Dearest Zachary,
Today, you turn 6 months old. And you are such a joyful little guy! But before we talk about your 6th month, I need to talk about your 5th. Yes, I am sorry. I skipped a month. Things were really busy when you turned 5 months old (Nee-Nee's birthday, Nee-Nee and Pop-Pop's Anniversary, Father's Day, etc) and by the time I had time to write it you were practically 6 months, so I decided to wait. So, what's happened since my last letter?
Well, you had just learned to truly belly laugh when I last wrote, and now you do it daily. No one is funnier to you than Ryan. Things that I think will make you scared (like him jumping in front of your face and saying, "Hi!" or "Bah!" rather loudly) you just find hysterical. And of course, that only eggs Ryan on. He does a lot of jumping in front of you and yelling! :) You also laugh whenever mommy makes silly noises. Sometimes you smile and laugh at Daddy just because he's there. You think he's hilarious and you get very happy and excited each day when he comes home from work. You really, truly, are happy most of the time.
Yes, I said most of the time. Because, as I said to the doctor at your 6 month appointment, "He's the happiest, most joyful baby you've ever met...until he's not." You're rarely mad, but when you are mad, the WHOLE world knows it. Really, the only times when you get mad are when Mommy's not around and you're with someone besides Daddy (poor, poor Nee-Nee and Pop-Pop) or in the middle of the night when you wake up and want to nurse but Mommy doesn't let you. Yeah, that makes you pretty furious rather quickly. But, other than that you're a super happy little guy!
In other news, you learned to blow raspberries on May 25th. You found it hilarious for a while. But the novelty has worn off, and you don't do it quite as much any more. You flipped from your belly to your back for the first time on June 2nd and from your back to your belly on June 11th. You now flip easily back and forth between your belly and back any time we put you down. Though, you prefer to be on your belly now because you can more easily grab everything in sight that way!
On June 14th you had your first food: Avocado. You LOVED it the first time we gave it to you. The next few times after that you weren't so sure. But, now, you don't seem to meet a food you don't like. You've had Avocado, Peas, Oatmeal, Prunes, Peaches (you LOVE these frozen in your mesh feeder), Mango, Watermelon, Strawberries, Sweet Potato and Summer Squash (another favorite). (If you're doing the Math, yeah, Mommy's been a little lax about that whole "wait at least 3 days between foods" thing...ahhh, second babies. So much less worry! We don't have allergies in our family at all, so, I'm not concerned). Feeding you is a messy experience. You would prefer to do it yourself and that of course, makes quite a mess. But a cute mess your are! (See evidence below :)
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| First food ever: Avocado! |
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| Summer Squash |
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| PRUNES! |
On June 19th you officially mastered the art of sitting up by yourself. You're still a little wobbly at times (mostly when you reach in one direction to get something that has caught your eye) but you have strong core muscles and can sit by yourself very well for quite some time!
On June 29th Daddy took you and Ryan both to the grocery store for the first time, by himself. Your Daddy is a champ! He is such an involved and caring Daddy, and you are so very, very, lucky to have him!
On July 1st you turned on your mobile by yourself in your crib. You do it on purpose and as soon as you do it we can hear you on the monitor giggling hysterically. You are just so darn proud of yourself!
You're not crawling yet, but you are definitely motivated to do so. You get soooo frustrated when you're on your belly and something is out of your reach. I wouldn't be surprised if by your next letter you are crawling.
On July 4th you went to your first parade. You slept through most of it, though. That night, you also went to your first Fireworks. You weren't supposed to join us. You were supposed to be fast asleep, and just Mommy, Daddy, and Ryan were going to go. But, it came time to leave for the Fireworks, and you were still wide awake. And well, given previous statements of the few times when you do get mad, we weren't going to torture Nee-Nee and Pop-Pop by leaving you with them. So, you came along. And you STAYED awake until the fireworks started! You were in AWE!
So, yes, Ryan's first Fireworks were also your first fireworks....oh, to be the second child! After closely watching for the first few minutes, you then FINALLY fell asleep in my arms. It was fun to experience this new adventure with both you and Ryan. Ryan was in awe at first too. But then he grew more excited about the glow sticks we had brought. That was a little disappointing. But he was excited again when the very loud grand finale started! You stayed asleep, even then!
So, I've kind of bragged about you throughout this post, and spent most of the time telling you how great you are. Well, let me tell you what is not so great! And that is sleep! As my previous letters will attest to, you pretty much were born a great sleeper. Well, that went down the drain a few weeks ago when I got sick. I had Mastitis and my doctor said one of the things that would help was nursing at least every 2 hours. So, that's what we did for 2 days. And well, that screwed up your sleep. During the day you eat enough solid food that you actually are nursing less frequently now, but, if you had your way, you'd nurse every 2 hours at night. And to be honest, sometimes I just let you. You do go back to sleep very quickly afterwards, and having you scream and potentially wake Ryan up isn't worth the stress. So, yes, for now, you win. Ugh. I went back and read Ryan's 6 month letter tonight, and for the first time in your life we can say Ryan was a better sleeper than you. Trust me, that is NOT something to be proud of! Mommy and Daddy would really appreciate it if you would start sleeping more soundly very soon.
Well, I don't want to end on a negative note, so, I will close with a few more cute pictures of your happy self. You truly are a joy of a baby, and Daddy and I are so happy and proud to call you ours! Ryan is pretty smitten with you, too! We love you sooooo very much, Zachary Joe!
Happy 6 Month-Day!
Love,
Mama
Mama
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