HALF year old....yes, 6 months!

Well I can't believe it has been six months since our little guy came into our lives. Time is flying by so fast.

I can't believe how interactive and smart our baby-guy is getting. I already miss the baby he was, but still look forward to the person he is going to become. I suppose that always will be the torment of a parent.

Not a lot of "new" stuff this month. He has made so much progress already that really he is just improving on everything he has already started to do. He is holding things better, reaching for anything and everything. He sees what he wants and he will roll to get it. He is awake more and more interactive when he is awake. He is becoming a bit more demanding, but also more patient.

He puts anything and everything in his mouth. But hates to have solid foods in his mouth. Yes, we are still trying to get him to eat solids, but no luck with Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Winter Squash, Peas, and only mild success with rice cereal.


He still slept through the entire month in his swing. Until just after he turned 6 months old when we decided to push for the bed....you'll have to wait until next months update to hear how it went. Preview: We're very happy. Here is one of the last pictures of him in his swing. He was starting to twist around in it prompting the push to move him to his crib. So cute.



We are working on crawling and talking. Both have had limited success.



But the best thing that began to happen in the talking world this month is his babbles have turned into more controlled Da da's, which when you have two dad's is pretty perfect. So needless to say when Brandon came up from downstairs saying you've got to hear this I whipped out the camera for some of his first "words."

It has vastly improved and now is a common fixture to our conversations we have throughout the day.

It is amazing to see his personality beam through. Everyone says they aren't sure they've seen a "happier baby." That status might be disputed by all the happy babies and hard working moms and dads out there but he definitely loves to show his happiness and will smile whenever you look at him. He sure makes being a stay-at-home dad fun and enjoyable.



He loves playing with the dogs and now that he is getting better with his hands and his movements we are going to have to be very careful.

Here is the run-down of things he is doing (or not doing) -

• Doing pretty good with the spit-up...still not perfect, but better
• Still examining his hands (I've tried to get video - it is so cute)
• Babbling more and more (da da's, growling, a-da, bvvvv (not sure how to spell that)
  
• can pass things from one had to the other
• can hold himself up on his hands and knees - can't go anywhere, but can stay there for a bit
• loves looking at, playing with the dogs.
• Loves to laugh at things and smile at all things
• can fall asleep at the drop of a hat. So nice when we are out and he gets tired - just rock him for a few seconds - literally - and he is out
• Not as good sleeping through the night as he was for a while - he often will wake up once or twice...but sometimes will sleep the night through.
• We ran out of breastmilk this month (at the very end) - can't believe we made it that far!
• Loves to eat books more than read them
• rolls like a champion - if only we can turn that energy into crawling

Our nicknames for our little man currently are often just "baby" and "guy" but we will call him Xanadu, Xan man, Xan Xan, Xandino, Xan-a-man, Xanner Banner, and other fun names. He is getting so big and so strong. Next month we head to Mexico for a much needed vacation. I hope it goes smoothly with a baby - it will be our first vacation with him - but not our first trip. This will be our 6th flight (back from Wichita, to California, home from California, to and from Colorado, and then to Mexico) in as month months as he's been around...we should be collecting frequent flier miles for him!

Finally, we got a new computer for Christmas and when I plugged in the sound I wanted to make sure it worked so I started Solitaire and played with it briefly. He, for some reason, found the sounds it made VERY FUNNY. For us a classic Xander laugh caught on video. Forgive the videography - I was holding him, filming, and making the computer make a sound at the same time!



What is in store for next month? I am thinking we will see some strong scooting on the floor and maybe some more "words." Hopefully we will have him in his bed full time (this is a promising guess since I'm writing this blog entry a few days into the month :-) ). Exciting times! Onward to Month 7!