6 Months and Happy half-year Owen!

I can't believe it, Owen is 6 1/2 months old! This post is a little late because I wanted to wait to give his 6 month updates and milestones. O is back to his healthy self, thank goodness! After a rough time with RSV we are so happy to have our happy baby boy back. As much as his doctor tells us that he's going to get sick and that it's so great for his immune system, it doesn't make it any easier. With that said we're hopeful that this was the worst of the "first year" colds and hoping 2010 brings health into the Frederick house!



Updates from Owen's Appt:



Weight - 16lbs 8ozs (50th %-tile)

Height - 28.5 inches (95th %-tile...we're still not sure where he's getting his height from)

Head - (90th %-tile...still big and holding all those smart brains...ha!)



Milestones:

Sitting Up - O has been sitting up unassisted for over a month now. He started "trying" before Christmas and then all of a sudden he was sitting on his own for 10mins...then 20mins...then almost a hour later he was still sitting and playing. We love his little independence!



Rolling over - O has been rolling over both from back to front on both sides and front to back since about 4 months or so but now he can do a continuous roll. So instead of flipping from one side to the other he can now roll across the floor. And he knows it too :) He recently rolled under his crib! We got a great photo of that.



Talking - O is now able to mimic our sounds so if we make smacking noises, he does it back to us. It's really cute and he thinks he is the funniest baby around. He is making his vowel sounds and I keep working with him to say "ma ma" :) He does it every once in a while but still thinks we are playing a game. He started making a noise that almost sounds like he is saying "hi" :) His teachers think it's so funny b/c in the mornings they always say "Hi, Mr. Owen" and he smiles and says "hi" back. Guess he picked it up from them. Oh and Owen knows his name :) You can say Owen, O or O-man and he will look all around until he finds who said it. Love that he knows his nick-names too :)


Grabbing/Reaching - O reaches for anything and everything and is passing things from one hand to another with ease. He loves to reach for things and pull them down. Every morning when I drop him off and pick up his lesson plan, never fails that he grabs the cup with pens and pulls it over. No matter how careful I am or how far away I am from the cup, he still gets it! He has started reaching for things that are too far away and ends up on his belly. Which is great because he then scoots to get it. So far he has scooted about 4 feet at school so we bet he will be crawling soon...oh boy!

Recognizing/Trusting others - I am not sure if this is a milestone but O has really started to know who we are and who his teacher is. Before he would just get excited to see us but now not only does he reach for us but he comes to either me or Chris for whatever he needs. When it's time to eat, he reaches for me. Chris can come pick him up but he will reach for me to let me know that he needs me. Then other times when he wants to ride on Chris' shoulders for example, he will reach for Chris. He always looks to me when he's sleepy and ready for bed. Even with school, he will reach for his teacher when he gets there b/c she usually sits on the ground and plays peek-a-boo with him every morning. He is one smart little guy and we love that he is now starting to be able to tell us what he wants and needs. We are starting to teach him sign language so hopefully that will help him tell us easier what he needs.

Eating/Drinking - Again, not really a milestone but just an Owen update. We still have a great eater and he is eating 3 meals a day and gets upset when we get off schedule :) He loves fruit but will eat pretty much anything. We have been giving him real fruit also and he loves pineapple, banana and strawberries. He has also had avocado and a taste of green beans. He wants whatever we are eating so I thought, why not :) Anything he can grab and put in his mouth on his own is soooo much better than us feeding him...ha! We have also started giving him a sippy cup and he holds and drinks out of it but he would rather chew on it. He will drink from a regular cup but that is a bit messy if I don't watch him :) But we love that he can pick it up and put it in his mouth. That's a step, right?!?!

Owen is still wearing 6 month clothes and some 9 month ones. He is very long so we have a hard time finding things that fit his torso. He is pretty slim too so a lot of clothes that fit his lenght are too wide. But with the way he is eating I am sure he will plump up soon!

Sleeping - Ugg, this is one subject that we wish O was good at. We have just decided that our child is not going to sleep through the night. He has several good nights and will sleep from 8pm-7am but ever since he was sick we have not been sleeping through the night. In fact, he is now waking up to eat around 4am. I guess it's not the end of the world b/c he is sleeping 8 hours then waking up but we just wish he would go back to his old habits. Oh well! We found a solution to the paci problem and have been placing 5+ paci's in his crib at night so when he tries to find one he has several to choose from. So far it has worked great and he finds his paci and is back to sleep in minutes. But for some reason lately he has been waking up hungry at 4am. And there is no rocking him back to sleep, he throws a fit until he eats :) I am hoping that he will add an hour on until we're back to 7am but I have a feeling he is going to be a light sleeper like me.

O has also discovered the fun of arching his back. Several moms at school have told us about the dreadful arching and how much fun it is when they discover it. So now when Owen doesn't want to sit or get in his car seat, he arches his back and it's super difficult to get him in. It's oh so fun! Guess he's a big boy and making decisions on his own now.

Oh and teeth! O has his two bottom teeth now and is working on the top ones. He cut his bottom teeth when he was sick and they are completely through. I can feel a sharp corner on the top but so far they have not broken through. I love his little smile with his bottom 2 teeth. We have heard that when they are teething it lowers their immune system so maybe that's why he got so sick several weeks ago. I have heard of several babies getting sick and then their first teeth pop up. Hopefully he will not get sick with the rest of them :(

Other updates...I am still breastfeeding and so happy I made it to my goal of 6 months. Next goal, 9 months but not sure if I will make it. I love the bond with O but these teeth are not fun when feeding him...ha! I have 2 months worth of milk in our freezer and am still freezing 6ozs a day. Although we are now using a bit of frozen milk since they changed the storage guidelines. Milk can only stay frozen for 3-4 months now where before it was 3-6. So we're using the Sept/Oct milk and freezing fresh milk. So hopefully we can keep a good 2 months frozen so when the time comes, we're set.

Well, that's an update on us and I will post some pictures in the next few days. We are sooo blessed to have such a sweet and happy baby boy! He really is the happiest baby and we just wish we knew what was going through his little head. He laughs all day and anytime you call his name, he looks up smiling. We just love him and couldn't imagine our days without his smiles.