A Whole Half of a Year!

Wesley is 6 months old today. Wow, a whole half of a year has gone by.

Six months ago today I was trying to take a nap and watching a really bad collection of television (because there is never anything good on to watch on a holiday unless you like sports) as I finally enjoyed an epidural! The hours ticked by and we were starting to think that this baby might hold out another day (I'd already been in labor for about 40 hours). But alas, Wes decided to make his debut in the evening after all the football games were over, and gave me the most wonderful birth experience! EVERY time I think about my VBAC I am so thrilled!

But enough about me....here's what Wes is up to these days!

 The bathroom scale says he's 17lbs. He's wearing mostly 9-12 month clothing. Some people think he's coming into his own look but others say he's the spitting image of X. No teeth yet, but he's starting to drool a lot.

- Wes is a pretty happy baby. He smiles and laughs fairly easily. He's learned to blow raspberries and put a big ol chunk of spit in my eye the other day! Xavier still ranks as his favorite person I think, and they continue to get along fabulously. Wes is content to play on his own for awhile but never turns away an opportunity to be entertained directly. He likes peekaboo and loves to be held and snuggled.

- We have started some solids this week. So far Wes has had rice cereal and a little applesauce. He seems to like both and is actually pretty good at opening his mouth for the spoon and getting the food down.

- We bid farewell to the bouncy seat, the swing, and the bumbo this past month. Our boy is just too strong for them and would try to pull himself right out. Wes is now sitting up mostly unassisted. I'm not brave enough to put him directly on the hardwoods, but he's steady enough to be left alone on the carpet. He is also very close to crawling. He gets on all fours, moves his legs all round, and rocks his butt back and forth. But he hasn't figured out that he needs to move his arms too.

- Wes has finally made friends with the car seat and only on rare occasion does he cry in the car. I can't tell you how wonderful that is! He's a light sleeper in the car though and that's kind of a bummer because he always wakes up when the car stops.

- Sleep is still iffy for the boy in general. He usually takes 2-3 naps a day but their length and times vary from 30 minutes to 3 hours. Total nighttime sleep is about 11 hours, but he's not sleeping straight through. In the past 6 weeks or so his nighttime waking has become totally erratic. He usually wakes up within an hour of going to bed and after that it's a big question mark. He could sleep 2 hours, he could sleep 7. You just never know. It's a little frustrating, but at least he goes back to sleep fairly quickly if you feed and snuggle him! I'm not into CIO, it's just not my style, so for now I'll give him the attention he needs at night.

- Favorite toys are pretty much anything he can get to his mouth! He is partial to plastic cups, board books, and an orange spatula though. He also enjoys playing (eating) blocks with X. Wes also takes great pleasure in pulling my hair and trying to strangle me to get to my necklace.

Happy 6 months Wessa Blessa!