Six Months! Seven Months!

Well I said it in my last post, I was the next to get sick.  January was full of the sickies in this house so I never got around to writing a six month post.  Sorry, Felix!  I will just combine six with seven this time.

Felix at 6 months, in my favorite jammies.  There is a reindeer on the butt!

Mr. Seven Months Old (the onesie says "I'm a keeper")

About a week before Felix turned six months, we started feeding him oatmeal.  He liked it!  I had read a lot and the new thinking is that you don't need to start your baby on rice cereal anymore.  Heck, there is an entire movement called "baby led weaning" where you don't feed the baby any cereal or purees at all.  They get table food straight from the beginning.  Everyone said that rice cereal tasted like cardboard so we decided to go wiht oatmeal instead.  It was important to me that Felix was exclusively breastfed for the first six months.  After a couple of weeks on oatmeal alone, we added in some carrots.  He seems to like carrots, too.  Since then, he has had peas (yuck!), sweet potatoes (yum!), butternut squash (meh), apples (yum-o!), and a store bought mix of organic summer veggies (squash, etc.).  All of his food is homemade and I have to say, it's a lot of fun making it.  Sammer even got in on the action and made some zucchini and squash last weekend.  We added a new food every couple of days or so.  He seemed to do just fine with that, but lately he had been really fussy and not sleeping so well.  I could tell his tummy was hurting.  So we recently decided to stop all foods except oatmeal and he has slept wonderfully (for him) ever since.  Tomorrow we will add carrots again and see how that goes for a couple of days.  Sammer and I both think it's the apple.  Apples have a lot of fiber and they are a stronger flavor than the other foods.  I also think that Mr. Felix may have inherited his Daddy's sensitive tummy.

Here I am with peas all over my face.  Don't let my happy face fool you, I didn't like peas one bit.

Speaking of inheriting awesome things from Mom and Dad, it seems that he has gotten all of our bad traits.  Daddy's sensitive tummy, Mommy's ability to function like normal on very little sleep, and also not being able to sleep alone, just like Mommy.  He also is a monster at thrashing about the bed, just like Daddy.  Since Felix was sick in January (ear infection and bronchial crap), he has slept in bed with us every single night.  He was sick and I was worried about him, so I didn't want him away from me for a second.  Well, now that's what I've got!  He goes down for bed just fine, it's actually really, really easy to get him to bed these days (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!), but once he wakes up, it's pretty rare that he goes back down in his own bed.  Now that we've figured out how to make it work, it's really not that bad.  I will just whisper that Sammer and I both actually like it a lot.  shh!  Don't tell Felix I said that!

Oh we tried Ferber.  And by try it, I mean we spent about an hour working up to letting Felix cry for 7 straight minutes and that was enough for us.  More than enough.  We both spent the whole week feeling awful about it.  I still feel awful.  Sammer really wanted to try it though, so we did.  I didn't think it would work for us but I was desperate, too.  Felix goes from half a whine to super pissed off in about 45 seconds, so I just didn't see that working.  He needs to be cuddled to calm down, and I don't blame him.  I could go on for a long time about my feelings on Ferber, but I'll just say that it is not for us at this time.  As sure as I say we won't be doing it again, something will make us try it again.  But for now, Sammer and I are fine, happy really, with him sleeping in our bed.  When he's not there, we both miss the snuggles.  Every once in a while, when Felix has been up a lot or Sammer has a lot going on at work, he will take a night or two and sleep in the guest room when Felix comes to our bed.  He first said that he wanted to give me more room.  Well, I breathe in and Felix takes up that space instantly, so moving to another bed does nothing for me.  But I appreciate the thought.  :-)  And I know that Sammer needs more sleep than I do so I don't mind.

Felix has been sleeping kind of crappy because he has teeth!  Two chompers, to be exact.  He is working on bringing in four more.  Yikes!!!  He recently learned that he can bite Mommy when he's nursing, just like he bites everything else constantly.  Well let me just tell you, Mommy does not like that.  No, I do not like that one bit at all.  How do I stop it?  It just started last night and so far I just say "no" really stearnly and pull him off.  Well now he thinks that is funny.  It is not funny to me.  It hurts like, well it hurts like someone with razor sharp teeth is biting down on your nipple.

Chompers!

The highlight of his six month would have to be a visit by Uncle Drew and Aunt Stephanie.  As is quickly becoming a great tradition, they came to visit from Baton Rouge for New Years.  We didn't party too much, but Felix did wake us up to ring in the new year. He's so thoughtful.  :-)

Happy New Year!

His six month was about the time that he started feeling OK about being in the car seat.  Thank the good Lord!!  This is like heaven to us.  We can now drive across town without a fight.  He has even started falling asleep in there every once in a while.  I'm not particularly fond of that, but it means he's comfy so whatever.  I'll take it.  He also started sleeping in his crib for naps on a regular basis.  We haven't had to hold him for a nap in a very long time.  That's kind of bitter sweet.  One of my favorite moments of the day is when he falls asleep in my arms.  He is just so peaceful and beautiful.  But, it's amazing how much you can get done when you don't have to hold your baby for 2 hours of the day. 

It has been a very mild winter and we take walks almost everyday after work. We recently got a new jogging stroller to navigate the bumpy roads of the neighborhood (NOT to jog, don't worry).  Felix and I both absolutely love it!  We took it to the Kite Festival, which was a highlight of his seventh month.  We had a few friends meet us here (Pat & Milissa, John & Allie, Carolyn & Richard - all with their kiddos) and we walked down.  Of course Kristen and Maija were there, and Lauren, Sam and Quinn met up with us, too.  It was so much fun!  Felix had just started really sitting up on his own and that meant that he could play on his own.  That is so nice!  Just that he can occupy himself for 10 or 15 minutes while I clean pump parts and bottles at night is really a blessing. 

Our little Valentine

OH!  We enrolled Felix in swim lessons at the Y!  How could I forget that?!  He is a Shrimp and he is just precious.  He is the champion kicker of the class, of course.  He seems to really like the water and hasn't freaked out in it yet. 

I promise to write a timely 8th month post so I will leave this as is and give you some links to pictures.
Click here for a link to his sixth month in pictures.
Click here for a link to his seventh month in pictures.

Blessed

Right now I have a sick husband and a sick baby on my hands (and my throat is getting sore, I know I'm next).  It's pretty miserable around here.  But between my moments of, "I don't like my boys being sad, for the love of God, please let Felix sleep in his bed for just an hour tonight, and woe is me," all I can think is how blessed I am. 

Blessed to have a baby.  Not everyone has that, and for a while we weren't sure if we would ever have that. 

Blessed to be able to breastfeed my baby.  I know it's not for everyone, but it was, and is, very important to me to breastfeed Felix.  Not only can I breastfeed him, I have so far been blessed with a wonderful supply of breastmilk.  It was very tough at first, but we persevered and made it.

Blessed that Felix will take a bottle.  There are three girls on a message board that I frequent whose babies will not take a bottle while they are at work.  Naturally, they are worried sick about their babies. 

Blessed that we have a little cuddlebug.  I was so worried that our baby wouldn't want to snuggle.  Ha!  Although sometimes I could really use a decent night's sleep where I can move positions and don't wake up every 10 minutes or so because there is a little cuddlebug next to me. 

Blessed that our son did not have colic.  He does wake during the night still, but he is almost always happy when he does (provided there is food, of course).  I have to admit, it is nice to get those snuggles from him in the middle of the night.  When he sleeps in his crib, that is.

Blessed to have a husband who happily helps with the housework and baby caring.  We give Felix a bath together every single night and it is definitely a highlight of my day. 

Blessed that we have good jobs with understanding bosses.  I will probably be working from home again, as Felix is still sick.

Blessed to have two babysitters who love Felix very much.  Felix got sick on Thursday when Mati was here.  She called on Friday to check on him and make sure he was OK.  I often come home to see Elvia loving on Felix and giving him smooches.  Sammer said he lights up when he sees her in the morning.

So, as much as I would love to be able to sleep with just one other person in the bed all night, and as much as I would love to stay home with Felix, right now I am just thankful to be so blessed.

Felix is 24 weeks, 5 days old (5 1/2 months)