Six Months Old

Luke After some Sweet Potatos
Originally uploaded by Jenmomma

Luke is now 6 months old. He is such a sweet and happy baby. He smiles at virtually anyone that speaks to him or makes eye contact. He laughes often and he adores Grace. She is so good at making him laugh and he just loves to stare and watch whatever she is doing. Just this weekend, Grace was singing songs in the car and Luke just stared at her and smiled the whole way home from Indiana.

Today he had his six month checkup and weighed in at 21 pounds 8 ounces (97th percentile, yay, he's back on the chart). 27 inches long (just above 50th percentile).

Developmentally, he seems to have very good hand/eye coordination. He is very interested in grabbing objects and works to get to toys on the floor or anything within reach if he's sitting, etc. He doesn't quite sit unsupported yet. We're working on it, mostly because as soon as he can sit on his own (in the cart or a restaurant high chair) we'll ditch the baby carrier. He sometimes can sit for a few moments, but quickly falls to the side. He has great upper body strength and loves playing on his belly on the floor. As I said, he will roll, stretch and scoot to get to anything he sets his eyes on. He easily rolls both front to back and back to belly.

Luke doesn't really have a "comfort object." He is definately a thumb sucker and he does have a teddy bear and stuffed monkey that he loves to chew on and wrestle with, but he never seems to miss them if we don't have one with us. He does not use a pacifier at all.

Sleeping could be better. He's kind of hit or miss. He has on a few occassions slept for 12 hours, but he also has nights that he wakes every 3 hours. Most nights he wakes sometime between 1 and 3 a.m. We still aren't "sleep training" him, because he just eats and goes back to bed. He does sleep in his crib full time now. He goes down while's he's awake and when he wakes to feed, I bring him to my bed, but as soon as he's done (or the next time I wake up, usually no more than 30 minutes) I take him back to his crib. Hopefully, this will just continue to get better.

Eating. Luke dropped a bottle at Amy's, so he only has 2 bottles during the day now. He nurses in the morning and once after we get home (and any time he wakes over night). Currently, we're working towards giving him cereal mid-morning, starting next week we'll do fruits at lunch, and he's been eating a veggie & fruit at dinner for about 2 weeks now. Luke LOVES his baby food. Over the next three months we're to keep adding foods and should get to finger foods by our next appointment. Honestly, I'm not really sure how much longer the nursing will last. Pumping is getting very tiring. I don't get uncomfortable when I don't pump for several hours, so it's easy to "forget" during the day if I get busy or if I'm not in a convenient spot. I am barely making enough for the next days meals. However, on the weekends and when I'm with Luke, I still enjoy it. I guess I'll continue to play it by ear, but I won't be too disappointed if I need to supplement with formula when I'm not with him. I'd prefer not to buy it very often, however, because it is nice to have a free food source.

According to what to expect, we've hit the following milestones:
Should be able to....
- keep head level with body when pulled to sitting
- say ah-goo or similar vowel-consonant combinations

Will probably be able to...
- Bear some weight on legs when held upright

May possibly be able to...
- stand holding on to someone or something
- object if you try to take a toy away
- work to get a toy out of reach
- look for a dropped object
- rake a raisin and pick it up in fist
- turn in the direction of a voice

Grace & Luke - Halloween 2008

Grace & Luke - Halloween 2008
Originally uploaded by Jenmomma

Just wanted to get a photo up from Halloween (click to go to Flickr and see the rest). Halloween was awesome this year as Grace was really into it. And while she loved getting candy, she remembered her manners and said "Trick or Treat" when she walked up to a house (rather than running up with her pail/bag open and waiting), and said "Thank you" to everyone who gave her a treat. Luke pretty much slept in the stroller.

I promise later this week to do a 6-month update on Luke (I missed his 5 month update, so can't miss this one). And if I can find some free time, I'd love to do a long rambling post on some of the events we've had going on since August or so. Wish I had more time to update here, but Grace is in the bath and I need to get her to bed before waking up Eric for his night job (more on that if I get around to a long post) and I need to update my budget and pay some bills tonight.

Luke's Dr. appointment is on Thursday, so I'll try to update Thursday night.