{six months}

Where to begin.

I was a little late taking Quincey's six month photos, so I decided to make it a "double shoot" and get some of Kaydence too for our Christmas card this year. This post is a little daunting to me because I feel like I have so much ground to cover since I am an entire month late documenting Quincey's six month milestones. As I write this, he is officially seven months. Cry.

He proves daily that he is growing too fast by the fact that all he wants to do is walk around the house all.day.long. He started walking holding our hands around six months and we soon discovered he was well on his way to be walking by seven months (just like his daddy). Unheard of, right? I need to get it on video to prove it. He is standing solidly on his own right now. And when he does fall, he just butt plants and even tries to break his own fall. Tonight, he was standing by himself for quite some time and then just took four steps all by himself. I don't know what I'm going to do with such an early walker. I'm not ready. Cry.

He still doesn't babble too much. And if he does, he just says "ghee." Today though, he was crying in his highchair after he finished eating lunch and he said "ma." That was the first time I've ever heard him make the "m" sound. Maybe he'll actually say "mama" before he says "dada." We shall see.

He went through a really rough teething spell this past month (well, technically two months, since the last time I wrote an update he was just five months). We have discovered that he really doesn't handle pain well at all...especially teething. Kaydence never really had too much of a hard time with teething as I recall, but not so for this little man. His two bottom teeth popped up shortly after he turned six months. I need to get a picture of them one of these days. They are slowly but surely coming in and they are oh so cute.

At Quincey's six month appointment he was still not sleeping through the night. He would wake 2-3 times a night yet to nurse, but he was barely eating anything during the day. I suspected he was making up for it at night. I would always nurse him when he woke up from his naps during the day. But I found that he would be so happy and alert that he couldn't stay focused on nursing and would get distracted and not eat. I talked to the pedi about it and she said to switch up his nursing from when he wakes up to before he goes down for his naps. I knew he would eat fine and most likely fall asleep, but she said to make sure to put him down awake. So for a long while I would change him after I was finished feeding him and then put him down awake. He did great and he started sleeping through the night shortly thereafter. So he would go down at 7:00 p.m. and sleep until 6:00 a.m. It was heaven to finally get a full nights sleep. I have somewhat switched back to nursing him after he wakes up now and he is doing better than he had been. Although, I do nurse him before his afternoon nap.

We hit another rough patch though when he got a cold this past month. It was such a horrible cold and on top of it he was/is teething, so it wasn't a good combo. He started waking again during the night to nurse when he was sick. But now he is back to sleeping through the night. I am so grateful...I was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen.

His daily schedule is as follows:

6:00/7:00 a.m. -- wake-up/nurse/diaper change (he then comes into our bed until Kaydence wakes up at 7:00 a.m.)
7:00 a.m. -- play 8:00 a.m. -- eat breakfast (cereal and fruit)
9:00 a.m. -- nap
10:30/11:00 a.m. -- wake-up/nurse/diaper change
11:30/12:00 p.m. -- lunch (veggies/fruit)
12:30 p.m. -- play
1:30 p.m. -- books upstairs with Kaydence (tuck Kaydence in for her nap)
1:45 p.m. -- nurse
2:00 p.m. -- nap
4:00/4:30 p.m. -- wake-up/nurse/diaper change (although, he has been skipping the nursing latley)
6:00 p.m. -- dinner (veggies/fruit -- or nibbles of whatever we are having)
6:45 p.m. -- bath (every other night)
7:00 p.m. -- pj's, nurse, bed

 ...then he'll (usually) sleep through the night until 6:00 a.m. and then it starts all over again.

He is such a sweet, sweet boy. If I leave him with someone else to run errands, etc. and come back home, he always hugs me and tries to eat my face/chin. I adore it. He loves his daddy though too. Quincey was so excited to see his daddy tonight when he came home from work...he was panting like a dog.

Quincey loves his solids now. He eats three meals a day, which he started doing around six months. He is starting to eat more and more actual solids now too, instead of all purees. How is it possible??? Seriously, where is the time going?

 He loves Baby Mum Mums. And I just started him on puffs last week and he loves those as well. He is doing really great at "chewing" bigger chunks of food now. Today I gave him carrots that were in bigger chunks (but still soft) and he did really great. I try to make most of his foods, but I do like some of the food pouches for on-the-go when needed. He has had a good variety of foods so far...they are as follows:

avocado
apples
bananas
pears
prunes
mango
peaches
sweet potatoes
pumpkin
acorn squash
spinach
millet
peas
green beans
carrots
broccoli
corn
yogurt

Hmmm...I feel like I may be missing some. His favorite is by far sweet potatoes, which was one of Kaydence's favorites too. He loves a sippy cup of water after his meal and he does really well drinking on his own.

Kaydence continues to adore her little brother. She calls him her "best buddy." She is so sweet when she talks to him in her high pitched mommy voice. If he is napping or something, she always asks "mommy, where is quincer?" She is always thinking about him. And if he is playing in the living room by himself, she will say "but mommy, Quincey is alone...he doesn't like being alone!" She keeps him good company and takes very good care of him. On days when she wakes up before him, she will always ask where he is. And when he wakes up, she is the first in his room. She takes the stool from the bathroom and takes it into his room and stands on it at the side of his crib talking to him in her most adorable high pitched mommy voice. It kills me. She is also enjoying playing with some of her old baby toys again. lol

We are gearing up for the holidays, which means lots of traveling and lots of company. This weekend, we are taking Kaydence to her very first play. I ordered a package of three plays through the Milwaukee Children's Theater (The Five Little Monkeys, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, and Pinkalicious). She has such a love of the arts...music, dance, acting...so we are so excited to expose her to the theater. My sister gets to babysit the little man.

Well, I'm sure I have missed some things, but my brain is mush right now. I will hopefully come back and add Quincey's stats from his six month appointment...when I find them. lol

And now, my babies...