It's
hard to believe that 6 months have passed since Nicholas was born.
He's changed so much since last November, and we can hardly believe he's
the same baby.
two weeks old & six months old
Babies are a lot of work, and I've completely neglected our blog since he was about 2 months old. I have a lot of catching up to do. Where to begin??
Nicholas started eating solids (rice cereal) at 4 months old, and has fast become a lover of ALL foods. He hasn't met a food he doesn't like. We've introduced him to pumpkin, carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, sweet corn, avocado, bananas, pears, mango, apples & cinnamon. He especially loves pumpkin, bananas and pear. We are starting the weaning process, so he gets a bottle twice a day, one at 11 a.m and one at bedtime. He loves to nurse but he also loves the bottle and grabs it out of our hands so that he can self feed.
He is generally a very happy baby. He giggles and squeals all the time. He loves to play with his small, stuffed soccer ball and he loves to chew on just about everything he can get his hands on. He is definitely a baby that explores by putting things in his mouth. He makes us laugh by his ability to destroy a block tower. If you build it, he will destroy it within seconds of seeing it. Some other favorite toys are his stuffed Aussie animals and the moving, light-up ball Ryan brought home from Asia. Nothing gets a baby moving better than a ball that, when touched, rolls away just out of his reach.
He's been scooting around for a few weeks now. He will get up into the crawling position. But, as soon as he starts to move...he goes backwards. He can also pivot or rotate on his belly in a 360* circle. So, he tends to pivot, back up a little, pivot, back up a little more, pivot, back up some more etc. This gets him all over the living room. He is also rolling over. Since he turned 6 months, we find him in his crib on his belly every morning. Seems he likes practicing tummy time when he wakes up.
I love that his eyes light up when Ryan is near. I think he's going to be a daddy's boy. His favorite time of the day is bath time with Daddy. We've even made up a song (♪♫♪"It's your favorite time of the Night"♪♫♪) that we sing as we walk down the hall towards bath time. Daddy does bath time and mum gives him his bedtime bottle and sings a few lullabies afterwards. We have a routine and, most nights, he goes right to sleep with no fuss.
We started to see teeth buds at the end of January. So, it's been a long teething process for us since none have actually cut through yet. He was in a lot of pain the first month. We bought him a Baltic Amber Teething Necklace that he wears as an anklet and it seems to have helped. Recently, he started getting fussy again. We're not sure if it was from his 6 month vaccinations, a growth spurt, teething, reaching new milestones etc. etc... The books say they can get fussy during all these times. Ryan says, "babies are just fussy". Whatever the reason, he seems to have snapped out of it and is back to his happy, playful self. At least, until his next fussy period.
He sleeps great at night. Like I said earlier, he goes to sleep, most nights, with no fuss. We put him to bed around 6:30 pm and he sleeps 'til 6 or 7am. Some nights, he doesn't wake up at all. Other times, he'll wake up once around 3:30 or so and wants to nurse. We're REALLY trying to wean him off that middle of the night nursing. We can't complain too much. He sleeps so good at night. The daytime, however, is a completely different story. He sleeps well in the car, the pram or the swing. But, if we try to put him in his cot, the same cot he sleeps in at night, he screams his head off. For some reason, he HATES sleeping in his crib during the day. We're working on it.
I think most parents will agree, raising a baby can be both the most satisfying thing in the world and the most terrifying . There are days that run so smoothly and go by so fast. Those are the days when I feel like Super Mom. And then there are days that I feel like a failure because he was too fussy or wouldn't take a nap. I have to constantly remind myself that every day is a new day, and all we can do is our best. If the happy squeals and smiles coming from Nicholas are any indication of the job we're doing, I think we must be doing alright so far.
Our most recent family picture ~ Easter on Straddie 2012
