became a family of 5. SIX WHOLE MONTHS, Y'ALL.
He's now closer to a year than he was to being born. In many respects six months has always been a victory month for me in terms of raising an infant. It seems like something internally clicks for my kids at 6 months and we hit a magical world of not only sleeping through the night, but also taking predictable naps. This has been true for Tyler (with a few days that are hit and miss, thrown in for good measure I'm sure).
I've always wondered if I would end up having a shy child. Lord knows my older two are nothing close to even being remotely shy, and have never met a stranger. So far, it looks like Tyler is following suite in that regard. He loves people, and absolutely hates being alone.
Speaking of hate, he still cries the minute he sees his car seat. No lie. We've tried upgrading his car seat to a convertible rear facing seat, installing a mirror for him to look at (complete with blinking lights and music-- this aint your momma's mirror, folks), having Brayden talk to him from the 3rd row. I think that by me accepting the fact that he just is not going to be a good car baby, it has made things easier even though things haven't really changed.
Other highlights at 6 months include...
- sitting up unassisted for a few minutes at a time. He still topples over fairly easily, so I have to be close by in case of a fall.
- He is a BIG boy, weighing in at 19.5lbs (~90th percentile). He also likes to be carried around a lot, so you can imagine how good my back feels. I have no idea how tall he is, but if I had to take a guess I'd say it's about 26 inches or so.
- He's wearing some 6-12 month clothes, some 12-18 month clothes, and if it's even sizes and not a range (ie: Carters or Ralph Lauren), mostly 12 month clothes.
- Still exclusively breastfed, which means I made it to my goal of 6 months. He nurses (or eats an 8oz bottle) 4 times during the day.
- We still are feeding him the dream feed. Every time we try to drop it he wakes up twice in the middle of the night. Considering my sleep (and sanity) are worth a bucket of gold to me right now, feeding him a bottle before we go to bed seems like a much better alternative to waking up every 3 hours in the middle of the night.
- Takes 2 good naps a day. Usually about 1.5 hrs in the morning, and 2 hours in the afternoon. We'll throw a cat nap in the evening on occasion, but you've pretty much grown out of that one by now.
- Is a solid food eating CHAMP. So far he's eaten green beans, peas, sweet potato, bananas, avacados, apples and pears (and yogurt!). I need to introduce some new foods, but haven't had a chance to make any more baby food so we're kind of on a roll of what we've already introduced. He eats about 2oz of food (plus a little cereal mixed in) for breakfast and dinner. We're trying to work in lunch, but it's not consistent at this point.
- We're finishing up the size 3 diapers, and converting over to size 4.... FINALLY. Not gonna lie... I say a small prayer every time we put a size 3 on. It's quite a gamble that I take, this whole "don't waste a diaper" mentality. The size 3's are starting to look like rather small loin clothes rather than complete bottom coverage. Blow outs are only one wrong twist away.
- He is trying SO hard to scoot. He gets up on his knees and hands for a few seconds at a time. I'm still trying to decide how I should feel about this. He's so very proud of his new found tricks, but I am just not sure I am ready for 3 mobile children. Lord help me (and send Starbucks coffee!).
- He's on his second round of ear infections (if you're counting, this is his second one in less than a month). I've been so bummed about it, and also a little worried that he may perhaps be more prone to ear issues. Praying this isn't the case.
- He's in love with Brayden & Connor. Anything they do can almost always get a smile, and Brayden seems to be able to get the most laughs out of Ty.
Tyler Paul--
I can't believe you're already 6 months old! What an incredible privilege it has been to be your mommy these past several months. I have loved watching you grow and learn and become more integrated into our family each and every day. You are such a joy to be around and I am so very grateful that YOU are the answer to my prayers. Your daddy, brothers and I love you so very, very much. Happy 6th birthday baby boy!