Sunday, February 6, 2011

6 months


Current weight: 16 lbs 8 oz

Length: 27 in

I can't believe a half of a year has already gone by! This past month Max went on his first vacation. On the 15th the two of us boarded a plane and began our trip to St. Augustine, Florida where I went to college. I missed my friends so much, and I had to get Max down there to meet his aunties. Max loved flying, and had a great time getting tons of attention from Dani, Cally, and Heather. We went on walks, shopped on St. George Street, visited the beach, saw the fort, and even went downtown for the Nights of Lights. It was a wonderful trip, I forgot how much I missed it there!

Likes: Max likes to grab everything in sight. If he spots something in arm's reach, its instantly in his hands, then in his mouth. He also has begun to really enjoy Sophie- his teething giraffe. This was my one splurge, but these things seemed amazing so I had to get it for him. Just in the past few days has he really started to chomp on her. He also really likes to sit up now, this is great for him since he always likes to see whats going on. I think of all things, he likes to have his picture taken the most. He cracks up and definitely knows how to smile for the camera.

Dislikes: Somewhere along the line, Max stopped using pacifiers and doesn't seem to enjoy them at all anymore. Just a few months ago I was worrying that he was so dependent on them, that sometime down the road we would have a hard time breaking him of using them. I'm not really sure when he stopped using them, but he definitely wont take them anymore. He has also had a super tough time in the car lately. He either sleeps, or screams and its not fun to drive with. Most times, clapping your hands can get him to stop, though. Its pretty funny to watch!

Sleeping habits: Ohhhh where do I start? It's been a rough month with many ups and downs. Max would always wake up the instant I put him down, and it was at least an hour process to get him to bed. Then I went to Florida, and Dani used her magic baby whisperer skills on Max and discovered that when you lay him down, you just have to roll him on his left side, pat his butt a little, and hes out like a light. So when I got home, sleeping was a breeze- for 3 days. Then Max would fall asleep, stay asleep for about an hour at a time, until he would wake up screaming and needed to be rocked back asleep. This went on for over a week, until I hit utter exhaustion. Getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night was not good for either one of us. Then, a few days ago, I laid Max down and he woke up about an hour later. I hit my breaking point. My back was killing me from toting around Max in his car seat all day and I just knew I couldn't get up every hour through the night while bouncing/rocking him. So, I let him cry. I swore I never would, but I couldn't be the mom I wanted to be with 4 hours of sleep a night so I had to do it. It only took him 15 minutes to get himself back to sleep and we haven't had any problems since!! I am so thankful to be getting some sleep again.

Eating: I made it to my goal!! Max has been breastfed for 6 months now, which was initially how long I wanted to make it. Since we made it that far, and I have no desire to stop, I would now like for Max to never be fed formula. This probably means another 6 months of nursing him. Nursing Max is way easier than I thought it would be, and rarely has been an inconvenience for me. He has also stated out eating fruits and veggies and so far has tried avocado, sweet potato, squash, peas, carrots, and pears. Next will probably be bananas. He also has cereal or oatmeal mixed in with milk every night for dinner. Hes definitely making progress with keeping the food in his mouth.

What he has learned: Max had learned to sit up on his own, while being able to grab things around him. While at Sandy's last week he went from laying down to sitting up all on his own! He does this in his bouncer a lot now, which makes life difficult for me sometimes because now I have to actually strap him in. We are currently working on making animal sounds, and he can sometimes screech like a monkey. Yeah I know monkeys don't screech...but they do if you ask Max! Its very cute, and he loves when I go “oo oo ah ah” like a monkey.

What I have learned: I have learned to stop following statistics and studies that come out about babies. When I was a baby, parents were told to put babies on their tummies to sleep, and we are now told not to- that babies need to go to bed sleeping on their backs due to SIDS. At one point, studies were taken to prove that vaccinations are linked to autism, and recently they have found out there is no link between the two. Then a few weeks ago I read that now parents should give their kids peanuts before two years and that solids should be started at 4 months debunking the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation that babies should be strictly breastfed until 6 months of age. So I have learned to do whats right in my mind, what makes me feel comfortable and safe in raising Max because following the current studies will just mean that sometime down the road, I will probably be kicking myself because it will be proved wrong.

These 6 months have went by so quickly! I am hoping the next six do as well, I am ready for warm weather and trips to the lake!