(to give an idea of size, that is the same picture frame shown in my 28 week bumpdate)
SIX MONTHS
I'll be doing monthly updates like this for Aiden's first year. Aiden is currently 29 weeks old! Things have been understandably a little busy the last while, so forgive me that I'm not on any kind of blogging schedule for now. (:
Here's how our sixth month has been!
MOMMY
Let's talk hair loss. My hair stopped falling out like a crazy cat lady two months ago. I was looking in the bathroom mirror the other day and noticed a half inch-deep band at the edge of my hair line and the hair is about an inch long. My hair is growing back! I just realized if I wanted to I could spike my new front row of my hair just like all the boys did back in the 90's. And! Frosted tips! Yes. Yes. I also find it mildly disturbing that my hairline receded an entire half inch without me even noticing.
More of my jeans fit me and I actually feel like I am starting to get back to my pre-baby shape. I still want to get back to my wedding weight, so I have a few more pounds to go, but I'm feeling really good about how the weight loss is going. Things aren't the same, but I am happy with my body. Probably more so now than I was before I had Aiden. True story.
Total pregnancy weight gain: 36 pounds
Total weight loss: 36.6 pounds
Weight to lose for pre-baby weight: 0 pounds
Weight to lose for wedding weight (final goal): 6.4 pounds
It's official! I have lost ALL of my pregnancy weight (plus 0.6 of a pound!) I'm so excited about this and now I can focus on my next goal, which is another 6.4 pounds away. Even though I weigh less than I did before I got pregnant, my body composition is a bit different due to weight lifting prior to pregnancy. I've lost a bunch of muscle mass, but it is coming back! Since it's been too cold to go swimming at the beach, we've been going on evening walks as a family some nights. I've been keeping active with house projects and upkeep and normal things like doing squats and crab walks while power sanding the walls before painting them. Aiden has a Jolly Jumper that he loves to be in and whenever he's almost ready to get out, I unhook the part he's strapped in to from the doorway and lift him up and down while doing bicep curls, rows, overhead presses and so on. It gives me an nice short little workout during the day. And the best part is he loves it and laughs the whole time especially if he can grab onto a chunk of my hair in the process.
I've been feeling normally, or "normally" for myself anyway. There was a random week there where I was so exhausted I could have almost cried about it, but that's what happens when you're a hard-wired night owl. My bedtime only gets later and later as time goes on unless I take a night to reel myself in and go to bed early. Which is much easier said than done. But with extra coffee to make up for the extra sleep deprivation, I'm feeling great! A little twitchy and uncontrollable with my verbally spoken thoughts at times, but great! I think the increase in coffee and lack of sleep will begin to work against each other one of these days, and eventually I will be running on so little sleep and so much coffee that I will take the 24 hour nap. THE. 24 hour nap. It's where you sleep for 24 hours straight, but it's a nap and you only lose 2 hours of the day. I just made that up. I wish that was a real thing.
AIDEN
At six months, Aiden is 27 1/4 inches long and weighs 17 pounds 6 ounces! This puts him in the 61st percentile for height and the 38th percentile for weight! Oh smooks, you're so svelte.
Refresher course:
+ At five months he was 27 1/4 inches long and 16 pounds 13 ounces
+ At four months he was 26 inches long and 16 pounds
+ At three months he was 25 1/2 inches long and 14 pounds 10 ounces
+ At his two month check up he was 24 1/4 inches long and 13 pounds 7 ounces
+ At one month he was 22 inches long and 10 pounds 8 ounces
+ At birth he was 20 1/2 inches long and 6 pounds 14 ounces
2 weeks / 7 weeks / 15 weeks / 20 weeks / 24 weeks / 29 weeks
His eyes are still blue! Some days though, you can see some yellow/light green at the very center right around his pupil. Jason's eyes are the same way, but Aiden's eyes are an ocean blue and Jason's eyes are light blue. His hair is growing so fast! It's mostly only growing on the top center strip of his head, so especially in pictures it can look like I've given him a mohawk but that's just how it's naturally growing in haha. His hair has some red tint to it when it's brushed together, but most of the time it looks blonde. And the hair on the back of his head can look light brown sometimes. It definitely has a wavy texture and if there's any level of humidity it does a full curl, haha
Routine:
I mentioned in the last update that his schedule was changing and it definitely has. It's been a bumpy road for me as far as getting enough sleep goes, but I'm starting to know what to expect which helps a lot.
Sleeping:
Aiden usually wakes up at 6 and will lay in bed happily babbling until I fully wake up. I usually try to roll over and go back to sleep for a little while longer but he keeps talking to himself so sleep is usually over once the chunky baby sings. It's not like this is all that much earlier for him to be waking up...but I've been really struggling with sleep the last while and most nights I haven't been able to fall asleep until between 12-1am...throw in a couple of nighttime feedings and it starts to make sense why I've been drowning myself in coffee.
I've also recently learned (the hard way) that I shouldn't be allowed out of the house without at least one cup of coffee in me. Otherwise I do embarrassing things. Like accidentally stealing hay bales.
What? You look at me like you've never heard of that happening before.
(I have since rectified the situation. Ps Jesus loves me.)
+ He's started eating solid food! I started him with rice cereal and then moved on to carrots and then beans. He seemed to like rice cereal, and he liked carrots...but then after about a week of carrots he didn't seem to want to eat them anymore. Then I gave him beans and he seemed to enjoy them for all of five minutes...and ever since then he hasn't seemed to like solid food at all anymore. I guess that's normal for babies to have a phase like that, so I'm not worried and I do still try to feed him solids every day. Although it usually ends with the both of us turning in to a big green beany mess. Consequently, while I have been feeding him green beans I almost always call them peas. I don't know why. I always catch myself saying "peas" right after I say it. It's like a nervous tick or something. Or it's just one of those things that will take me years to figure out.
My excuse is that they're both green.
It has been a lot of fun for Jason and I watching his facial expressions as he tries new foods. He recently tried avocado and he hasn't been entirely opposed to it! We always bring the camera out to get a picture of that first impression because just about every muscle in his face will be actively working to show how he actually feels about these foods he's been trying over the last few weeks.
What hasn't been as fun is learning the hard way that I shouldn't be allowed in the kitchen to do kitcheny things. That makes the whole coffee making thing difficult. Ok. I shouldn't be allowed in the kitchen near SHARP OBJECTS. Sharp objects deserve loud-speak. I'm probably one of the few stay at home moms out there that doesn't make their husband dinner or any kind of food for that matter. I used to let this get me down and get insecure about being a capable housewife-being, but I have since embraced the fact that I have talent in other areas and definitely not the kitchen. One fine day, the food processor I ordered for making baby food came in the mail. The food processor that promised to slice and dice my one-ingredient baby food into a perfect puree so that making baby food couldn't get any easier for a cooking-challenged individual like me. I took the food processor out of the box and smiled. I took off the packaging that held all the parts in place until I noticed one last piece of plastic - on the chopping blade. I couldn't get the blade to come out initially, so I looked over the instructions to see if there was something I was missing about getting the blade off. "Carefully pull UP on the blade," the instructions said. So I did. Nothing budged. I pulled just a little bit harder, and UP it came. But before I could scream "FOR THE LOVE OF JULIA CHILD" there was blood running down my hand and ooing and gooing everywhere. I almost passed out right there in my kitchen grasping my own wrist whispering, "I will never let go, Jack". Jason came to my rescue, called it a cat scratch, and bandaged it up for me. The joke's on him though, because now I have a half inch scar on my hand to prove that I once tried to cook for my son. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why my husband does all the cooking in our house.
"Making baby food", I said, "I think it will be fun", I said.
I am slowly working at switching Aiden out from his 6 month clothes to the 9 month clothes. This is always a very slow process for me because I am a bizarrely sentimental person and I can't let things go very easily without a lot of convincing and bribing and chocolate. So I started small, like with the things that definitely do not fit him anymore, like most of his pants and long sleeve onesies. These were easy because his pants fit more like festive capris and his long sleeve shirts were starting to look a little ridiculous only coming halfway down his arms. And his sleepers - the kid is so tall the 6 month footie pajamas almost didn't fit him from 3 months old, so that was an easy switch for the bigger size. I usually have to start dressing him in the bigger size of clothes against my own will just to convince myself how much easier it is to get him dressed in the bigger clothes than with the smaller clothes. The thing is, I don't want him to get big. And I am convinced if he still technically fits into his small clothes he will never grow up. And these are good things. Because who am I to raise a perfectly normal, well adjusted human being, anyway? If he stays a baby forever, people will applaud me for my diaper changing skills over the years and people will never have to notice whether or not I am capable of parenting and raising a wonderful person for the truckloads of diapers I will have changed instead. Forest ⟩ trees.
+ He has been able to scoot forward with a bit more speed. He's also gotten up on his knees/feet and elbows a few times. Crawling is coming!
+ He can stand leaning against an object (a wall, window, or holding onto something like a storage box or coffee table). He does pretty well on his own, but he can get wobbly if he gets excited so our hands are always right there to catch him just in case.
+ He pulled himself up from a sit to a deep squat all by himself when holding onto a storage box. Eeep!
+ He had stopped babbling for a short while, but now he's been making all sorts of new babble sounds like blah, blah and wah wah, gah gah
+ He has completely mastered sitting and can sit on his own for a long time without needing anyone nearby. If he's sitting on our hardwood floors, I'll have a blanket under him and some pillows about a foot behind him just in case, but he doesn't tip over that often anymore. (:
+ If you blow raspberries on his tummy it is ticklish to him and he will bust out laughing. He's also ticklish right under his ribs.
+ He loves snuggles from me and nighttime back rubs from Jason. In other words, he loves affection. On days where I am exhausted and tired and have a whole laundry list of things that need to get done...I will take him and rock him and just sit with him. He just melts into you, and I often lose track of time. But it's the best feeling ever and recharges my momma heart and soul.
+ He loves watching the leaves on the trees blow in the wind - now that almost all the leaves are off the trees, I am sad for him that they will be gone for quite a while!
+ He's getting really good at using his Jolly Jumper - he jumps in it so high that he jumps higher than the spring will contract! He gets excited when I bring out the bubble wrap to go under his feet. He still enjoys hearing the bubbles pop as he jumps (:
+ He loves shadow play - seeing shadows throughout the day or if I use a flashlight at night and make shadow puppets on the walls. He will look back and forth at my hand and at the wall and you can tell he knows its my hand on the wall, but he can't figure out how it's in two places at once. Haha
+ He loves to bang toys against things to hear the sounds they make
+ He will put his spoon in his mouth and hum different babble noises
+ He loves being goofy, laughing, making us laugh, being tickled, and now he's even started laughing at things people do that aren't intentionally funny, haha
+ Seeing himself in a mirror
+ He likes the cats and is starting to learn what "gentle pets" means.
+ He likes standing! And now that he can sit very well on his own, he likes to sit and play with his toys.
+ Being tossed in the air
+ Being outside, as long as he's bundled up for cold weather!
+ Making raspberries with his lips and tongue
+ Peek-a-boo!
+ Chewing on his pacifier tether
+ Getting really hyper and kicking his feet really fast and punching his arms out like he's got somewhere he has to be!
+ He prefers for everything to be in his mouth. Everything.
+ We went on a weekend trip to Minneapolis! It was a lot of fun and a much needed mini getaway for our family. While there, 1. We went shopping (abundance of thrift stores, yay!) 2. We went to an Angels/Twins baseball game and the Angels won and I think we were 3 of the 7 people in Minnesota happy about it 3. We went to the Minnesota Zoo and Aiden loved seeing all the different animals! He really took an interest in the fish. We were looking at an underwater exhibit where a zookeeper in scuba gear was working. As he swam away, he waved to my sweet baby Aiden and I'm telling you my heart could have burst right then and there. ADULTY PEOPLE! Do things to inspire little people. It doesn't matter how young they are, because Aiden has shown a love for water since his very first bath. I know it's a stretch, but what if?! What if he becomes a marine biologist some day? I can tell him about the time at the zoo that a man in scuba gear waved to him through the glass. Even if he never does such a thing, it's awesome seeing grown-ups inspiring the next generation. And all it takes is a simple wave. Trust me.
+ At the zoo, Aiden loved the goats! Me...color me a shade lighter than impressed.
+ Going on evening walks with Jason and Aiden and having long, soul-pouring out, healing talks on the pier.
+ We did a spontaneous day trip to Duluth over Thanksgiving weekend (Hi, married to my local resident Canadian they do Thanksgiving in October). We did some more thrift shopping and went to one of our favorite restaurants. We're trying to do different things and live on the wild side of life so we even ordered a different appetizer than we normally do. #AdrenalineJunkies
+ Trying new foods. I mean Aiden. But us too.
+ We had our first backyard family bonfire/cookout.
+ I started a big project of painting the bathroom after I decided to rip off the wallpaper that I've always loathed, thinking, with pure passion and naive innocence that I would finish this project. So I started painting. Jason took down all the trim for me so that I wouldn't have to tape everything. But then as with everything in life, I have commitment issues with BIG THINGS like bathroom projects and paint colors, so I quit. If you ask Jason how he managed to get me down the aisle, he'll sigh and shake his head. Now that kids, is a story. Let me tell you. So the bathroom is a huge mess. But it's a lot better than finishing it. Trust me. It will get done though. Just give it 8 months. Mark my words, there will be a blog post in May about a bathroom redo.
+ I started power sanding the hallway walls in preparation to re-paint. I started this after both starting and stopping the bathroom project. I do intend to finish this one. Promise.
+ Jason cut up some wooden blocks and we dyed them with food coloring. They're the perfect size for Aiden's little hands and of course, he loves to chew on them. For now I think his parents play with the blocks more than he does. Haha
+ We did Aiden's 6 month/Fall pictures! One of the days we did pictures it was so hot it actually broke records in Minnesota! It was 87 degrees - in October! In other years since I've lived here, we had a sheet of snow by this time of year already. So we got to take a bunch of Aiden's pictures outside and he didn't even need pants!
+ Aiden possibly ate a few leaves in the process of picture taking.
+ We went to a local pumpkin patch and got some pumpkins! And Aiden and I got our first hay ride! It was basically just another day in the life for Jason haha. We took lots of pictures too! Summer is the best time of year (duh) BUT Fall is pretty awesome for getting cute pictures of babies. No doubt about that.
+ We went apple picking at grandma's! Aiden was a little too small to actually pick any of the apples, but he liked to touch them. (: Jason's mom has a yearly tradition of getting pictures of all the grandkids picking apples from the apple tree in their yard. More cute pictures! (: See what I mean? Fall = cute picture time.
+ We decorated our house for Fall which was a first for us - hay bales and pumpkins!
+ We visited a farm! It was such a neat place. (: And Aiden got to see some baby horses! He got a little nervous by them though. I don't think he was too sure about them being so much bigger than him even though they were babies too haha.
+ This is going to seem silly, but I got a little music box to attach to the mobile above his crib. Now when I need to leave the room to do something quick, it keeps him entertained for a few minutes to watch the little clouds move. Listening to the music keeps him pretty content too. Before, I had to actually spin the mobile by hand and it would only spin for maybe one minute, then the fun was over. Haha. It also helps that one of our cats will often come and sit with him. She basically goes wherever he goes.
Two beans, those two.
And now, an ode to my people.
+ We did a spontaneous day trip to Duluth over Thanksgiving weekend (Hi, married to my local resident Canadian they do Thanksgiving in October). We did some more thrift shopping and went to one of our favorite restaurants. We're trying to do different things and live on the wild side of life so we even ordered a different appetizer than we normally do. #AdrenalineJunkies
+ We had our first backyard family bonfire/cookout.
+ Jason cut up some wooden blocks and we dyed them with food coloring. They're the perfect size for Aiden's little hands and of course, he loves to chew on them. For now I think his parents play with the blocks more than he does. Haha
+ Aiden possibly ate a few leaves in the process of picture taking.
+ We went to a local pumpkin patch and got some pumpkins! And Aiden and I got our first hay ride! It was basically just another day in the life for Jason haha. We took lots of pictures too! Summer is the best time of year (duh) BUT Fall is pretty awesome for getting cute pictures of babies. No doubt about that.
+ We decorated our house for Fall which was a first for us - hay bales and pumpkins!
Two beans, those two.
PEAS!
And now, an ode to my people.
--
As always, you can check out more of our adventures (with frequent updates)
by following me on instagram - @marlyssamarie
Happy six months, Aiden. It has been so fun doing all kinds of Fall activities with you and seeing you watch the seasons change. You are a joy to be around every day. I even miss you when you're sleeping in the next room, like you are now. On the day you turned six months old, I could hardly believe that we have had you for an entire half of a year! It's all going by so fast. I find myself reading about the years to come and I have to remind myself not to blink too many times because before we know it you will be 1, 2, 3, 4... Being around you lights a light inside your daddy and I to see your personality begin to emerge and develop.
You are my sunshine, little one.
Be awesome today and every day.
You are my sunshine, little one.
Be awesome today and every day.
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