6 months

Dear Ethan,

Happy half birthday!  It's already hard to remember life without you, but I still say that your baby months are going by way too quickly.

It's been another big month for you... always learning, always changing, and always making us smile.

 

First, Ryan finished preschool!  I know that doesn't seem to apply much to you, but it does because it means you no longer have to spend so much time in the car, and you actually get to sleep in your crib during the day!  Woo hoo!  This makes both of us quite happy :)

 We have been making the most of our summer vacation so far, spending lots of time just hanging out together as a family.  You are almost always surrounded by one or more loving brothers... sometimes a little too loving!  I tell them to get off of you/give you some space/play calmly with you dozens of times a day.  They've even started fighting sometimes over who gets to play with you.  I imagine once you get a little bigger and start to cause problems for them, they may not be quite so friendly, but it sure is nice for you to have 2 best friends who cannot wait to see and hug you every morning. 

One of my new favorite photos EVER.  You two have the sweetest relationship.

 

 

In case you hadn't guessed, Ryan still insists that I photograph you two whenever he's holding you :)

You had a rough start to your 6th month when, after being sick with colds for weeks, you started gagging on your own mucous and stopped breathing for a few seconds before throwing up.  It freaked Mommy out enough to take you to after-hours at your pediatrician's office, where they measured your oxygen saturation, and it was a bit low.  So, you had your first breathing treatment with a few more to follow in the coming days.  You handled it all amazingly well, and thankfully, you've been healthy ever since. (Knock on wood!)  I don't know why you must scare Mommy like this, but if we could cut it out with the breathing issues, I'd appreciate it!

 

You are a little roly poly.  You frequently roll clear across the great room, and you can scoot yourself around well enough to get to just about whatever you want.  It's not always super efficient or speedy, but it seems to be working for you.  You love to play on your stomach... so much so that you don't have a lot of patience for learning to sit up and I was starting to get worried that you would just skip that step altogether.  Thankfully, in the last week, you've shown some interest/ability in sitting up on your own... but after a minute or two, you'd still rather topple over and grab whatever toy you're eying.  

 

 More free time has also allowed us to have more play dates, and it's fun to see you starting to show an interest in your "friends".  

Here you are with Zachary, only 4 days younger than you:

 

 and, of course, with your cousin, Courtney.  

I love the way you're thoroughly checking each other out in this one

Despite being home more, we still haven't really figured out a routine.  Your eating is fairly consistent - you nurse every 3 hours, starting when you wake up around 6:30, with your final feeding around 6:30-7 in the evening.  For a while, you would still sometimes fall back asleep after your first feeding and sleep for a while longer in the morning, but now you're pretty predictably awake and then ready for a nap something like 2 hours later.  Some days you only take 2 naps... some days you take 3.  Sometimes you fall asleep in the car or while you're nursing and think that it's a full nap, so you refuse to take one in your crib.  We're still figuring it out, but that's okay with me.  You went through a brief phase this month of screaming every time we even entered your room because you knew I'd be putting you down (yes, you've already begun separation anxiety), but after a few days of more extended crying at naptimes, you seem to have gotten over that. 

Passed out after nursing.  I can't say I mind the sleepy snuggles.

You've started babbling in the last week or so, and I am loving it.  You spend a lot of your day now saying "Da da da da..."  Your daddy appreciates that that is your favorite sound :-)  I love that we are back to having little nonsensical conversations.

You are a very laid-back baby, which has and probably will serve you well as the 3rd boy.  This photo of you just lounging in your daddy's lap makes me smile every time.  Apparently there is something genetic about crossing feet, because that was Ryan & Kaeden's favorite way to recline as well.

 Instead of chewing on your hands, you've now discovered that you can chew on your toes.  If there isn't a toy in reach, you always have a foot!

 

 Toes for dinner doesn't sound too appealing to me, though, so we gave you your first taste of baby food yesterday, and you loved it.  There was definitely an, "about time!" feeling to the whole thing.  You didn't even flinch, and kept grabbing at the spoon for more. 

You are such a precious addition to our family, and you bring so much joy to each of our lives every day.  The past 6 months have probably been the busiest of my life, and yet they have been some of the best.