Six Months

To my dear baby boy, my love for you is beyond measure Lincoln.  You have such a big part of my heart, yet somehow I fall more in love with you with each new day.  Truly, you are such a ray of sunshine in my life.  I can't believe that you are already six months old.  It's not fair how fast time seems to be going by.   I see less of that little infant that we welcomed into our lives so many weeks ago and more of a sweet little boy ready to explore the world.  Yet, I'm not quite ready for that.  I want to soak in all of your toothless smiles, sweet baby giggles and melt into every snuggle you'll give me.  I love to watch you grow, but I'm not ready for you to change quite so fast.

Today you were 16 pounds 9 ounces and 27 inches long

Lincoln still is holding out on a ton of giggles, but he sure does love things his sister does!  Some of his favorite things that makes him giggle are Isla jumping and dancing, saying 'Pea' and I can always get a giggle out of him by tickling, which he loves.  He's started sitting mostly on his own.  He is still a little wobbly, but if he is leaning forward, he can stay in that position for quite a while.  L constantly wants to stand and walk around most of the time.  That is if he's not being held facing out walking around outside.  He also is doing a great job on his tummy.  He likes to lay on his tummy and play with an assortment of toys for short periods of time.  He will chew on about anything.  Lincoln still enjoys more of his teething toys.  Lately, L's more interested in things Isla plays with vs his own toys.  He especially loves sitting and playing her little piano.  He enjoys jumping on her bed in the mornings with her, laughing at her somersaults.  He does okay in the jumper, if he's in the mood. 

In the last 2 weeks, we have been trying to adjust Lincoln's schedule to get him to nap longer.  Lately, this is what we are hoping for:

5/6 - Dream feed

7 ish - Awake

8:30 - Feed

9:30 - Nap (1/1.5 hours)

11:30 - Feed

1 - Nap (1/1.5 hours)

2:30 - Feed

3:30/4 - Possibly nap (if above wasn't very long)

4:30 - Solids

6 - Bath (every other day) and Bedtime and Feed

7 - Asleep 

Lincoln has still been getting up after 30 minutes napping.  We've made a few adjustments to help him sleep longer.  We are closing the blinds and making it darker in the room.  Once he wakes after 30 minutes, we immediately go in and pick him up/put him back to sleep.  Occasionally he will sleep for a longer stretch on his own, but not often yet.  Hoping the more we do it, the longer we start a pattern for him to sleep longer.  Fingers crossed right!? 

Nighttime depends.  Some nights he sleeps through the night.  Other nights, he wakes around 9:30 and usually one other time in the night, ranging from 12-2 AM.  Thankfully he doesn't stay awake, just feeds and goes right back to sleep.  I haven't really had to do much after the feed, I basically put him back in the crib and go back to bed.  Ha, well that's if he doesn't have to poop.  The last 2 nights he's had to poop (going on 7 days) and he was up way too much. 

Lincoln has enjoyed solids this past month.  We've tried a variety of things, from peas (which he didn't love), pears, mangos, bananas, avocado (he thinks is okay), sweet potatoes, pumpkin, peanut butter (watered down), peaches, and packets from the store of pear/quinoa and cherry/oats.  He usually will eat quite a bit at the 4:30 PM feeding.  We are still just introducing to widen his palette, but I'm excited to get to feed him more in the next few weeks.  Isla also has enjoyed feeding Lincoln a few times.  She thinks it's pretty great and I think it's the cutest thing ever. 

I've been avoiding the cloth diapers this last month.  I've used them a few times, but it's frustrating to have them be less absorbent this time around.  I need to strip them a few times and see if that will help.  Given the solids, L's poop schedule has been around every 5-7 days.  That makes me really avoid cloth diapers when I think it's coming.  It's just easier for everyone that way!   I've been giving him both gas drops as needed and probiotics every night.   He has started wearing size 3 diapers and fitting nicely in most of his 6 month clothes.  Some of his jammers are getting small, so may be moving to 9 month ones soon. 

We've all made it through our first round of sickness, which is never fun.  Isla started with a head cold and we all followed suit.  Thankfully with breastfeeding, L didn't get it as badly, but still sick nonetheless.  We still haven't seen any teeth, but I think those are coming soon.  He's constantly chewing, even more than he was before.  I still haven't fully seen or felt any pop through yet.  

We are still doing bath time in the sink tub, but L has really grown out of it.  It's quite funny, he's now started playing with everything outside of the tub.  D still bathes him and he loves it most days.  Lincoln has really started cooing and talking up a storm when he's having a great time.  That's one of my favorite things he does!  

My little six month old, don't mind your momma over here crying a little.  You are the best thing and I love you to the moon and back!