Rhett: 6 Months

I am at least 2 weeks overdue with this post but I couldn't post without pictures, naturally.

Rhett's 6 Month Stats:

Weight: 16 pounds 9.5 ounces, 23%

Length: 26.25 inches, 32%

Head: 17 inches, 25%

The babe is still happy and healthy.

My biggest stress this past 6 weeks has been with nursing. Rhett will only nurse for a few minutes and then refuses to nurse longer, I am talking like 2-3 minutes. Drives me crazy, worries and stresses me at the same time. We all know that I like to worry about things and this "problem" is nothing different. I think it is a combination of needing to extend the time between nursing sessions, a busy baby who doesn't want to sit still to nurse well and I also suspect that my supply was getting a bit low, probably because he wasn't nursing well. Supply and demand! I have since started taking fenugreek, an herb that helps boost supply and I can tell a difference. As for Rhett, we have good nursing days and bad. I just get out my little manual pump to help when he is being stinky. I know it doesn't do a good job but it is better than nothing.

Sleep has been improving. A few weeks ago, when he first turned 6 months, he was still getting up 2 times a night and now we are down to 1. Even then I think he is capable of going all the way through, I am happy to nurse him before I go to bed but if he wakes in the earlier morning, around 4-5am then it interferes with the wake-up feed and I would rather we both sleep through. The other night he slept from 11pm to 6:30am! That was glorious but I am still exhausted. I have a lot of catching up to do on sleep.

He loves food. LOVES food! He eats a good variety of purees though I have noticed that all the first foods that babies can eat are orange. Squash, sweet potato, carrots, peaches, mango, etc. With Max and Kate they loved sweet potatoes so much that I overdosed them on beta carotene! Seriously, they were turning orange. Ahem. We promptly stopped feeding them sweet potatoes, so I am leery about how much Rhett eats. I guess if you are going to OD on something it should be vegetables, right? Someone please tell me if my baby is turning orange, thank you.

We have let him suck on cantaloupe, pineapple and apples. He is in heaven and will grab our hand to make sure we don't take it away from him. His eyes track every bite you take and you feel compelled to share. His love of real food definitely supersedes his love of nursing. Sad for me. I had to break in blogging this post since he woke up from a nap, we nursed and then he ate. I let him try some of my coconut popsicle and he pretty much took over the thing. Little babe, I love him so much.

Rhett rolls and scoots all over. He can sit up for brief moments alone and otherwise needs light support. He loves to watch Max and Kate, thinks his daddy is pretty awesome and I like to think I'm his favorite. We had a fussy day where he only wanted to be held and it made me grateful for how happy and easy going he truly is. We have it easy with this kid.

I feel like I have finally figured out his day, it has only taken us 6 months! His naps had been so unpredictable in length and I was feeling frustrated that I couldn't set up appointments or outings since I didn't know when he would need to nap or how long he would sleep and I would inevitably feel bad that he was getting crap naps on the go. I am a creature of habit and thrive on structure so I am happy to have a handle on the boy's life for the time being.

He takes three naps a day; morning nap is a catnap-no more than 45 minutes. Then he will generally take a longer mid-afternoon nap, almost perfectly synced with Max and Kate's (can we shout hooray?) and then finally another catnap in the late afternoon which allows me to prep dinner. Mighty kind of him to be so accommodating. He is up each morning around 6:30am and down to bed around 7:30pm.

I swear the kid is growing up much faster than his siblings. He seems to be in a hurry to do everything big like Max and Kate. I put him in the tub with Kate one night and he had a blast, splashing, laughing and eating toys. Kate enjoyed it too.

He just gets more fun and energetic as he gets older. He is our sunshine and brings happiness where ever he goes.