July 4th- 6 months old

I cannot believe my baby is 6 months old today. 6 months ago, I was at Winter Park Hospital. Exhausted, recovering from a c-section, and enjoying my new little man. I've been thinking about how much he has changed since he was born, and since I missed out on most of the first 6 months of blogging, I thought now would be a good time to catch up and reflect on the past 6 months.

Month 1 (Jan 4-Feb 3):

Swimming in that newborn size onesie! We spent the first month getting to know each other. With the exception of doctors visits, visits to the lactation consultant and our mother baby tea, we never left the house (although we did have many, many visitors!). Sleep was hard to come by but we figured out what worked and what didn't: Swing? Yes. Bouncy seat? Sometimes. Hair dryer? Yes. Sleep sheep? No. Laps around the pool table? No. After a particularly rough night and some googling by Sean, we learned what cluster feeding was. By the end of the first month we had found our groove. We mostly knew what he wanted when he cried, how to know when he was full, and some tricks to get him to sleep.

Month 2 (Feb 4-Mar 3):

Lots of changes this month. The best milestone happened around 6 weeks when he gave us his first (intentional) smile. I can remember rocking him one night, trying to get him to go to sleep and he just kept looking up at me and smiling. I told him he never had to sleep again if he kept smiling at me like that!

Month 3 (Mar 4-Apr 3):

As you can see in this picture, his personality really started to come out in the third month! One of my favorite milestones was his first laugh. I will never forget it. Sean and I had gone to a movie while he stayed with the Toole Grandparents. When we came back and I went to get him, he started smiling like crazy when he saw me, and then laughing! He was so excited to see me.


He also slept through the night for about a week, until the 3 month growth spurt hit!

He had his first trip to the beach this month, when we went down to Miami Beach for Kim and Evan's wedding. Also his first swim in a pool since the hotel had a heated pool. I think he enjoyed both!

Month 4 (Apr 4-May 3)

This month was his first plane ride- out to Vegas for Thomas and Ashley's wedding (Bubbe came to babysit). He saw the strip and hoover dam (where we went on the dam tour).

Jacob always meets his milestones but he likes to make me sweat it! As he was nearing the 4 month mark he had made no effort at all to roll over. I thought oh well, I guess that is one milestone he won't meet. Well, just a week shy of 4 months, while we were out in Vegas, all the sudden he decided to try, and he tried really hard and he did it! My Mom called to me to come quick, I grabbed my point and shoot and video taped it! That was back to belly, and within the week he had figured out how to roll belly to back as well. As soon as he figured out he could roll, he started rolling over every time I put him down to sleep, and has been a tummy sleeper ever since. Thus ended our swaddling days (we stopped cold turkey).

I noticed a big change in how alert he is this month. He loves to watch everything going on in the world around him. Nursing has been a bit of a challenge because he is very easily distracted. And it doesn't even have to be anything exciting- the upholstery on the glider is much more important than eating these days.

Month 5 (May 4-Jun 3)

The fifth month brought a wonderful change- sleeping through the night! He started sleeping from about 7:30pm to 7:30am! When he wakes up in the morning he is all smiles. Heaven.

This month he began reaching for things. The first time he really reached out for something, he was sitting on Daddy's lap at the sushi restaurant. He reached for Daddy's bowl of miso soup and dumped it all over the 2 of them! He reaches for anything and everything, and whatever he manages to get goes straight into his mouth!

Unfortunately he got his first fever this month :( It was after his 4 month shots. In a panic I called his doctor, I'm not really sure why.... I knew what to do. I knew what caused the fever. After a dose of tylenol he was feeling better and it was probably harder on me than it was on him!

My favorite month yet. He was so alert and aware of everything. He would get up on all fours and try to crawl. He was getting really close but he'd just rock back and forth and eventually move backwards.

He got a neck this month! One night in the bathtub, I went to wash his neck, fully prepared to tilt his head back and move chins out of the way as usual.....and I didn't have to do either because there it was! Welcome to the world, Jacob's neck.

Also, the fuzz on his head turned to hair! Beautiful, dirty blond hair. I love running my fingers through it while I am nursing.

He is almost sitting up. He can sit unassisted for a few minutes but he will eventually fall over!

And I almost forgot- on July 3, one day before he turned 6 months...Jacob cut his first tooth! It was the bottom middle and I didn't even realize he was teething because he didn't cry! What a toughie!

Jacob, thank you for being an amazing baby these past six months! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us over the next six months!