Baby AJ: Month 6 Update

My little baby is 6 months! It's taken me way too long to write this update. I've been a little lazy and haven't felt like taking the time to comb through the months photos. Better late than never, right?

I seriously cannot believe 6 months have gone by and my little baby is half a year old already. I want time to slow. I want him to be a baby forever! I'm just loving this stage so much I don't want it to end, but I'm sure I'll love his next stage even more.

6 Month Stats:

Weight: 17 lbs 13 oz 

Length: 26.75 inches
Diaper size: Size 3
Clothing size: 9 month

Nicknames: Bubs, munchkin, baby boy, grumpster, sweetie, sweetie pie, sweetums, little guy, cranky pants, Boo Boo Bear (this is a new one and now what I usually call him), Boo Boo, Ace (This is grandpa's nickname for him)

Health: Still no sickness-thank goodness!

Sleep: I feel like a lot has changed in this department and not necessarily for the better. We started transitioning him to his crib. I started nursing him for his last nursing session before bed in the glider in the nursery and then putting him down in his crib. Before when he would wake, we would move him to the pack and play in our bedroom. Then in March, when Jack was on spring break, we just decided to move him to his crib all night. He slept there for almost a week. He continued to wake up every hour after we put him down. And he would wake with full on crying. Only I could soothe him back to sleep. Then Jack was having to go in there a lot during the night and sometimes spending an hour or more trying to put him back to sleep. The kid was waking up every 2 hours! It was like we had a newborn again. Ugh.

We were both getting pretty sleep deprived and it just wasn't working for any of us. So we started bringing him to our bed when he would wake around the time that we were going to bed. It was so much easier. He can easily nurse all night long for as much as he wants, and he just seems to sleep so much more soundly cuddled up next to me. The first few nights were rough for me, because I wasn't used to sleeping on one side for so many hours. After about a week though, I adjusted and am now feeling much more rested. It's working for now. I have hopes that eventually he'll start stretching out the first stretch of sleep in his crib.

While Jack was on spring break, he basically nap trained him. He worked with him and we started getting 1+ hour naps! It was amazing. All he did was just go in there around the 30 minute mark, when he would start to stir, and hold his arms down or give him a paci and he would just drift right back to sleep. We even had a few 2 hour + naps this last month. Sometimes we still only get 40 minutes out of him, but he has much improved in the nap department. Sometimes we don't even have to go in there the help him back asleep. The longer naps have meant more of a predictable nap schedule. He usually takes three approximately 1 hour naps a day. This is so much better than the 4-5 30 min naps he was doing before.

Diet: Pretty much still exclusively breastfed. We did give him his first solid foods one week shy of turning 6 months. He was showing all the signs of readiness (sitting up with little assistance and bringing objects to his mouth and chewing on them). We decided to go with a baby led weaning (BLW) approach, which means we're skipping purees. His first food was sticks of roasted sweet potatoes. He didn't actually eat any of it, but he enjoyed exploring and munching on it. I hope to do a post soon on BLW and his first foods.

Baby Gear Love:
-Infant car seat with stroller frame: still loving this and it's proven to be useful still. Only problem is the car seat is super heavy with him in it now. We'll probably switch to a convertible car seat soon.
-Halo sleep sacks: no more swaddle for our baby. He now wears a sleep sack to bed.
-Sassy links: See pic below. He loves to chew on these links and they come in handy for securing other toys.
-Sophie: He still loves his Sophie teether.
-Bibs: Man this kid drools like crazy. He is always wearing a bib because I would otherwise be changing his shirt every five minutes. My favorites are from this Etsy shop and this one.

Loves: his bath every night, sitting up & playing with toys, standing with assistance, when we blow raspberries on his belly, grabbing objects and chewing on them (everything goes into his mouth), playing with his feet and chewing on them, being tossed in the air, when we sing and talk to him, our dog Sadie, sitting on the front lawn and people watching, sleeping on his side

Dislikes: He's such a happy little guy, but he does get pretty cranky when he's tired. He also doesn't enjoy being on his tummy for very long.

Milestones: No rolling from back to belly yet. But he can sit all on his own. He doesn't topple over very much and he's learned to better use his arms for support. He can even sit and play with toys.

Other things of note about month 6: 

-He is a really happy baby and laughs and smiles all the time. I never tire of his smile.

-He had his first St. Patrick's Day. We invited Grandma, Grandpa, Great Grandma & Great Uncle Jess over for some corn beef and cabbage. He loved all the attention!

-We took a small little road trip to Wind Wolves. It's really beautiful there this time of year and there's a nice walking trail and picnic area.

-We had an early Easter at my Parent's house.

-We spent his first Easter just the three of us. We managed to go to the park for a little bit.

I love this little man with all my heart. Both Jack and I are just so obsessed with him. Ha! He is just the center of our universe and we love him so much.