Carter: 6 Months

Six months! I can't believe our little man is already half a year old. Seems like it was yesterday that we were just bringing him home unexpectedly almost three weeks early. At six months, he has quite the personality, and is so much fun to be around. Honestly...in the entire six months he's been with us, I can only count one or two times that I felt like I needed a break from the whole parenting thing. This, I'm sure, has a great deal to do with the awesome support from our friends and family while we adjust to this new lifestyle.

C is a pretty serious little fella most days, and really likes to sit back and take everything in. He is not fond of surprises, and has quite the inquisitive little spirit thinking about the world around him. Contrary to many of the pictures I was able to capture this month, C has some of the biggest face splitting smiles that absolutely melt our hearts when he has a little extra attention or a good story.

Love those chubby baby thighs...

Fun with Grandpa T and Cousin J!

This month, we had a good time celebrating T's birthday!

6 MONTH FAVORITES

Snuggling

Sucking on fingers and thumb

Oatmeal

Hot tub swimming
Church

Outside

Football...attending games, reading about, watching on TV...you name it!

6 MONTH LEAST FAVORITES

Big crowds of people (when everyone is focused on C)

Loud noises

MEMORIES & MILESTONES

We took our first family vacation to Florida! I'll post more about this later after finishing unpacking our 30 bags and uploading photos, but know that it was a success, and we had an absolute blast. Carter did better than any of us expected with the flights, and by our return trip was quite the seasoned little traveler. Some of the firsts included swimming...and liking it..., playing in the sand and ocean, and walking and watching sunsets on the beach. So much fun!

Oatmeal. Otherwise known as the substance that we can't shovel into Carter's mouth fast enough. After starting out slow with the recommended one tablespoon sized serving (pretty much a joke), things gradually progressed to 2...3...4...and even occasionally 5 tablespoons in one sitting. Needless to say, due to my great difficulty with pumping (and the fact that we were on vacation and there was no chance in h-e-double hockey sticks that I was going to haul along a breast pump), we transitioned to mixing with formula instead of breast milk. C was very unsure of his feelings about this the first couple of times, but after the initial bite, has since warmed up to it. He is particularly fond of the addition of prune juice to the mix, and seems to like it better with prune juice rather than without. Good thing too, because I doubt anyone else on the planet is going to keep those prune juice companies in business. Seriously though, the latest prune juice we had to purchase was on vacation where the store carried only a fancy all natural artisan prune juice in a glass bottle. I think it cost about half a paycheck. Of course the shelf life after opening the bottle was 7-10 days, so it's not like we were ever going to get our money's worth. Ridiculous!

Carter is officially a giant. Near the middle of month five, we had to transition to 12 month sized PJs so that our little guy could have his feet in them comfortably (a necessity during the upcoming freezing cold winter). Our official 6 month checkup isn't for a couple of weeks yet (had to coordinate with T's day off so he could come along for the immunizations and the snuggling afterwards), but I've got no doubt that Carter will be top of the charts for height. At T's latest at-home-unofficial-measurement, he was about 29 inches and 18.5 lbs. We ended up purchasing this snowsuit in the 12-18 month size! He fit perfectly in the 6-12 month size, but once we picked him up after trying it on, he maybe had about one inch of extra space before it would be too small. He's still swimming in the 12-18 month sized snowsuit, but with any luck, by the time he really needs it (a.k.a. we feel like venturing out for snow activities rather than just the quick trip to the car), it'll be late December or January, and he'll fit in it a little better. Old Man Winter will likely stick around for at least the next five months, so it'd be unfortunate to get a snowsuit that wouldn't last the entire season. Let the vacation planning begin!

No more bassinet in the Pack'N'Play. Carter isn't sitting up yet, but he's exceeded the weight limits for the raised bassinet...probably around the time he was 4 months, but we didn't think to check the limits until we went on vacation. Oops! A real bummer for my back! It may be time to bust out the monitor, and move him to his own room. And cue the tears... 

C's latest trick since removing the bassinet is rearranging himself so that instead of laying the long way, he likes to lay the short way...there's a scene from Austin Powers that matches exactly what he's doing if you want a good laugh. So far, he gets to the very most narrow crammed in spot and stops with the turning, so my theory is that it's a security issue. He loves to be snuggled, so maybe this is a comfort thing. Little sweetheart. In other news...I stumbled across a baby horoscope while perusing Parents Magazine website, and the baby Taurus perfectly describes our little guy! Sweet and affectionate...likes the outdoors...craves routine...loves to snuggle. Sounds about right!

Strolling without sitting in the car seat. C is now big enough that he can sit securely in the main stroller without having to worry about bringing the car seat. We transitioned to this while on vacation, and C had so much fun walking on the beach and looking at the ocean and various sea birds on the beach, along with the rest of the world. He particularly loved when we brought the stroller up to a table when out to eat so he could be in on all of the action of the meal and watch what was going on. Our stroller, the BOB, did an awesome job on the beach while on vacation. We had no idea when we left on vacation that the sand and salt that we broke in the stroller with while walking on the beach and being in the ocean air would still be around when we got home to a snow covered landscape also filled with sand and salt to melt snow!

First wedding and hotel stay. A high school friend of T's got married in Minneapolis the weekend we returned from the Sunshine State. Luckily, C had no trouble with all of the shuffling around of sleeping situations (four different places in four nights!), and did pretty well with all of the commotion of the weekend. He enjoyed the afternoon wedding in an old church with fancy crystal chandeliers, intricate ceiling designs, stained glass windows, and music, and didn't fuss at all throughout the entire service. By the time the reception rolled around, he was pretty much topped out, and as soon as the DJ started talking on the microphone (our table was right next to the speakers on the dance floor), he got a terrified look on his face and cried for about the next hour and a half off and on until he fell asleep in my arms. In hindsight, taking a newly minted 6-month-old who is scared of loud noises and crowds of people to a wedding reception may not have been the best idea. Waaaay too much for him to handle. That being said, I know T appreciated the chance to catch up with many of his high school buddies whom he doesn't get to see too often, so we stuck it out until 9:30pm before taking C back to the hotel to get ready for bed.

First trip to The Mall of America. C LOVED the mall! He was fascinated by all of the bright lights, high ceilings, and general awesomeness that is the mall. Wonder where he got that from?!?

And just in case anyone is wondering...C looks just like his Uncle B. Seriously...they could be twins!