Garrett - 6 Months Old

Diapers

Rocking the size 3’s.  His weight gain has slowed down significantly so we’ll probably be in size 3’s for a while.

Shoe Size

He doesn’t wear shoes yet so I have no idea!

Clothes

Mostly 6 month clothes now, though we are still in 3-6 month sleepers.  I’ve packed up all of his newborn and 3 month clothes to give away.  I’ll have to write a whole separate blog about this, but instead of trying to consign their clothes, I am donating them to an organization called Olivia’s House.  I read a book called “Delivered” about a woman’s journey through addiction to drugs, her life of prostitution and her lack of care for the numerous children she gave birth to during the process (it wasn’t an easy book to read).  But during the birth of baby #4, this woman heard the voice of God and her entire life changed at that moment.  She was able to keep her baby and raise her while living in Olivia’s House.  God completely changed her life and she was able to kick all of her bad habits and spend the rest of her life preaching about Jesus to any and everyone that would listen.  She described her time at Olivia’s House in the book and lots of people trying to get clean live there with their children but they don’t provide baby clothes so lots of the kids wear dirty clothes and they just don’t have many pairs of clothes.  So instead of getting a small amount of money that, let’s be honest…I don’t truly need, I’m giving the kids clothes to these women so that their babies can have some clean clothes.

Feeding

We did it!  We made it 6 months off of breastmilk (with a few formula bottles during those first months when he woke in the middle of the night).  Unfortunately, my sweet baby can no longer thrive off of only breastmilk.  He needs iron and therefore needs to begin eating cereal, his first form of solids.  We started the oatmeal cereal last Friday (24th).  With Carter I didn’t know what to expect and followed the instructions to a “T” on how to make it.  It was very runny and soooooo hard for Carter to eat.  It also took some patience for me because I didn’t understand why he had such a hard time swallowing food.  Well I get it now and the experience with Garrett was exactly how I expected it to go.  I didn’t follow the instructions on the box this time (because when I do-it’s too soupy) so the consistency was just right.  I considered his first time a success because he grabbed at the spoon to get more food, but unfortunately, he wore more of it than went into his mouth, which I expected.  Think about it-they have been either sucking a bottle or nursing for 6 months.  He’s not going to just magically understand a spoon overnight.  By day 3, he was still wearing a lot of the food, but he was also actually eating it.  He still does the tongue thrust because that’s what he’s use to doing when he nurses, but he’s gotten a little better at it each day since we started.  I will probably do just one meal of cereal (the breakfast meal around 8:30/9am) for another week and then I will move up to feeding him cereal two/three times a day.  Once he does really well with that, then I will introduce the orange/yellow veggies.

Schedule

No big changes to his schedule.  He’s still on a 4 hour schedule which means he eats, then stays awake for about an hour and a half and then sleeps for about 2 and a half hours before we have to wake him up to start it all over again.  An hour and a half is about as long as I can get him to stay up without getting fussy.  He can make it longer if we are out and about doing things, but if we’re at home he just gets bored too fast and would rather go to sleep.

Sleep

This kid y’all.  He sleeps A TON.  He absolutely loves sleeping.  More than Carter did and Carter loved it too!  He very rarely wakes up on his own.  We have to wake him up every single morning and after about 98% of his naps.  Sometimes he will wake up on his own and I will see him on the video monitor.  He’ll lift his head up and look around as if saying to himself “I’m up…wait…the lights are still off…no one is in here….guess I’m supposed to still be asleep….alrighty then” and then he lays his head back down and goes back to sleep.  It’s hilarious.  People look at me like I’m crazy when I say that Garrett’s only awake for about 5-6 hours a day.  I get that look that says “really??  I mean…is something wrong with him?!?!”  To answer that question-no, nothing is wrong with him.  The pediatrician said that some babies just need more sleep than others.  On top of that, Garrett is still hitting milestones faster than average, so obviously he’s taking full advantage of those 5-6 hours!  And we are so thankful to have such a HAPPY baby when he wakes up.  He doesn’t scream for food.  When we walk in there he usually wakes up and just looks at us and laughs.  He also frequently gets up on all fours and starts rocking like he’s trying to go somewhere. 

Waketime

We still like spending time outside during waketimes, but haven’t been able to do it much the past couple of weeks because it’s been raining a ton here.  But he still likes Baby Einstein DVDs, his music playmat and he’s been spending some time in a Johnny Jumper that’s connected to one of our doorways in our house as well as spending time in his exersaucer.  I’ve been working with him a lot on sitting up and he’s getting SOOOOOO good at it!  Carter was sitting up extremely well on his own by 6 months and Garrett is right there with him.  I was expecting it to take him a bit longer than it has because his head is so much bigger than Carter’s was and he has a lot more weight on him than Carter did, therefore a lot more weight to hold upright while sitting up.  But he was only about a week or two behind big brother so he’s doing really well with it.  He can probably go up to three or four minutes without falling over.  But I still am not at a point where I will leave him in a room unattended while he’s sitting up.

Mother’s Day Out

Summer school for both kids starts the first week of June.  They will go three days a week from 9-1pm.  Carter is fine with this…he’s been doing MDO for years at these hours.  But this will be Garrett’s first time at school.  He’s been in the nursery before on Sundays at church, but this will be his first time going for that long too.  He struggles with falling asleep without being in a bed in a dark room so we’ll see how he does with sleep.  If they can get him to take at least one quick 20-30 minute nap I will call it a win.  He gets fussy when he’s tired, but the good thing about him is that even though he takes 2.5 hour naps at home, he doesn’t require one that long to be in a good mood.  If he can take a quick 20 minute catnap, he thinks it’s been 2 hours and he’s fine.

And as you can see in the pictures above, he’s really aware of Gizmo now and likes watching her and trying to touch her.

Statistics

His 6 month appointment was on his actual birthday, April 27th.  His head is still big, but not as big as it has been.  It’s been consistently in 90th percentile since birth but it’s down to 70th percentile now.  He’s about 25 3/4 inches long which is the 25th percentile and weighs 17lbs, 8oz which is 50th percentile.  So overall, the reason he looks fat, is because he’s short, not because he’s actually fat.  I agree that he is definitely short, but I don’t think he’s in the 25th percentile and neither does Justin.  The way they measure these babies is so jacked up and as I was watching her mark the paper to measure him I almost said something but decided against it.  Garrett is really a little over 26 inches and I don’t know what percentile that is, but it’s not 25th (at this age, a mere 1/4 inch can shoot you up in the percentiles a lot...you’d be surprised!).  But yes, he is definitely short.  I was expecting higher than 50th percentile on weight too.  He is also NOT 17lbs, 8oz.  The timing of the appointment was immediately after drinking a 7oz bottle and eating some cereal.  I weighed him the other day when he woke up before he ate anything and he was 17lbs even.  So this likely puts him a little less than 50th percentile in weight.  Regardless, his weight is slowing down because as he gets older he’s getting more active.  He’s sitting up all the time and is constantly bouncing in our laps and in swings and toys so he’s working those muscles and burning calories now.  He looks like a Michelin baby (see picture below) because he’s just not quite proportional yet with his height but Dr. D says that is totally normal and that babies grow at their own rate.

Other things noted during the doctor’s appointment:

• Baby boy has a minor cold so doc told me to go get some baby Zyrtec for him.  I’m hoping it clears it up and that he’s not developing allergies.
• He still has a mild case of eczema.  Carter never had this so it’s new to me.  I’ve tried using Aveeno products because they’re supposed to be best on sensitive skin but I swear there’s something in it he’s allergic to because everytime I’ve used the Aveeno lotion on him it makes him break out.  So I’m throwing it out.  We’re going to keep using hydrocortisone and aquaphor.
• There’s one spot on his tummy that we think is just some eczema, but doc said it also looks a little like ringworm.  So I’m going to use the hydrocortisone for a few days and if it’s not better then we’ll call in a prescription for ringworm medicine.  However, both doc and me think it’s just eczema.
• He got shots as always.  I teared up this time though.  I don’t know why, but when Garrett cries it makes me cry.  Maybe because he NEVER cries.  He’s more of a whiner and grunter than a crier.  So when I see those tears it just breaks me in two.
• Next appointment isn’t until 9 months.  My boy is growing up too fast y’all!!!

Abilities

Like I mentioned above, the big accomplishment in the last month was the ability to sit up unassisted.  He can sit up for several minutes on his own without falling over, however I still wouldn’t call him a “master” at it just yet.  I would never leave him sitting up in one room while I’m in another room.  It’s gonna take some time for me to be comfortable doing that!  He’s also been getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth.  See, Garrett tends to be about a week or two behind on doing things when big brother did them.  The rocking on his knees, however, he did way before big brother did.  Carter didn’t rock on all fours until he was close to 7 months old and Garrett does it almost every morning when he wakes up.  Both boys started out just doing it in their cribs and eventually did it when they were just laying on the floor.  This is the move that is the prerequisite to crawling, so Garrett may not be too far off from crawling!  He is also showing a HUGE interest in standing up.  He loves it when you help him stand up in your lap or on the floor.  He’s also grabbing at stuff constantly.  He adores touching my face for some reason.

Teething

These teeth are going to be the death of me!!!!  I was sure they’d be in by now but not so much.  Overall, he’s honestly not that fussy, but he is just CONSTANTLY drooling and it’s driving me bonkers!!!

Discipline

Again, definitely not there yet!

Other Notable Things

Likes

• Sleeping
• Car rides
• Pull toys that are connected to his carseat.  He really likes pulling them to make noise!
• Watching brother play outside.
• Watching Gizmo.
• Being outside when it’s warm.  He prefers to sit in the shade because he doesn’t like sunlight in his eyes, but he does enjoy being outside.
• Seeing himself in a mirror
• When daddy plays peek-a-boo with him
• When I roll my tongue-it makes him laugh hysterically!
• Sucking on his fingers – he prefers the index and middle finger of his right hand and as weird as this sounds, he prefers to suck them upside down.  See below picture for what I mean.  Brother was a thumb sucker but this kid refuses the thumb.  He wants two fingers instead!

• The toy that is connected to his crib.  It lights up and plays lullabies for a few minutes and then it turns itself off.  We usually turn it on right when we put him down for a nap and he stares at it for a while before falling asleep.  Now that he’s sitting up really well, I will sit him up next to the toy and he will grab at it to try to play with it.
• Baby Einstein DVD’s – preferably one with land animals on it (he’s not a fan of the ocean one for some reason-which was Carter’s favorite one!)
• Still obsessed with almost anything on the Baby First channel, particularly Vocabu-Larry (it’s a bird named Larry that spells words…get it??)

Dislikes

• Sun in his eyes
• Being kept awake for too long
• Teething
• Loud noises-this is a new one.  If a loud noise startles him unexpectedly he will cry…like actual tears.  Justin sneezed one day and Garrett started bawling.  But if he expects the loud noise it doesn’t bother him…like vacuuming.  He’s fine with it because he sees me getting the vacuum out so he knows it’s going to make noise.
• Getting bored with one activity-just like his brother did when he was this age, he likes to change up his activities every 15 minutes or so unless it’s a Baby Einstein DVD.  He can usually sit through a whole 25-30 minute DVD pretty easily.
• Missing nap.  It’s when he gets the fussiest.  If he can’t have his nap in his crib we try to rock him until he falls asleep.  Eventually it will work, but it takes FOREVER.  He wants to be in his own bed.
• A pacifier.  Just like brother, this kid won’t take a pacifier!  I love it because I don’t have to worry that he will lose it in the middle of the night and start crying because he needs it to sleep.  This is why I was glad Carter was a thumb sucker.  I got worried about when Carter would stop sucking his thumb (upside of the pacifier is that you can take it away-you can’t exactly cut their thumb off) but around age 2ish, he stopped all on his own and hasn’t done it since.  So hopefully if Garrett becomes a big finger sucker, he will drop it on his own before I have to take drastic measures!
• Shots (because who likes those?!?!)