6-month pictures

6-month check-up

For the past 2 months I've been anxiously waiting for Mason's 6-month appointment. I was better about not stressing about his weight for those 2 months, but it still worried me in the back of my mind. I was really hoping he would move up in percentiles because we can all tell Mason is chunking up. Unfortunately, moving up was the opposite of what happened. He measured in at 25.25 inches (12th percentile), 14 lbs 15 oz (10th percentile), and his head was 42.5 cm (20th percentile). So, he's dropped in all of his measurements. I almost started crying after the nurse read the numbers to me. I really thought he would have gone up not down. I prepared myself to have a not-so-good discussion with the doctor, but amazingly she didn't seem too concerned. She said he is proportionate and meeting his milestones, so she was happy. She encouraged me to increase his solids and continue the milk routine. After his check-up came the yucky shots, and just like his 4 month shots, he cried until I picked him up and then he was fine. So, not the visit I was hoping for, but I guess I can't ask for more than a healthy, happy baby at the end of the day.

Happy half birthday to my little man

I thought time went fast when you have a child. But, time seems to go even faster once you have 2 children. The past 6 months have been such a mix of struggle and joy but they have led us to a great place in our family and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The past month has brought an explosion of milestones for Mason. It was like he hit 5 months and decided "Ok, I'm a big boy now. Its time to have fun."
*He rolled belly to back for the first time and then 2 minutes later rolled back to belly for the first time. (May 15) He now uses rolling as his mode of transportation and rolls everywhere. He's trying really hard to army crawl and as soon as he learns to move his legs behind him he will be gone.
*Now that he can roll, he spends a lot more time playing on his belly. At first, he would scream when he rolled to his belly because he didn't like being there. But now I think he enjoys being more upright to play.
*He started sleeping on his belly. When he sleeps on his belly for a nap, it will often last 2 hours.
*First tooth (right central incisor) broke June 25, 2nd tooth (bottom left central incisor) followed on July 2
*First fishing trip
*First Independence Day
*Started solids July 8, still drinking 30 oz of milk per day. So far he has only eaten oatmeal and butternut squash, but he loves them both (after a few ugly faces at first)
*We gave him his first sippy cup to start practicing with and he got his first taste of water. Not a big fan for now.
*He has discovered he can suck on his toes while I change his diaper.
*He can sit tripod style for a few seconds and sit upright with his hips supported
*He's now sitting in the high chair straight up and loves to have the tray on to play with his toys
*He is starting to drop that 3rd nap, which would allow us to have a lot more freedom in the afternoon.
*His favorite toys are the mirror attached to his play mat and the teething butterfly.
*He loves textures and always trying to find something to rub in his hands or on his face.

A picture of the video monitor the first time I caught him sleeping on his belly

Rubbing the blanket in his hands and on his face

Splashing in the water table for this first time (picture taken by Aubrey on my phone, I was pretty impressed)

Exploring this new sippy cup thing

I just want to remember this

Its sometime after midnight but I can't sleep and wanted to pull these thoughts out of my head while they are still fresh. Mason's movement monitor went off right before midnight. I don't think he really stopped moving/breathing for 10 seconds. I think the sensor has a hard time picking up his movement now that he sleeps all over the place and on his belly. Either way, the noise from the monitor probably jolted him enough that his movement could be picked up again. This is usually the case anytime the monitor goes off and I can usually ignore it and go on about my business. But, sometimes if he doesn't move into a position where the monitor can sense him again it will go off again and I didn't want everyone to wake up if that happened. So, I decided to go to his room and move him towards the middle of the crib. Of course, as soon as I opened the door to his room his little head popped up. He was none too happy when I rolled him over and he let me know it. I knew he would probably keep screaming if I left because he probably thought I was coming in to get him up to play. I decided to pick him up from the crib and try some snuggle time. Mason is not a big on cuddling unless we are snuggling in my bed first thing in the morning. He likes to be held, but he usually wants to have his head straight up and wants to see what is going on. I sat down with him in the glider, but the screaming only got worse. He has not let me rock him in the glider in months so I wasn't too surprised with that. So I stood up and started doing the old rocking/singing routine that used to be a part of our bed time routine until it he started fighting going to sleep. To my amazement, after a few minutes Mason put his little head down on my shoulder and let me rock and sing to him while he relaxed. I had forgotten how good it feels to have a baby snuggled on my shoulder like that. I started crying right there. I miss rocking my baby. He is growing so fast and before long he won't fit in my arms like that. But, tonight he let me hold him and rock him in the dark of his room and I loved every second of it. I rubbed his back, sniffed the yummy baby smell on his hair, and enjoyed the feeling of his face touching my neck. Being a mom is so tough sometimes, but not this. This was perfect and I wish I could bottle it up forever.

Father's Day Pictures

Yeah, I know. Its July already and I am just adding Father's Day pictures. Oh, well.

My favorite outtake from the day

We have teeth..and a new solids eater

Todd prides himself on being the teeth spotter in our family. He was the first one to see teeth on Aubrey and he continued his tradition by spotting Mason's first tooth. After what seemed likes months of drooling and fussiness, that first little tooth (bottom left central incisor) popped through on June 25. And just like Aubrey, the 2nd tooth was not far behind. After 2.5 hours of overnight screaming, the bottom right central incisor made its appearance on July 1. Now that those 2 teeth have broken through our little man is such a happy baby. I know those first 2 teeth are usually the most painful so I am glad he is in better shape. Thankfully when the next round of teeth start coming through we can use ibuprofen instead of just Tylenol. Not that I look forward to them coming in, but at least we'll have more powerful tools in our arsenal to fight them.

And now that teeth are coming in, its time to start solids. I was so leery of starting solids this time. With Aubrey I was so excited and anxious to start real food. With Mason's allergies, I am a lot more worried about any possible reactions that can happen with food. I had to do some research to find oatmeal he could eat because the regular old Gerber oatmeal contains soybean oil. I found a few brands that we could try so I picked up a can of Happy Babies oatmeal a few weeks ago and had it in the pantry to wait on the big day. I know how much more work adding in real food is so I was in no hurry to add more in. But, he was supposed to be 6 months old today so I knew the time was now. We fixed up a little cup of the soupy oatmeal/breastmilk combo and strapped him in his seat to try it out. He was pretty excited about the first few bites and wanted to get his hands all in it. But, I think he quickly got over it and decided he didn't like it quite so much. He ate about 1/4 of a tablespoon which is decent for the first try. We'll keep with the oatmeal for a few days before we add in some veggies and then fruit and then start in on the fun combinations. I need to start cooking and freezing his food over the next few weeks and hopefully I'll have a good little selection to choose from as we try stuff out.

Testing out the spoon before the big show

Looking none too thrilled at this point

Just Fishin

When Todd and I went to a wedding a few weeks ago, Todd's dad and aunt took Aubrey fishing on the farm's pond. They said she had a great time with it so we went out and bought a fishing pole for her. She picked out a very cool Disney Princess fishing pole and backpack and practiced quite a few times in the backyard with it. We found a little place to fish at Latta Park on Mountain Island Lake so we took the kids and our gear to check it out. Aubrey was excited to do some real fishing again when we got there. But, after a few casts, she decided the dirt was more interesting and so she handed me her rod while she played. The fishing spot was not the greatest because there were a lot of boats in the water, which made it too choppy to catch anything. But, for a non-fisher, even I had a good time sitting out there with the family. We really would like to get a boat and go further out on the lake for some serious fishing, but its just not in the funds for now. Until then, we'll stick to the land and hopefully find a quieter spot.

Aubrey fishing for the first time with Grandpa

Fishing with her daddy

Me holding the rod and the baby

Soccer time

We decided that Aubrey needed a summer activity to give her an outlet and get some exercise. We threw around a few ideas from swimming, to soccer, to a mini camp and ultimately soccer won out. A co-worker told us about the Lil' Kickers program and her son seemed to like it so I researched and decided to sign Aubrey up. I didn't really know how she would like it, but she likes to run and loves to be around other children so I thought it should be ok. The first session she was so excited. I let her warm up to the idea once we got there by kicking around a soccer ball on the field with her. She seemed to be ok with it so I went to observe from the sidelines and she happily played for the hour. She struggled a little with the exercises, but seemed to enjoy herself so I thought it was a great choice for her. The 2nd session Todd invited his parents, his sister, and her boyfriend to watch and it went downhill. She didn't want to play unless Todd's sister was on the field with her. We thought maybe it was just an attention thing because she loves both of our sisters and loves getting attention from them, so we hoped it would be better the next session. Today was the 3rd session and it was pointless. Aubrey wanted nothing to do with following directions. She would sit down on the field, barely kick the ball, and run away from the others while they played. She also refused to let me leave the field. The coaches are angels and have a great deal of patience, but I could tell Aubrey was wearing them a bit thin today. She said she had fun and was excited to get her hand stamps at the end, but I'm not 100% sure if she really wants to keep going. We'll finish this season out, which is 7 more weeks and then decide if we want to keep going.

Posing before the 1st session

Showing off her stamps after the 1st session