6 Months Old

Yesterday, Nicholas turned half a year old! It's hard to believe how big he is, which is why I waited to post until today because we visited Dr. Whitaker for his 6 month checkup today. He weighs 18 lbs, 3 oz and is 29 inches long (which puts him in the 75th and +95th percentiles respectively). He also received 5 shots today including the flu and H1N1. Nicholas was not a fan of those, but recovered very quickly. According to Dr. Whitaker, he is not constipated like we had thought. I suppose it's just a new phase in the dirty diaper department.

Nicholas is doing all kinds of new things now: rolling over both ways, sitting by himself in the tripod position (his hands helping him sit up), he sometimes will stand up assisted but this doesn't happen often. Nicholas loves Bama. If Bama would sit still (yea right), Nicholas would stare at him for hours. This should make for an interesting relationship when Nicholas becomes even more mobile.

We are still giving him baby food just at breakfast and dinner, but will probably introduce some at lunch time in the next month or so. We also just introduced water to him, which he wasn't too fond of. I am very thankful that nursing is still going well. Even Dr. Whitaker was impressed that we haven't had to supplement at all.

As far as sleeping, he is finally recovering from last weeks change in schedule and sleeping through the night again. Nicholas went to sleep around 8pm the last two nights, but woke up about 30-45 minutes later both nights. Last night was rough because we decided to let him cry it out. This lasted a good 30+ minutes. It's rather hard to ignore a crying baby for that amount of time, but we did it.

To celebrate his 6 month birthday, we took him to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop here in Leeds. We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes, which wasn't too terrible. Nicholas didn't mind sitting in his lap at all, but didn't seem all that thrilled either. Once I get the digital version, I'll make sure to upload it.

Happy 6 months Nicholas! Here is our monthly pic - can you say deer in headlights?!? :-)

Thanksgiving Week

This past week has been rather hectic and frustrating. Tuesday morning, we loaded up and headed to Mobile for Thanksgiving. Nicholas slept for about an hour and a half, but that wasn't near what we had hoped as the 4+ hour drive can seem even longer with a fussy/squealing baby. Actually starting Monday evening, his schedule was WAY off. He didn't go to bed until late (around 10pm). In Mobile, his naps and bedtime were completely off - not going to bed until close to midnight one night and that was after Gabe and I took him for a drive around Mobile. We ate Thanksgiving lunch with all the Thompson's and then had to leave in order to make it home in time for Thanksgiving dinner with the Davenport/Martin families. On the way home he slept again around an hour and a half. We had to resort to the portable DVD player and Baby Einstein, which go figure worked great.

It's nice to be home, but unfortunately his sleeping habits are interrupted by more than just the travel. Nicholas has pretty much gotten the rolling over thing down, which is great, just not in the middle of the night when he rolls over and can't go back to sleep. We also think he has been more fussy due to constipation. Even after giving him several jars of prunes, he still isn't back to normal and I'm sure doesn't help things. I am definitely going to bring this up with Dr. Whitaker on Monday for his 6 month check-up.

Regardless, we are very thankful to have this little guy in our lives. It was good spending time with all our family! Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Here are a few pics from our time in Mobile

Whatever was on TV must have been good...


Who says you can't put a bumbo seat in the tub?


Mamaw loves those great-grandbabies!


Now we get to look forward to Nicholas getting his picture taken with Santa!

I spoke too soon

So apparently I was wrong about Nicholas liking all the food we give him. Tonight we decided to try out green beans. He was not a fan of those!! We were good to get through half the container. The video explains it all. It was too funny!

Rolly Polly

In my attempt to track all of Nicholas' firsts, I'm puzzled. It just seems that for many firsts there isn't a real specific date to list. First time to hold his head up - well he was technically able to pull his head back the second day after he was born. First smile - well he would smile early on when he had gas or when he was sleeping, so when do you technically record that? Nicholas - I apologize if I'm not doing my motherly duty in recording all the correct dates. :-)

Yesterday is what I consider his first time to roll over from tummy to back. He has technically done it before a few weeks earlier, but he was attempting to look at the monitor above his crib, so I didn't really count that. Yesterday he was having tummy time on the floor and rolled over. He was on his tummy and rolled over his left side. Then today he was playing on the floor on his back while I was wrapping some Christmas presents. When I looked up he had flipped over his left side and onto his tummy. I was surprised because recently we could tell he was working to flip over, but it normally took a lot of effort.



Now we are going to be extra cautious when he is on the changing table. Also, it will make putting him to sleep a bit harder if he is still awake and flips onto his back. I'm just happy to see that he is progressing normally. Before long he will be scooting across the floor! Watch out Bama!

Love those hands

For the past three months, Nicholas has spent the majority of his days and part of his nights chewing on his fingers. He has no preference as to which hand or finger, as long as they are in his mouth. He will even put our fingers in there. Let me tell you, he has some strong gums! The few times we let him use our fingers, he will chomp down. Recently we have noticed he has a tendency to turn his hand upside down and then stick it in his mouth. Your guess is as good as mine as to why he does this, but it is rather funny to watch.




Daddy has been extremely happy this football season. This past weekend he was actually home for the game since it was at Mississippi State, so he had to get Nicholas into his game gear as well. From the look on his face in this picture, he has his game face on too!




Finally, congrats to the Tortorice's! Ella Grace was born on Saturday - 20 inches long and 7lbs 11oz. Everyone is doing well and Nicholas is looking forward to meeting his future girlfriend!

No Airplane Necessary

Tonight Nicholas experienced his first fruit - bananas. Of course he loved them as he has every other food (carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes). It's so funny to think of all the tricks people do to get babies to open their mouths and shove the spoon in - "Here comes the airplane" and the standard of mom or dad opening their mouth to have the baby do the same. We have never had to do this with Nicholas. If the spoon is in his line of sight, his mouth is open. The only issue we do have during dinner is keeping his hands out of his mouth. We learned early on to keep one hand restricting his movement, while the other one feeds him. All in all he is a really good eater. :-)

Prayers

It really amazes me how people can easily do the most unconscionable things. It physically hurts me to think of all the elderly people in this world that get taken advantage of by greedy, heartless, deceitful "human beings". It would take forever for me to explain the situation - let me just say I have recently witnessed an injustice of the worst kind.

My prayer is this: God, please give not only the elderly, but all of us the ability to discern friend from foe. For those who can't see the forest through the trees, I pray they listen to family and true friends who have their best interest at heart.