6 months!

 At 6 months old...



-Oliver weighs 14lbs 13oz and is 25" long (these stats are official due to our recent visit to the doctor's office).

-He is so, so sweet!  He has the cutest laugh and thinks it's funny to laugh when he sees us laughing even if he doesn't know what's going on.  It's so funny!  A couple weeks ago I was reading while he nursed and whatever it was made me laugh and he started laughing at me so much he had to stop nursing to laugh!!

-He's still wearing 3-6 month and 6m clothes.  We have a few 9 month PJs, but they are so long that his legs end up in one leg opening.  Six month Carter's onesies still have a good inch of space when he's in a disposable diaper.  In a cloth diaper they fit perfect.

-Speaking of diapers... we're still going strong with cloth.  On some of these hot days I'll often use disposables when we're running errands though just because I don't want to leave dirty diapers in the car to grow funky microbes and I usually don't carry a diaper bag around all the time so it's just easier to not use cloth when we're out for long periods of time.  Our local store ran out of 7th Generation so we tried Earth's Best.  I like them.  I may post about them separately at some point.  I've also started using a disposable at night because we have had a lot of leaks with just about ever cloth combo I've tried.  I don't mind using disposable at night.  We also use disposable when we travel because washing machines always have a learning curve to what works best with cloth diapers and after a few not so great washes in other machines, I've decided to just stop traveling with cloth unless its a machine similar to ours.  We're just using FuzziBunz and bumGenius Elementals right now.  He outgrew our size one Thirsties and as much as I want(ed) to buy the next size, we really don't need more diapers.  We have 24 and it's a good amount for a couple of days (we still wash every other day).  Every now and then I run out, but I also don't wait to change as soon as he's wet.  Oh!  He is in between size 2 and 3 in disposable so we use both depending on what the store has in stock.  Right now we have size 3 and they work so we likely will just stay with 3 from here on out.

(At work with mama for an evening photo shoot.)

(Too cute for our photographer to pass up ;))

-Milestones?  Oliver is sitting up better and better!  He is still wobbly and needs support, but he's almost there.  He has recently started to go from sitting (tripod) to gently sliding onto his belly.  He can also roll back to front now!  He finally figured out how to get his arm out of the way.  It's so cute to watch him roll both ways when he plays.

-His favorite toys right now are those Lamaze stroller toys that have lots of sensory touch points and a Playskool gear toy.  He's also recently found tags (the materials/made in USA/X type of tags).  He loves to hold tags between his thumb and first finger.  He is fascinated by them.  Since he's still wobbly when he sits up, we use his crib to have some play time.  He enjoys being able to sit up and move around and I like that he's contained and won't hurt himself when he falls.  This is about all we use the crib for right now... I love that we are using it even if only for play time.

(Peek-a-boo!)

-He LOVES Nola.  She is guaranteed to make him laugh, cheer him up, or otherwise brighten his day.  Anyone who knows me (and her) knows how much I love this!!

-I recently noticed his feet... they stink!  Boys...

Total side note... 

I've been wanting to get some pictures of Oliver in his newborn hat for the longest time... it was too big for him in his newborn pictures and I wanted a shot of him on his dresser.  This is how it went down...

 (interested...)

(appeasing mom...)

(complete and utter meltdown.)

(a few apologetic stories and a breeze through the snack bar later and he was fine.)

(nap yet?)

-He continues to nurse on demand.  He is so efficient and is often done eating in about 5 minutes.  He eats four or five times each day, but sometimes it's more often depending on his mood, amount of sleep he's had, and genuine hunger.  We have not started solids yet and plan to wait a bit longer.  He's become very fidgety when he nurses and is no longer satisfied with the single act of eating so I try to keep a semi small soft toy around so he's not completely destroying whatever necklace I may be wearing.  I have a nursing necklace that has also seemed to help a little.  It can be a teether later... we'll see how that works. We have a LifeFactory teething ring that he likes to hold so that along with the nursing necklace seem to do the trick.  He also kicks his leg out while he nurses... it's like he's kicking something, but there's nothing there so it's just flailing about - this is a new thing and it's so funny!  He'll do it with is arm sometimes, but it's mostly with his leg(s).  I also love that he's big enough to find his own meal and I don't have to guide him to me anymore.  I forgot to mention this a couple months ago.  I think he started doing doing that around four months.  He's gotten better and better about it though.

He's also getting harder to nurse while walking.  I'll often nurse him while we're out and usually just carry him in my arms while he nurses since he's still so small... because he fidgets with my shirt though, he's starting to leave me hanging out more than I'd like and I'm constantly fighting him to keep my shirt down enough for both my comfort and public comfort!  So far, no one has glared, stared or complained so as long as he's light enough to hold and nurse, I'll still do it.  I sometimes use a carrier to nurse him in, but usually I'm just holding him because it's supposed (key word) to be a quick trip in and out of somewhere.

-He is becoming more and more independent, but we are still very much a unit.

(Talking to Aunt B)

-He is SO close to saying 'mama' and has a host of other babbles.  He actually says something that is 'mamamamama' but I don't really count it as 'mama.'  Maybe next month! :)

-He cries when we take things he shouldn't have.  We are gently redirecting him to other things but every now and then he will grab a USB or something of the likes and we'll have to take it quickly.

-He had a week where he would wake up several times at night, but it only lasted about five days. He's back to sleeping through the night.  Our evening routine is playtime/bath around 7:30 followed by nursing then sleep.  Sometimes he'll nurse for a few minutes, take a quick nap, and then be ready to play... when he does that we let him chat in bed.  He's usually asleep between 9:30 and 10 if not before then.  He wakes consistently between 7 and 7:30 AM.

-He loves to play with his feet and is getting better and better with his hand/eye coordination.  

(The cake should have said 'Happy 6 months Oliver' instead, the nice young girl at Sam's wrote 'Happy 6  monther Oliver.'  What the heck?!)