Birthing, Babies and Beyond: Six Months

It’s February 10^th and we are celebrating Wyatt’s ½ birthday. I can’t believe that I only met him for the first time just six months ago. How can someone I just met 6 months ago make such a huge impact on my life? So I finally refer to Wyatt as my baby and not my infant because sadly, those days are now gone. I don’t really quite know what I’m feeling right now. A big part of me is so sad that my little newborn infant baby is all grown up. But on the flip side, I’m so proud of him and how far he’s come both physically and mentally and I really enjoy watching him learn, discover and grow.

Just this past week he started to sit by himself very well for more than just a few seconds at a time. Actually he does very well until he gets distracted by his foot and leans over to grab it. We practice sitting a lot and building his strength. We started the month out sitting with a boppy pillow and now we no longer use it because he does just fine on his own. So I guess I can say that I officially have a sitter.

Another thing that Wyatt is working on is crawling. He hasn’t quite got it down yet but he’s determined to be mobile. I’ll often sit on the floor with him with a toy just out of arms reach and taunt him with it (while I encourage him, of course). He will snake and sliver over to it while kicking his legs and doing baby pushups. Sometimes he will move his right leg up to move forward but because he doesn’t know how to control the left leg, he mostly goes in a circle. If I had to guess, I bet he will be semi- crawling in another two weeks.

Wyatt really started to recognize the people that are so involved in his life. He smiles at Daddy when he gets home from work, cuddles with grammy and reaches out to me to be held. If he wants up he reaches up when you put your arms out. He will also show affection by giving out hugs and kisses. Something I noticed quite recently is that if I say “Kiss” he will put his hands out on my face and bring my face in to slobber on me. This could all be coincidental, of course. It’s really hard for me to determine if he really understands what that means, It’s still cute though.

We have an expert roller on our hands. He rolls everywhere and when he sees a toy he wants, he just rolls over to it and picks it up. Along with rolling he also does well with picking items up and is now fascinated with watching them drop or roll away. I can give him something to hold and he holds it (or will intestinally drop it to watch it fall). He holds his own bottle now and even holds it up at an angle to ensure good flow.

The great thing about having a six month old is how self sufficient they are starting to get. I’m actually starting to feel spoiled! I no longer have to find a bouncer to place him in, he’s perfectly happy and safe being on the floor. Although I’m still nursing, I no longer have to constantly feed him and he will take and hold his own bottle. He keeps himself occupied with his many toys so I have the freedom to do things that I couldn’t do before like help with dinner or use the bathroom without holding a baby.

Wyatt has now been on solids regularly for a month. He eats twice a day; once in the afternoon and once in the evening. He’s doing really well although he really isn’t a big fan of vegetables. Who can blame him? So Wyatt has now had avocado, oatmeal, sweet potato, squash, banana, peaches, pears, prunes, green beans, carrots, sweet peas, and blueberries. By far his favorite is still sweet potato but he also loves pears. Sweet peas and green beans were both tried 5-7 times and it has been confirmed that he hates both. This next month I’m going to continue to try different vegetables, make some combinations, and introduce yogurt into his diet. As a result to eating solids, Wyatt has been sleeping better and his poop has been more solid. It was actually quite shocking the first time Wyatt passed a “grown up” poop. Something that happens but I guess I wasn’t expecting. I know that you’re all so interested in hearing about my son’s bowl movements.

We finally transitioned Wyatt to his crib and everyone has been sleeping better. Really, it was very hard for me to let go and allow him to sleep in his crib at night. I was very nervous to do so and still get up several times to check on him. He sleeps so well in there and is typically only up once a night and then gets up for the day between 4-5am every day. Eventually I’d like to have him sleep until 7am and that is definitely my goal before he starts daycare in March.

This past week was the very first time I really did something for myself and I went to the salon and had a haircut! It’s so hard to find the time to do little things like this but it feels good to be pampered once in a while. I also had a nice baby-free breakfast with my bestie, Jen and her beautiful daughter, Zoey. It was so nice to get out of the house and visit with them and we discussed our 2012 girls trip which will take place at the beach this year in late June. Jen and I love going to the beach and swimming in the Ocean. My other two girlfriends, Dawn and Sunita don’t like the ocean quite as much but they do enjoy relaxing on the sand and we can often convince them to join us in the ocean for a little bit. I’m really, really excited for this and it’ll be happening at a perfect time. I’ll be done nursing and I’ll definitely feel secure enough to leave my little guy behind at 10.5 months old.

Oh, and speaking of nursing, I have officially met my goal! I never thought I could do it and I really wanted to give up so many times. It was really challenging for me to continue nursing but I’m so glad I did. I don’t think I’ve ever had as much willpower in my life and I’m just really proud of myself for making it this far. I plan to slowly ween over the next couple of months and stop completely by May.

Glen joined a new band and so far it’s going really well. He’s finally able to write and play the music he’s always wanted to and he’s working with a great group of guys. Glen doesn’t want to be tied down and totally committed right now so this is just something he does on the side when he does have time. I encourage him to get out once in a while and play music because he loves to do it and I don’t want him to give that up.

Our friends, who we met in baby class, invited us over to share Superbowl Sunday with them and we had a really great time. There was a total of 5 adults and 2 babies but there was enough food for a 20 person party. The babies interacted with each other and we ate, chatted and watched the Superbowl. Madonna played the halftime show (for those living under a rock) and she did a fantastic job. We did have to leave immediately after the half time show in order to get Wyatt to bed but those couple pre-game hours were very nice.

Our lives have become so consumed by our son that it’s somewhat challenging to have much of a social life outside the house of Charron. We do try to schedule one thing every week that gets us out of the house with or without the baby and that seems to be a realistic goal for the time being. Hopefully as Wyatt gets older and on a better schedule we will have a little more flexibility.

Cutie in a blue Sleeper