One-Hundred-Eighty-Four Days Happy, To You Baby C!

Carter Michael, hot diggity. You are six months old. You have the patience of your Mama and the stubborness of your Daddy. And you never miss a moment to showcase either of those traits. Boy, you are in for some trouble, that's for sure! It has been an absolute blast and a sheer gift to watch you grow this past month. Once again, you never cease to amaze your loving family, but for the love of all things baby, would you please stop growing so quickly? I think I may have sprouted a grey hair or two over these last thirty days.

I'll return here to fill in your measurements once we see your Pedi on the 10th, but until then, I would venture to say you're weighing in at around 19 pounds and are 29.5 inches in length. This places you in the 68th percentile for weight and the 97th percentile for height. Carter, you're the average size of a 10 month old. Holy smokes.

You're wearing 9month white onesies both shortsleeve and long. You're wearing 6-12 month tops and 9 and 12 month pants. Your nighttime stretchies (or jamjams) are being packed away at the speed of light. This month alone you outgrew all of your 9 month stretchies and fit perfectly into your 12 month ones. This means family, if you're reading this, we'll take some 12-18 month stretchies, please! Daddy would rather try and cut the feets off of all your jamjams, but thankfully Mama won't let him!

You wear size 3 diapers and thanks to one of mommie's blogfriends, you're wearing size 4's overnight. You're also wearing size 3 shoes, but who knows for how much longer! 

Speaking of overnight, for two weeks now you've been sleeping in your crib like a big boy. I know, I know. Hold the phone. You're no longer sleeping in your bassinet next to our bed and although that makes Mama a little bit sad, she was starting to worry that you'd be sleeping there until your 19th birthday!

You  go down for the night between 7 and 8pm and typically wake up for a short bit around 4am when we can hear you blowing raspberries and talking to puppy over the monitor. You easily put yourself back to sleep but then wake for the day around 7:30am.

Naps are either here nor there and there's no rhyme or reason as to when you'll take one. You've started taking a short one almost daily just these past couple of weeks but it's no guarantee. You're still the happiest baby on the block regardless of whether or not you've napped, but Mama would appreciate if this new nappage continues.  

Let's just hurry up and get to the fun stuff already, right? You celebrated your first New Year and both you and Mama were out before the ball dropped. It takes a lot to be that cool, Baby C!

You love taking your two hands, grabbing onto either side of my face and smushing your mouth and nose into mine. We're going to pretend that's you giving Mama "kisses" but we both know it's just you slobbering all over Mama's face.

You've started viciously shaking your head side to side when you're tired of something and ready to move onto the next new thing. For example, when you've decided that you're ready for milkies and finished eating fruits and veggies in your high chair (this doesn't mean Mama is done feeding you, but that's your Daddy's stubborness shining through) you shake your head side to side and refuse to open your mouth for your spoon. Awesome, Baby C. Just awesome.

You detest having your faced wiped. When Mama comes at you with a wipey or dampened towel, you stick out your tongue, blow raspberries and turn your head away. Such a stinker, you are.

This month, we've added apricots and greenbeans to your menu. And as usual, you love them both. Mama steams the apricots with organic pear juice and they're shaping up to be one of your faves.

You've also started eating mashed avocado with a hint of banana mixed in. It's so much tastier with that 'nana added! During the next few weeks, we're going to try butternut squash mashed with apple and maybe even some pumpkin! Maybe this will be the month that Mama starts adding a bit of cinnamon to the mix. We'll see! 

You're absolutely obsessed with faces. Noses, lips, ears. You name it. You love to grab, pull, twist and yank. Word to the wise? It's not very nice, Baby C and it hurts like the dickens!

This month you started storytime at the Library as well as Stroller Strides. Life is so much different now that we're getting out and about and making mom-and-baby friends. You're not too sure when all the attention is on you, but I know that'll change with time. You're such a feisty little ham at home, Baby C. It's inevitable!

You love being in your walker and will tolerate scooting around the kitchen for as long as thirty-five to forty minutes. Baby C, you have no idea how amazing that is. This allows Mama to prep dinner, fold laundry AND tweet/blog. Sheepie loves this time with you as well. He's constantly bringing you his toys and dropping them into the Jeep with you.

You've been sitting up entirely by yourself this month and are doing a great job at "catching" yourself as you start to topple over. Just within these last few days, you've started "rocking" back and forth in the direction of a toy that's just outside of your reach. Carter, Mama can't take you being mobile yet, so let's hold off on that for at least another month or so?

You've FINALLY started rolling belly to back and although it's very few and far between, I know it's happened because once you're in your crib, you're a rolling machine. Looks like you and your buddy Smith are truly growing to be mirror images of each other! Hopefully you'll get to meet him in May!

Carter, you love to make noise. Whether it's the screamies or banging things around, you are certainly not a quiet child. You love to bang measuring spoons and plastic cups and bowls when you sit in your high chair. Over and over and over again. Mama tried sitting you down with a wooden spoon and pot, but all you did was nom the spoon. Maybe you'll catch on in the next few weeks.

Speaking of high chair, you've done very well teaching your Mama how to "fetch." Spoons, bowls, toys, nunni's.. you name it, you've tossed it from your chair and yelled for Mama to pick it up. Sheepie loves this game as it as afforded him a handful of baby spoons to chew. Don't worry, we'll just add that to your ever-growing tab, Carter-ito.

Still a drool-machine. Still no teeth. If one more person asks Mama, "where's your teeth?" She's going to slap them. Your Daddy and I were both late teethers, so we don't expect any teefies for at least another month or two (or evern three). It's okay though, we're in no rush!

One of Mama's favorite games to play with you is to yell, "Yaaaaaaaay!" over and over and over again. Each time that she does it, you chime in with "Aaaaaaaaay!" Really, it's the cutest thing ever in the whole wide world and we even caught it on video. Don't ever stop that!

You love bathtime. When I say "love," I mean, you really, really love bathtime. Mama runs the water while we undress in your room and as soon as you hear that faucet filling up your duck tub, you get ten kinds of happy. Mama and Daddy can't wait to take you to the beach house this summer and show you the ocean! Don't worry. With your Daddy's fair and pale skin, you'll be wearing a turtleneck until you're 18.

You love Sheepie, Sophie, Blue Puppy, red Solo cups and Mortimer the Moose. Unfortunately, Morty had a run in with the Yuengling you knocked off the table and so he now smells like frathouse. Hopefully we'll replace him soon because he really is one of your favorites. 

Oh, right. Knocking things over. You are obsessed with pulling things off and over on the kitchen table. Coffee mugs, beer and most recently, the Brita water pitcher. While sitting on Mama's lap, she went to move her coffee mug out of your reach (see, she learns her lessons quickly!) and in the 8 seconds it took her to do that, you managed to pull the entire Brita off of the table and onto the floor.  

 Lil' squishy, you're just the most awesomest little guy in the whole world. We hope each day you know how loved you are and how happy you make your Daddy and me. Thanks for keeping us on our toes and for reminding us how lucky we are to be your parents. We love you much and lot's and bunches. Happy Six Months, to you!