Nora: Month Six

Dear Nora-

A line from one of our bedtime stories "On The Night You Were Born" reads, "On the night you were born, the moon smiled with such wonder that the stars peeked in to see you, and the night wind whispered, 'Life will never be the same.'"

Six months we have now been blessed with you in our lives. It hasn't always been easy, or fun, and I've never felt so tired or so constantly worried. We discuss poop on a more descriptive level than I ever thought possible. I haven't watched television or read a non-baby book since you were born. But... I've also never felt so happy or so fulfilled. I love your dad even more now. I could stare at you for hours. I love watching you learn and grow. Sometimes looking at you makes my heart feel like it will burst. No, life will never be the same, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Sleeping: Sleep difficulties continued this month. We finally started getting you out of the swaddle habit. It worked pretty good the first few nights and then you realized you could roll in your crib. So you'd roll over and then start crying because you didn't know how to sleep on your tummy, and in your upset state you also couldn't remember how to roll back the other way. So we'd revert back to swaddling for a few nights so we could get some sleep, then try unswaddling again.

Eventually you were waking up 5-6 times per night even swaddled, so we decided to do a little sleep training (using the Ferber method). With both of us working/schooling, we were just getting too tired and you were getting cranky during the day too, so something needed to be done. With this method, we basically put you in your crib and leave and then you scream for 3 minutes, we go in a check on you, then you scream for 5 minutes, then 7, then 10, etc until basically you're so tired you fall asleep. :) The first night was rough- it took about 45 minutes of crying. But that night you slept through the night for the first time in weeks! Since then your sleeping has been a ton better. There has been some more crying when we first put you down, but usually only ~10 minutes at the most. Occasionally you still wake up once in the middle of the night and it can be hard to get you to fall asleep again so we're still working on it. But you now sleep on your tummy and you seem to be quickly learning how to fall asleep by yourself again when you wake up in between sleep cycles. You usually sleep from 8pm-6am, then eat and go back to sleep until 8am.

Naps are still short. Usually you take three 30 minute naps a day- or two 45 minute naps. Sometimes we get a little more, sometimes less. And I usually rock you to sleep for those... but I don't usually mind as long as it works. :)

Eating: You started solids this month! We started with oatmeal, and you seemed to like eating but were kind of "meh" about the oatmeal itself. So next we tried sweet potatoes, and you loved those! Then we moved to avocado- major dislike. You'd make the cutest "gross" face and then spit it back out. Since then we've tried banana (love- especially mixed with oatmeal, less so by itself), pumpkin (really love), green beans (love), apples (dislike by themselves- too tart maybe? okay in oatmeal), and carrots (like). You're up to eating twice a day- breakfast (oatmeal + 1-2oz fruit) and lunch (2oz veggies).

In terms of bottles, though I weaned you once you turned five months, I actually had enough frozen breastmilk saved up to give you a bottle a day for the last month. Woohoo! That means I technically made my goal of at least some breastmilk for 6 months. Otherwise, you've been on Goodstart Gentle formula and drink 30 oz a day (six bottles, 5 oz each).

Weight: All the good eating you've been doing means that you gained 4 lbs in the last 2 months. You now weigh 16lbs 10oz, and are 26.25" long. I love all your little rolls and buddha belly!

Diaper size: Size 2 pampers swaddlers. Eek, I have a new huge box of these and they're only good up to 18 lbs! Hopefully we'll get through most of them....

Clothes size: Perfectly fitting 3-6 months. You're growing so fast though I'm not sure you'll be in them much longer- maybe another 2-4 weeks? I feel like you hardly got to wear some of them....

Milestones/Firsts: First foods. Your first Thanksgiving. First time sleeping unswaddled at night. :) First time riding in the "big kid" part of the stroller instead of the infant car seat.

First time sitting unassisted! (see the youtube video here). From the time you were tripoding/gorilla sitting to the time you could sit for longer than a minute or two was about 3 weeks. Now you've been sitting up like a pro for at least a week and a half! You also learned how to blow raspberries- it's lost a little of its appeal now but when you first figured it out you spent the next 48 hours blowing raspberries. You also figured out how to jump in the jumperoo. You're quite the little jumping bean. You have perfected the "reach and grab"- nothing is safe :). You were sitting on my lap the other night during dinner and I almost lost my plate when you grabbed onto the placemat and pulled! And you are completely enamored with Mommy's hair. You can turn yourself in a circle on your tummy and have started to reach and wiggle towards objects placed far away from you. And you've started to cry if I try to take away an object you're interested in!

Likes/Dislikes: You love music and when people sing to you. You especially love "I've been working on the railroad" and "I'm a little teapot". You also love our family dance parties. You finally tolerate the carseat without crying, hurray! You love our stroller rides- though you get very serious, I think you're trying to take everything in. Daddy can really get you laughing. You still love the cats (especially Bixby because she doesn't mind too much when you pet her).

How has it already been six months? I can't believe all the wonderful things we have to look forward to in the next six before we have a one-year old on our hands. :)