6 Month Update

I had originally planned for an update last week since that was supposed to be his 6 month check up on Tuesday. However, we had a big cold front come through and the doctor's office pipes were frozen. I was kind of aggravated that they didn’t send automated voice messages out because that was a morning where M decided he was not liking his car seat. He was SCREAMING when I put him in and had just fallen asleep when I got him out of the car to walk into the doctor’s office only to find a note on the door saying they would have to reschedule all appointments (SIGH). BUT they rescheduled for today and here are our updates:

All in all, Dr. S said that M was an extremely healthy baby. He basically said, “He looks great, good luck and see you next time.” It’s always funny how they fly in and out. But I didn’t really have a lot of questions so I’m not sure what else we could have talked about, ha! 

Weight: 18 pounds, 13 ounces – 64%

Height: 28.5 inches – 94% (top of his class!)

Head Width: 43 cm – 21% - I asked the doctor what this meant and if I should be concerned. He said that as long as their percentiles continue to increase every time they come in for checkups then it doesn’t matter. He said the numbers don’t really mean anything which is great because I was really concerned he is going to have an abnormally small pea-head like his mother.

Sleep: This is something that we had an in depth conversation with the doctor about. M has never had an issue with the sleep. Around 7:00 pm – 7:30 pm (depending on how tired he is) we usually start our bed time routine of reading 3 books, maybe sing a song or two, then I put on his sleep sack and lay him in bed. He will sleep until 4:30 am – 6:00 am when he will wake up and want to be fed. After he eats, I lay him back in his crib where he will talk (more like blabber) and most often fall back asleep until 7:45 am – 8:00 am. Recently, he has been waking up around 11:30 pm and then again around 2:30 am – 3:30 am wanting to be held. In the past, all we have had to do is put his pacifier back in and he will go back to sleep. But now he is wanting to be picked up and rocked until he goes back to sleep but the second we put him back down he screams. I could pick him back up and rock him again but the same thing happens when we lay him back down and he screams to the point where we have two options: continue to rock him through the night or feed him into a milk coma where he falls back asleep. The weird thing is he doesn’t do this every night and he’s only started doing this in the past month. But if he wakes up at 11:30 pm we can guarantee that he will wake up again at 2:30 am – 3:30 am. Each time we have to feed him for him to go back to sleep. Originally, we thought that maybe he wasn’t getting enough food since we were still only feeding him rice cereal for breakfast and bottles the rest of the day. But we’ve increased his meals to rice/cereal in the morning and then rice/cereal mixed with vegetables for lunch and dinner as well with bottles in between and right before bed. There’s no way the kid is still hungry. Also, like I mentioned before, it’s almost like he just wants to be held because he’ll fall asleep once we pick him up but the second we put him back in the crib he screams and then we have to put him into a milk-coma. Then we thought maybe we had let him out of his swaddle too soon. We didn’t want to put him back in the swaddle because he had gone several nights without a swaddle and did not wake up once. After several sleepless nights we tried putting him back in the swaddle. It worked for a couple of days but then one night it was the same thing.

Even stranger, we went to my sister’s house last weekend where we set up his crib in the laundry room so we could make sure we wouldn’t wake him up when we stumbled made it to bed that night. If there was a time where I thought he would wake up during the middle of the nights, it would be now since he was in a new place but he slept through the entire night both nights. So we thought we were in the clear. Wrong. Last night he woke up again at 11:30 pm and then 2:30 am. Each time I ended up having to feed him because he wouldn’t lay back down unless he was in a coma. And it wasn’t because he was hungry, he just wanted to be held.

I say all this because the Doctor Smolen asked how he was doing sleeping. When I told him about our little sleep problem lately, he asked about his bed time routine. He mentioned that around 6-7 months old, they start going through this clingy stage. It starts with babies being able to recognize who their parents/loved ones are and starting to realize the people they don’t know. When it’s people they don’t know, they will start being extra clingy to you. If they are independent babies, this might happen in the middle of the night especially. Fun fact: humans operate on a sleep pattern (or sleep cycle) where they will wake up 4 hours after first falling asleep, then 2 hours after that, and 2 hours after that. He said most of us just roll over and go back to sleep not even realizing we woke up. He said that sometimes babies can roll back over and go to sleep after that first sleep cycle. They can also wake up, play a little bit, then go back to sleep. However, in this stage it is very common for them to wake up and want to be held. Because of this, we needed to change our "routine" (I forget why, specifically). He said that based off of our routines that Mason was associating books and rocking with bed time – which is natural. He also said that since he seems to be a very active baby (he can sit up for an extremely long time and can already stand) that we need to cut out the bed time books and rocking. Instead, after bath time we need to play with him right before bed time. We also need to lose the sleep sack. Dr. S seems to think that when Mason wakes up in the middle of the night if he isn’t restricted he can move around freely and eventually fall back asleep. I can agree to this part because he LOVES moving around all the time. And last, we lose the pacifier which I am completely okay with. M usually doesn’t even need it, he just enjoys playing with it. But Dr. S said that because M was past the age of breathing issues (that’s why they encourage pacifiers) that he does not need it anymore. Dr. S does NOT want us to feed M if he wakes up during these sleep cycles because he doesn’t want to confuse M into thinking that we get fed in the middle of the night – which I agree 100%. He said that M will probably still wake up at 4:00 am – 6:00 am feedings which is normal. At this age, babies are mentally tired since they aren’t as physically active so it’s normal that they don’t sleep through the entire night. Once they become more mobile (crawling, walking) is when we can expect him to sleep later in the mornings.

Recap: no books/nighttime rocking, no pacifier, no sleep sack, no midnight feedings; instead, we let him play before bedtime and try not to go in the room after that

I’m a little skeptical on cutting the nighttime routine but I am also well aware that I am not a doctor. I will definitely give it a try in hopes for longer sleep time!

Feeding: We have a bottle (7 ounces of formula) at his 4:00 am – 6:00 am feeding; rice cereal for breakfast around 8:00 am; bottle around 11:00 am; lunch that consists of rice cereal mixed with vegetables; afternoon snack mostly of graham crackers and these organic crackers Joshy picked up; afternoon bottle (7 ounces); dinner consisting of rice cereal with vegetables; and a bed time bottle that is usually only 4 ounces.

Let me tell you, home boy can eat! When we first started working in vegetables, the small can was not big enough and it was way runny. Mason eats an entire bowl of this stuff so we had to mix in the rice cereal or else he was not going to be full. We are very glad to be moving away from the formula as it is EXTREMELY expensive!

So far our vegetables we have tried out are peas and carrots. This week we are going to start working in sweet potatoes too!

Firsts this month: trying carrots and peas; sitting up for long periods of time; pulling the camera monitor off the wall (which he has continued to do two more times); taking a big boy bath and not in his baby bath anymore; being able to stand by himself if he’s holding on to something; having hard poops (thank the Lord!! We haven’t had any more blow outs yet since they are hard – weird, right??); and we have our first tooth!! It’s on the bottom left. I can’t get a picture of it because he won’t let me, but it’s there! And it hurts!!

Developments: This is really similar to the “firsts” but here are some more. He sits up for long periods of time in the floor playing with toys. He is starting to grab a lot of things now. His grasp is a lot better. He still grabs a lot of things with his left hand so there’s still hope for a lefty! Fingers crossed, Joshy!! Also, M has found his ears. He likes flapping them and touching them. At first we thought he might have an ear infection but he was just playing with them. He has found his feet too but he doesn’t really care about those. M is VERY vocal. He loves to squawk and talk to you. Like I have mentioned up top, Mason has started to recognize his loved ones and know strangers. Hello “stranger danger!!” He hasn’t started crawling yet but he is also very tall for his age. Therefore, it will take him longer to haul his big self around. Just because he can’t crawl does not mean that he’s not mobile. He can manage to slither himself across the floor and his crib. I know that once he starts moving he is not going to stop! He can stand up if he is holding onto our hands or if he is holding onto something.

Likes: baths; bottles; carrots; every time an animal gets near him he squeals and cackles; Ms. Dawn gave him celery last week and he loves it; eating; jumping in his jumper; Lilly; grandparents; Daddy, I swear his face lights up every time he sees Joshy; Mommy – she is very funny to him; reading books; watching football; Lilly’s trampoline; standing up; rolling around in his walker; funny faces; he is really just a happy kid.

Dislikes: being hungry; getting shots; Not much here. Like I said before, he is really just a happy baby – we’re so fortunate!!

What I’m thankful for: Mason. I know this is a given but today he just made my day. I was still not a happy camper when I woke up this morning. I will admit, when I saw that Mason was up at 5:45 am, I was not excited because I was wondering if he would be in a good or bad mood. When I went into his room a little while later, he gave me his "Mommy smile." You know the one I'm talking about. The one he saves just for you. My kid smiles a lot but there is something about his smile that he saves just for me. Your entire world just gets brighter. With this smile, all of your problems just fall away and nothing else matters. It's just you and your little guy. He is constantly reminding me what's important in life. That I am important. If to no one else, to my little man. I am needed. To slow down. To put my phone away. To let things go. He is my everything and I cannot begin to tell you how complete my life is now that he's here! We love you so much Mase!!!!

What I’m looking forward to: Him to start crawling. I can't wait - but then again I can. Time is just going by wayy too fast and I need for it to slow down, now! 

Next Appointment: 9 months, April 7th @ 4:15 pm with Dr. S

How Mommy’s Doing: I'm doing a lot better. This weekend Joshy is going to meet our friends Nick & Blaire who are coming in from Vegas. I'm so disappointed I can't go but I must work that morning = boo! The following weekend we are going to Lilly's 2nd birthday party which is a gymnastics theme. She is SO excited and so cute when she talks about it. I am looking forward to the following weeks where I can just hang out at home. 

Here are a couple of pics from our trip to Raleigh last weekend along with some other randoms:

Eating Charlie Brown

I may or may not agree with Joshy... We got all these toys and the kid is content with playing with a bed sheet for 20 minutes 

I'm not sure why I have a pic of L squatting. I think she was pooping?? 

Kisses from Daddy

Hanging out with Uncle Danny

"Do I have something on my face??"

Sunday before we left Megan came over with Kinsley to have a mini playdate! 

Go Panthers! 

"Daddy passed out with his shoes on"

I'm not sure why but he LOVES Lilly's trampoline

Eating with Ms. Dawn (I'm still not sure how to turn it)

And finally, Layla was trying to get her toy and did NOT want to get it as it was near Mason. She was NOT amused by this. However, Mase was!!

Well friends, it is time. I am getting out of here. Things have been crazy busy and I really need to clean. Which really means I am probably going to bed. I hope everyone has a great week!