Dear Ryan (6 months)

Dear little R -

Someone around here is totally getting chubby.....and it's not mommy! OMG I swear you have grown so much just in the last two weeks.

Check out those chunky thighs

Every morning I wake up to you cooing through the monitor. When I get into your room you find me with your eyes and give me a huge smile! So sweet - melts my heart! I love that I get to wake up every day with you!

You are not rolling over consistently but you have done it. I have found you on your stomach before so you have gone from back to stomach and you actually rolled over from stomach to back (for the first time) when I was taking all these pics! I know you are going to add rolling over into your playtime any day and I am sure you will be like - What mommy? It's no big deal. Although you are not rolling over you are definitely getting stronger. Every day you are doing something new and now you really love trying to sit up. I help you since you can't do it on your own but it's only a matter of time until you don't need mommy anymore.

Taking a break

Not ready to get back up...thinking of maybe rolling over. 

Pee-a-boo! Right after this you rolled over! 

And ended up on your back! So proud!

Last month I said that you put everything in your mouth but this month your do it even MORE. Everything you get your sweet little hands on goes right to the ol mouth. When we went to the grocery store you grabbed at everything I was putting into the cart, so I brought it closer to you so you could touch it but all you wanted to do was put it in your mouth. You love your paci and have learned how to take it out of your mouth but you can't quite get it back in. It comes back to your mouth but usually the wrong way - which makes you a little angry but we get it fixed and you are happy again.

You LOVE to talk. You make these super cute loud squeaks and love it when we talk back to you - like we are talking your own special language. You really love it when I say Mama or Baba or Papa - it makes you giggle. The first time you giggled was this month and it was when I was saying Pa Pa over and over again. It actually started hurting my mouth but I kept doing it because you were so darn cute GIGGLING!

You LOVE Bob. I am not quite sure how he feels about you but you don't really care at all. He makes you smile a lot and sometimes you even laugh at him. When we take Bob out to pee we wait for him together at the back door and get excited when you see him come up to the door. It's super cute. We give him a treat together and I am sure one day you are going to love doing that yourself.  Sometimes you try to pet him but it is more like a grab - and your grabs are a little fierce but he has yet to bite you - only growls - which you totally don't mind.

We go to physical therapy every Monday and you give Sandy the BIGGEST smiles when you get there. You are such a HAM! Sandy stretches you for an hour and you are pretty ok with it for most of the time but then you get tired and hungry. You always fall asleep on the way home - all that stretching makes my little man tired.

This month we started Little Gym and Kindermusik and you LOVE them both! We go to Kindermusik on Wednesdays and Little Gym on Thursdays - you are a busy little man. In Kindermusik you have two friends that are around your age - Mica and Grant. The rest of the class is a little older but they all love to play with you. You love the shake the rattles and look around when we are all singing. At Little Gym you have a lot more buddies that are around your age and you guys are all so cute! Barry is your teacher and he is so nice and fun.

Got my TOES!

Loving this new giraffe

Thumbs Up:
Tummy Time - Yay!
Bath time
Kindermusik
Little Gym
Baby Einstein
Bob


Thumbs down:
Taking your bottle away before you are done
When you can't get your paci back in


Your daily schedule is still pretty great. We wake up sometime between 7am and 8am and you nurse. We play together and stretch for about 30 minutes depending on how long you will tolerate it. Then you watch a quick baby einstein video which you really love. After your video you are usually ready for your morning nap so I help you fall asleep and you take a nap in your crib! You nap anywhere from 30min to an hour and a half. Obviously mommy digs the hour and a half because then I can get things done around the house. When you wake up you nurse again and then depending on what day it is we venture out for your activity. You continue to nurse every three hours but you only take 20 minutes to eat now so we can basically do it anywhere which is nice. We try to get home for an afternoon nap but sometimes you fall asleep in your car seat. It's pretty comfy so you don't seem to mind. Then when daddy gets home you basically still have the same routine. Play with daddy, bath time, then you guys read some book and hang out before your last bottle. You last bottle has always been 6 ounces of breast milk until you were 5.5 months, which is when you got hungrier and we had to start supplementing with formula (bottles changed to 6 oz of breast milk and then 2 oz of formula).  Sidenote: I stopped pumping in the morning at 6 months because after two weeks I was still only getting 1 ounce total.  Anyhow, I still pump at night so I will continue to give you as much breast milk as I can and we will supplement the rest with formula, which you don't mind at all.  You are basically passed out by the end of the bottle and daddy burps you and swaddles you up and tucks you in. Once you hit the crib you are a goner and you sleep soundly through the night.  Yay!

Our last big event this month was getting your Doc band. It really doesn't bother you at all and we think you look quite handsome in it! We have to take it off 4x's a day so that we can get your stretching in and you don't seem to mind taking it on and off either - so thats good.

We love you to pieces!

Love,
Mommy