Category:

6 months old.

3/21/2015

I'm having a really hard time with how fast Cole is growing. He's already 6 months old and it feels like he was just born!!! It's flying by, and before I know it he will be ONE.

At 6 months, he's rolling all over the place, and can scoot and arch his back and manage to get himself all over the place! He can sit up, but still topples over fairly easily. He weighs about 18 pounds and is wearing 9-12 month clothes! He's not crawling yet, but soon. Oh so soon.

He loves his bouncer and jumps like craaaaazy. He hates solid foods. He just started being sort of okay with carrots, but hates everything else he's tried. He much prefers nursing! He is starting to sleep better, but still not great. He takes 3 naps a day, but still wakes up many times at night.

He adores his big siblings, but especially Riley. He gives her the biggest smiles!! He loves to be held, but doesn't particularly love any of the baby carriers we have. He likes to go for walks, likes when I sing to him, especially Row Row Row Your Boat and Itsy Bitsy Spider.

He's a very chatty little dude, always babbling about something! He loves all things crinkly- papers, packet of baby wipes, packages of anything... he much prefers those things over any toys we have!

I think he looks JUST like Riley as a baby. I didn't see it before, but now I totally do! I need to get some side-by-side pictures going!

And not to forget about these two... our new backyard has some pretty sweeeeeeet afternoon light, I must say!!

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Father's day and fluffies.

9/4/2012

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This past Sunday was father's day in New Zealand. And what better way to spend father's day than hanging out with the two cutest kids in the whole world?

Oh helloooo there fluffy hair!!! The boy has a permanent mohawk of fluff, it's pretty awesome. Riley was pretty much bald until about 16 months, so this whole having hair thing is new to us. :)

Speaking of fluffy... we have a little weekly tradition with Riley these days. Usually on Sundays we head out to a local cafe, Mark gets a coffee, and Riley gets to have a "fluffy" (frothed milk) in her very own little mug. She is absolutely obsessed.

May or may not come with a marshmallow... you be the judge...

The other thing Riley loves about this particular cafe is their selection of board games they have available. Mark is teaching her how to play tic-tac-toe, and she is slowly starting to grasp the concept...

"Tic-tac-toe! Three in a row!!!"

Also available? Checkers, which apparently is also called draughts, so that's what Riley calls it. My little kiwi girl is developing more and more of an accent and picking up new kiwi words and phrases daily. Amazing.

Now Jackson wasn't quite so lucky as to get a fluffy... but he got a nice delicious carrot instead. Seriously it's one of his favorite things. A nice cold hard carrot to chew on, I think it makes his little teething gums feel fabulous.

Also pretty high up there on his list of favorite things? Drinking from a cup. He's got that down.

And of course, our little cafe adventure wouldn't be complete without some snuggles with Nana.

I've been so absent in posting lately... we just shipped all our stuff across the world... 43 boxes, all personally packed by me!! Then we've been cleaning and touching up paint and getting rid of rubbish and packing and trying to get ready to move out in 2 days!! It's a bit chaotic, and Riley is definitely having a bit of a hard time watching all her things get sold/packed up/put away, but it will all be worth it in the end!! So once we're out of our house and finally have a few moments to relax, we'll be filling our last days in New Zealand with beach trips and zoo adventures and all kinds of fun things!

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In 5 days...

8/29/2012

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...we ship most of what we own to the US. Our house is a mess of boxes and stuff everywhere. We'll be living out of suitcases for a month. With only a handful of books and toys. And Riley keeps unpacking the things I pack. And Mark is working all hours frantically trying to finish his thesis. BUT. In all the chaos and mess, we still have time for fun...

Just not a lot of time for blogging. Especially since THIS is happening right now... snoring and all...

Night night friends, my 2 year old snuggle buddy awaits... I need someone to snuggle while my husband works late into the night/early morning!

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6.5 months.

8/24/2012

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Wow, a lot has changed in the past 2 weeks with this little munchkin! As in, most of what I wrote in his 6 month update is no longer true. So I figured we shouldn't wait until the 7 month update, and we'll squeeze in a 6.5 month one!

Firstly- he rolls! Both ways, consistently, and frequently. Baby is on the move! He see what he wants and he maneuvers and squirms and arches his back and rolls around to get it. Which is great for him, not that awesome for me, as now I have to constantly be on the lookout for stray choking hazard sized toys that he might try and pick up. You know, things like Riley's marbles and coins and stray raisins, etc...

Another big change? His sleep. He went from being the worst sleeper ever (waking up so many times per night and staying awake and just crying despite rocking or nursing) to being a (relatively) pretty great sleeper during the day, and a manageable sleeper at night. Not a good sleeper at night, but at least something we are all okay with, for the most part. He can put himself to sleep with just a little bit of help from us, and, get this, he now sometimes naps for almost 2 hours!!! Now, if only I could get him AND Riley to BOTH nap for two hours at the same time. HAHAHAHA. I wish.

He's thinking about dropping his third nap, but he can really only manage that if his first 2 naps are long enough, and he didn't wake up too early. So most days he still takes 3 naps, even if his 3rd nap is just a short one. At night, he goes to bed around 6 or 6:30pm, and is up every 2-3 hours after that. And yes, I nurse him back to sleep since that is the ONLY way he will go back to sleep. I have tried rocking him and soothing him every other way, having Mark go in there, and all he wants is to be fed. And to be perfectly honest? I really don't even mind getting up a couple times per night (well, by couple, I mean 3-4, but who's counting) to feed him... maybe it's a habit, maybe he's "too old" for middle of the night feedings, but i think that's more a matter of opinion. I didn't stop nursing Riley in the middle of the night until after her first birthday, and we all got along just fine!

Jackson does NOT like to be cold when sleeping, and he sleeps holding on to a lovey and/or cookie monster, and with a blanket over his head (put there himself). He does this almost every time he sleeps, silly baby. His ideal awake time during the day is 2-2.5 hours, but it's pretty easy to tell when he's tired. He buries his head into my chest and rubs his eyes. I sing him the same song and recite the same little rhyme to him before every sleep: "Goodnight little one, it's time for bed, so goodnight chin, and goodnight head. Goodnight cheeks, and goodnight nose, goodnight feet, and goodnight toes. Goodnight hands, and goodnight thumb, goodnight feet and goodnight bum. So goodnight little one, lay down your head, it's time for sleep, it's time for bed." Cute, right? And he knows that means it's sleepy time!

After he wakes up from his naps during the day, he requires at least 10 minutes of snuggles before he will let me put him down. And usually he wants to nurse right after he wakes up, even if he's not hungry... just a comfort thing. Then once we've filled his quota of snuggles and nursing, then he's a happy little dude! If we skip those steps, he is NOT happy to be put down! But funny thing is, when he wakes up in the morning, he doesn't even make a sound, he just plays happily in his crib! He is the most chill, happiest little guy in the mornings, sometimes we don't even know how long he has been awake, since he's awake playing happily and quietly in his crib when we wake up!

He LOVES his solids, and gets SO excited when he sees a bib and a spoon, he knows what's coming! But his food MUST be warm, he doesn't like it cold or even room temp. We try to give him food to eat on his own, but he gets really frustrated when he can't get it into his mouth fast enough! And he gets so mad if he can't eat whatever we are eating (say, a peanut butter sandwich, for example). He's also re-discovered his tongue, only on all new levels. It's like a little lizard tongue, he sticks it all the way out and then curls it up...

He loves chomping on everything and anything, but still no teeth! He loves playing with the all of Riley's toys, especially her blocks, puzzle pieces and her abacus. She mostly shares with him so far, so we haven't had many issues there. She also knows that all she has to do to get a toy from him is hand him a new toy and do a trade, which he doesn't seem to mind one bit. Not yet, anyway.

Other new developments? He's developed his first fears! He's never been one to startle easily, not even at loud noises. But just recently he's decided he's afraid of the vacuum! And occasionally he gets frightened of sudden unexpected outbursts. He's easily calmed with a quick cuddle, but this only started just recently! He loves books, but really only just eating them... the pictures keep him interested for maybe 2 seconds, and then the book goes straight in his mouth. Also if he's even remotely tired, he cries if I walk away from him. Poor little bubby!

He loves bouncing in his bouncer or his joey jumper, and would probably just stay there all day long if he was allowed. But he's not. :) He searches for toys when he's dropped them, and if he's become quite the distracted little nurser, and will crane his neck to see what's going on all around him if he hears even the slightest noise. He LOVES to be outside, and he loves dancing and jumping around while I sing to him.

He has just in the last day sort of started the think about new and different ways of getting on the move... i.e. taking is first "steps" towards the crawling motion. Oy. It's funny, with Riley, I think part of the reason she was sitting and crawling and walking so early was because we encouraged her to do so. With Jackson, well, I'm perfectly happy for him to stay put for a little while longer, but in the last few days I have made more of an effort to encourage him to try and move around himself, and he's picked up on it reallllllly fast. As in, he may crawl way sooner than I had thought.

It's the same with sitting... we started encouraging Riley to sit up pretty early on, but obviously in the early stages of sitting, you need to be spotting them and helping... well, it's a bit harder to just sit in one place and try and help a baby sit when you have a toddler running around from activity to activity. So Jackson spent way more time on his back than Riley ever did. But when we give the kid a chance... he's a pretty good little sitter!

He's also started "talking" a lot more. He spent an entire day saying "dadadadadada" the other day. As if he was so proud of himself for discovering this new sound! He loves the bath and I am dying to take him swimming, but I think we'll wait a bit longer as I think the pool water might do a number on his skin (see red eczema cheeks above...)

Anyway, I think that pretty much sums up the changes, can't wait to see what the next 2 weeks bring before his 7 month update!!

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A video, as promised.

8/21/2012

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I should never tell my mom when I have a video in the works, because it always takes me longer than I thought to get it all done and uploaded. :) But, finally, here it is... Took me forever because I kept adding to it, and now it's so long, I don't blame you for not watching it all! In the future I should just share more regular short clips rather than monster videos, but I suppose I make these for myself, my family, and for Riley to watch in the future, so I don't really mind if it's super long!! What you are about to see: silly two year old behavior, lots of reading, her telling you about her crocodile friend, lots of singing, jumping and playing!!

One of Jackson coming soon (I almost said tomorrow but realistically it may be a wee bit longer than that). Instead, a glimpse into the daily antics of my two munchkins (much shorter for your viewing pleasure).

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Getting a rhythm

8/15/2012

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I will admit, it has taken us a long time to get into a bit of a rhythm around here. Between different wake-up times, conflicting naps, potty training, babies that sometimes hate car rides, and cold and rainy weather, we've been pretty big homebodies lately. And normally I start to go a little stir crazy, but we've actually been doing just fine staying at home, hanging out, and finding ways to make fun. I'll warn you, this post is about to have a LOT of pictures.

Our house is a bit of a disaster zone right now. We have a little over 3 weeks until we move out, and I am frantically trying to pack things and sell things and organize things and it's chaos! There are boxes everywhere. I have very limited time where I can actually accomplish things, so there are a lot of half finished projects all over the place. Good thing is, Riley is pretty much my biggest helper. She loves getting to sort through stuff, as there's always some sort of thing that she discovers and keeps her occupied for a while. Either that or she is perfectly happy to cater to her little brother's every need.

He, on the other hand, is less than impressed with all the things going on around him that he doesn't get to take part in, which makes my productivity close to zero on some days. The boy is not afraid to shout out when he is not pleased about something, that's for sure!

He's pretty easily won over though, I must say. A few peek-a-boos, some fake belly laughs from me, or if all else fails, jumping up and down and singing always gets a good laugh out of him.

It's always amazing to see a baby's development. How they go from such helpless little blobs to opinionated, smart little explorers. So interested in everything around them. Our biggest daily "battle"right now is over books. Riley takes her book reading very seriously, and Jackson is fascinated as well, although their goals are different. Riley wants to read and be read to, to hear and enjoy the stories, and Jackson wants to get the book in his mouth RIGHT THIS INSTANT. It's sacrilege, as far as Riley is concerned. Books DO NOT go in the mouth, baby! He's eying up that puppy big time...

But such is the life of a 6 month old. Everything in the mouth. Without hesitation. It's funny too the things babies become obsessed with. Jackson currently LOVES paper. Holding it, crinkling it, eating it. Riley was the same way at this age. Paper is WAY better than toys (as far as he is concerned, I don't exactly agree...)

Jackson has also decided he's quite proficient at rolling tummy to back, but quite content not to actually roll from back to tummy. he's definitely nowhere near crawling THANK GOODNESS. I remember being so excited and encouraging Riley to crawl (around 7 months she started crawling), but I want Jackson to stay put as long as possible!! Mobility is going to bring all sorts of new challenges (like, for example, having to contain all of Riley's marbles/coins/choking hazard size toys currently on the floor). Jackson's crawling efforts consist of trying to lift his knees up under him, which causes his face to smash into the floor which causes him to cry. Yep, we're not close.

I am totally happy to enjoy my little baby being little, and to just lay on the ground and eat stuff. :) Very eloquently put, I know.

And Riley? Oh my god she has me DYING laughing every single day, over and over. Her newest thing? If you say something to her that's not right, or that she doesn't agree with, she goes, "Ummmm, actually...." with all kinds of baby sass and it's pretty much the cutest thing ever. For example, ME: "Riley, it's time for a nap." RILEY: "Um actually, we can play toys." Riiiiiiight.

She is currently obsessed with music and dancing. She loves listening to the toddler station on spotify as well as some of our many toddler music CDs, and she is obsessed with, in her own words (1) "Marble Jackson ABC Song" (Jackson Five- ABC) (2) "I like to move it move it from Madagascar!" (3) "Everybody sing a song, doo da, doo da" and (4) Fee, Fi, Fiddle-ee-i-oh... And she dances. Oh boy does she ever.

Probably should save some of these tidbits for her 26 month update in 10 days, but there's just so much goodness happening I just can't help but share now. I just love this age so much, she's such a little sponge!! Today as we were getting in the car, she started telling me all about how Jackson is HER baby, and he's not a little sister, he's just a little brother, and she wants to play toys with him and cuddle him and have him and share with him. Yeah, she is basically the best sister ever.

She's such a little goofball, I can hardly stand it. Apparently eating her toes is fun?

This post is getting a bit long and out of control, but I just had to share this picture of Jack Jack's hair. YES, he has hair! Riley had no hair until, ummm... 18 months? Jacky boy has hair! Eeek I looooooove it, and it's all blonde and the fluffiest little tuft on the top of his head I've ever seen. I just want to rub it and fluff it up all day long!!

And because it's late, and I'm tired, and 1 or both babies will likely be up multiple times tonight, I leave you with a photo dump of some of my fave photos from yesterday. Riley being her adorable self, playing Connect 4, my babies thinking I am SO SO FUNNY (it's true, I'm funny... :), and my blue-eyed sweetheart. Man, how did I luck out with two amazingly awesome kids like these?

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The cutest little people ever.

8/11/2012

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Most mornings, one or both of my babies is up at the crack of dawn. Usually it's Riley. We do the same thing most mornings. Mark gets up with her, they share breakfast, and I get to sleep in until he leaves for work (and by sleep in, I mean until 6:45am)... the other day, I came out to the lounge in the morning to see this:

Riley is thrilled to see Jackson every morning, and always asks to snuggle with him and hold him. And he doesn't mind one bit. The two of them get cuter and cuter together every day. Riley is such a big helper. She brings me diapers, she helps me feed him, she gets him his paci, she gets him toys and helps him pick them up when he drops them. She reads him stories, and when he's asleep, she asks me over and over again when he will be awake so she can "play toys with him." And when he finally does wake up? She shouts "Yay! Baby awakey wakey now! We have to go get him!" And she runs down the hall, opens the door, and climbs up on his crib and says "hi!!! hi goo goos (one of his many nicknames), hi jackie boy!" and his face lights up big time.

Well... after I removed his lovey from his precious little face, that is... Goofball.

Our days lately have been spent mostly at home. It has been raining all week, and nap schedules don't let us get out too much, so we have to find things to do at home to keep ourselves happy and entertained. Riley is VERY into books, and we spend literally half the day reading stories. The other half is spent doing things like this ABC/123 train puzzle OVER AND OVER AND OVER.

She's obsessed, and pretty darn good at it too! I, on the other hand, think we need to get more puzzles ASAP. I can only do the same puzzle so many times before losing my mind... :)

And Jackson has been a much happier, more rested baby these days, which means he's happier playing on the floor, which means he's getting much better at rolling an d pushing all the way up on his arms, and rotating in circles. And just looking cute, of course. He looooves those blocks, and thankfully, Riley is willing to re-stack them over and over after he knocks them down.

Now when you spend all week stuck inside, a short trip to the playground one afternoon can seem like heaven to one little toddler.

And yes this is a fabulous little playground with an ocean view, no big deal...

Jackson, on the other hand, was less than impressed. Probably because (a) it was pretty cold and (b) he could only see out one eye... oops!

We had another quick playground trip today after my photo shoot, and since I was in photographer mode I went a little picture overboard. But come on, how could you not? Great lighting, cute subjects, and baby's first time on the swings!

He wasn't totally sure about the swings, much preferred to be snuggled in someone's arms. Can't say I blame him, it was still pretty cold!

And these last two photos... sigh. I love these two little critters so so much

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6 months old

8/7/2012

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Half a year old. I can hardly believe it.

This past month has been... interesting. So many changes and new developments in pretty much every aspect. We'll start with a big one: He sits!

He CAN sit for quite a while on his own, but as soon as he spots something to one side of him, he basically just lunges for it or gets too distracted and topples over. But if he's looking at something in front of him, or holding on to a toy, he can sit for quite a while. Although if Riley is around he always tries to look at her and then he falls over, and she thinks that is SO SO funny.

He can roll easily from tummy to back, and is so so so close to rolling from back to tummy. He goes from his back to side to back to other side, and aaaaaalmost completes the roll on to his front, but then decides he's actually quite happy on his side. When he's on his tummy he can scoot backwards (unintentionally) and spin in circles (intentionally) to get to his toys.

Speaking of getting to his toys... ooooh that boy has a temper!! If he drops a toy out of reach, he doesn't just complain, he screams about it until you help him get it back. Same for if he can't quite get something in his mouth the way he wants it. He also cries if you take something away from him, or if he wants something that we are eating that he isn't allowed to have (say, a cookie for example). Silly boy makes sure we know when he's not happy about something!

Two photos below by Rachael Brown Photography

This month (well, last week) we started solids (sort of). I talked about it a few days ago, we're taking it slowly, trying to follow his lead and not stress over it. So far he has had banana, avocado, apple, carrot, pumpkin, kumara, and parsnips. I think banana is the fave so far, although today he DEVOURED his pumpkin and kumara. I have a feeling this boy is going to be a good eater. Other than his few tastes of food here and there, he's still 100% breastfed. Which leads me to our next issue: breastfeeding.

Photo by Rachael Brown Photography

We have had zero problems with breastfeeding up until now. I've got what appears to be thrush, or something equally nasty, which basically makes each and every feeding incredibly painful. Like, 20 times worse than the newborn nipple soreness kind of pain. And he won't take a bottle, so I don't have a lot of other options. Especially since the child wants to eat every 2 hours, and lately has been wanting to nurse all through the night. This means pretty much constant pain for me. I'm hoping the medicine we've got will help clear things up asap!

Now... onto sleep. Ohhh sleep. Jackson has been pretty shocking this past month in the sleep department. Occasionally we would get good 90 minutes naps out of him, but more likely they have been about 30-40 minutes. At night, we MIGHT get a 3 hour stretch, but more likely he's up every 2, if not more. And very very frequently he is up for at least an hour in the middle of the night. This, among other things, made us realize we needed to do something different in terms of helping him sleep better, which I will cover in detail in a few days.

He's also starting to develop very clear preferences for his sleep, it seems. He sleeps with a paci, and likes to hold on to something furry- either his little bear lovey, or his cookie monster. He likes to sleep on his side with something touching his head/face (blanket/lovey) and another heavy blanket over his lower body. He likes to be rocked/bounced rather vigorously... no light rocking will do.

His perfect awake time is currently about 2 hours. His tired signs are super obvious... (1) he gets cranky and (2) if I'm holding him, he burrows his face into my body and sort of arches his back. If he does that, I know he's ready for a sleep. He is usually in bed for the night around 5:30 or 6pm which works pretty nicely for us since then we have a little bit of time with just Riley before we put her to bed for the night. He's up for the morning around 6ish, with multiple wake-ups in between.

He now cries in his car more often than not, mostly because he tends to drop his toys and then he gets mad. He loves going for walks in his stroller, but ONLY if Mark takes him. If I take him, he cries because he wants me to hold him instead. Same thing during the day... he's totally happy to play on the floor with toys for ages when Mark is looking after him, but if I come anywhere near him, or if I'm home with him (sooo... all week long) he will cry for me to pick him up and hold him and play with him! Boy loves his mama cuddles!

He still doesn't have any teeth (thank goodness, as I currently have enough pain in the feeding department, I don't need any more issues at the moment!). He loves books, chewing on foam letters, bouncing in his jumper, playing with Riley, the hand motions of itsy bitsy spider, being thrown high up into the air, being swung in our arms, bubbles, and being tickled. He's still SO ticklish. He loves having his face/cheeks massaged, being outside, standing up, and sitting like a big boy in his bath.

His eczema is looking better, but he still scratches his face all the time. I think now it might be more of a habit though, although there's no way to really tell. He loves sucking on his bottom lip (see below) and it gives him the cutest little chipmunk cheek look. Seriously, I'm not sure it gets any cuter!

Two photos below by Rachael Brown Photography

He loves his daddy, and he saves some really big belly laughs just for him. He loves to stand up, and can stand just supported by our fingers, although he will randomly start to jump so we've got to keep a tight hold on him! He puts everything in his mouth, and loves to give open mouth kisses. :) Nice a slobbery ones. He's quite the chatty little guy, and squeals and squawks and tries to say dadadada and mamamama. He is pretty good at manipulating his toys (grabbing them, shaking them, getting them in and out of his mouth so he can alternate eating them and looking at them), and he can take his paci out and put it back in all by himself. He can even throw it all the way across the room... literally.

He was totally thrilled about this photo below... not.

Sucking on his bottom lip and not happy about being on the ground.

We've started baby signs with him- "more," "milk," and "all done." He's starting to lose some of his baby chub, and is looking more and more like a little boy each and every day. He had his first "stranger anxiety" moment this month, but mostly he's happy to be around all kinds of new people as long as they smile at him. He's less than happy when his mama leaves the room, but does just fine as long as someone else is there to distract him. It is definitely clear he's becoming more and more attached to me!

Well, I think that about covers it... :) Happy 6 month birthday to my little man, we love you so so so much!

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6 months old.

Father's day and fluffies.

In 5 days...

6.5 months.

A video, as promised.

Getting a rhythm

The cutest little people ever.

6 months old

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