6 Months

(Apologies to anyone still reading - I'm behind with blogging as usual. I love to document everything about Maxwell...in my mind, but when it comes to typing it all up I dread it!!)

Maxwell hit the 6 month mark in May. As usual, we showed up at his doctor's appointment with some kind of ailment. This time it was pink eye. Which was strange because no one at his daycare had pink eye!

Below are his stats:

Weight: 14 lbs., 10 oz. - 6% (he went down 1% - his Dr. still isn't concerned since he's eating just fine) 
Height: 27 in. - 69% (he's long and lean - not sure where he got that from!)
Head Circumference: 44 cm - % (nice and average on this one)


Sleep
Maxwell is a stellar sleeper! The only time he doesn't sleep a full 12+ hours is when is congested and can't suck on his fingers to self soothe or when a tooth is coming in and he's just plain in pain! I just joined another book club so leaving him after I've put him down is much more relaxing knowing that he's down for good.

He goes to sleep around 6:30. I pick him up from daycare and we take a walk with Samson. Then we start the bedtime process. I've tried keeping him up until 7 but he's too exhausted to stay up much past 6:30. He starts to get the dazed...put me to bed...look.

Up until two nights ago he would sleep mostly on his side. I'm sure this is normal for all babies but he moves so much in his crib. He rotates in a circle at least three full times throughout the night. Two days ago, I woke up and saw that he was on his belly asleep. And since that night he has been on his belly to sleep most of the time now. The problem with this is he can't move around as easily. I think he gets uncomfortable and can't remember how to flip back. So the past couple nights he has made some noise a bit. The noise could have also been because of the recent ear infection he's fighting!

On his belly with his rear flying high!

Eat
We started Maxwell on solids right after he turned 5 months. My plan was to wait until 6 months but after one random night where he wanted to eat every two hours in the middle of the night I thought it might help (even though I've read it doesn't really help!) We started with oatmeal. I'm not sure how I expected him to react but he seemed unimpressed. I thought it was just oatmeal - that'a pretty unimpressive meal! We moved on to sweet potatoes, peas, bananas, and avocado.

He was still a little too small for the highchair so Mike had to hold him the first time.

For the first few weeks I wasn't very consistent in feeding him. If Mike worked late then typically I skipped feeding him because it was hard to do alone (he didn't fit great in his high chair yet). Also, we ran into the issue that at the end of the day he was just ready for his bottle and his crib. He didn't have any patience for the food I was so excited for him to try. Finally a friend recommend I have his day care feed him when he is more rested during the day. This piece of advice was golden to me. I really wasn't sure how I was supposed to get a meal in before we passed out for the night.

By 6 months, he was eating twice a day at school. Recently, I just started feeding him in the morning to fit in a third meal. Again, he has no patience at night and I didn't want to sacrifice our evening walks to get in the meal. It actually works out perfectly.

A note about his food. At this point, I am making all of it and I'm really enjoying it. When I don't enjoy doing it anymore, I'm sure I'll start buying prepackaged food. To make the food, I wash, peel and chop it and throw it in the steamer basket. When I can stick a fork in it (5-7 minutes depending on what it is), I dump the fruit/veg into the water that was steaming it and then I use my emersion stick to blend it all up. Once it's cooled a bit, I spoon into ice cube trays and stick in the freezer. For apple sauce (or Pearapple Sauce) I stew the fruit in with the water and blend it up. I usually make one or two things every weekend. This weekend I made Rutabega (tastes like squash, a little sweet) and Carrot/Parsnip mix.

I also recently got a Squeeze Station so I can make food packets to use on the go. I can use a spoon attachment to feed him at this age or when he's older he can feed himself. This is one of the coolest appliances I own! So easy to use! Although we haven't used one of the packets yet, I think it'll be used quite often in the future!

The Squeeze Station!

Play
Maxwell is not sitting up yet, so his playtime happens when he is lying down or at school when he's put in the Bumbo chair. I've been eagerly awaiting him to sit up because I feel like he would have much more fun playing that way. We did get him a bouncy activity chair that he loves.

He is still a very smiley baby. You used to have to make a funny noise for him to smile at you but now all I have to do is give him a big smile and he'll smile back. It is the sweetest thing! He still loves to giggle and laugh when we are goofy with him or tickle him.

He is still "talking" a lot and mostly making "B" sounds, "baa baa baa" and some "D" sounds. This leads me to believe that Dada will come before Mama. Although, we are still betting on his first two words being "Samson, No!"