6 months of The Great Bambino!!!

6 months?

6 MONTHS???

Half a YEAR already???

I’m totally one of those cliché Moms now who wishes her baby would stop growing up so fast…

I am LOVING this age though, a 6-month-old is an absolute blast… gone are the cranky, confusing, walking-dead-parent newborn days.. and the mobile, tantrum-throwing, say-no-to-EVERYTHING  toddler stage is still in the future.

Let’s stop time. J

-Weighs 19.7lb and is 28.5“ long.

-Wears 9 month clothes, and some 6 month pants.

-is VERY curious and grabs at EVERYTHING. The remote, our phones, the couch, the dog, bags, carpet, food, objects, his diapers, his penis, his feet, toys.. grabby, grabby, grabby!

-Loves fabric.. he touches pillows, clothes, carpets, cloths… all the time.

-can sit up completely unassisted and rarely falls over. He’s strong!

-Will pull himself forward Army crawl style when he’s on his tummy.

-Loves sitting in his high chair when we eat dinner. We are starting family dinners already!

Must be the red-stare of hunger...

-Has tried baby oatmeal and several fruits and veggies: beans, bananas, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, pears, peaches and watermelon. His favs are pears, peaches and peas. Today’s post is brought to you by the letter “P.” J

-OBSESSED with food. He stares harder at you eating then Henry does. And that’s saying a lot because that dog can beg something fierce.

-Loves to drink water out of a sippy cup and gets himself soaked.

-No longer needs his infant bath. He loves big boy baths in the grown-up tub!

-Has consistently slept through the night for the last 3 weeks. Bedtime is usually around 7:30pm and he pops awake at 5:00am happy as a clam and chatting away in his room. HUGE smiles when he go in to get him up!

-Moves around in his sleep.. last night we put him to bed on his back with his head facing the window. He woke up with his head the opposite direction and on his tummy.

-Loves rattles. He holds the rattle out with a straight arm, palm down, and slowly shakes it up and down. With a serious look on his face. Shake-a, shake-a, shake-a. It looks like he’s playing percussion in a band. It’s hilarious!

-Rode in his stroller like a big boy. He’s not sure he likes it though.. it took me 4 tries to ease his freaking out over it.

-Loves men’s scruff and will grab at their faces and beards.

-is an expert raspberry blower and practices his skill constantly.

-can grab toys on his own and pick them up, and passes toys from hand to hand. Also grabs his binky and can take it out of his mouth and put it back in.

-Twists from side to side while getting his diaper changed. He thinks this is funny. Mommy thinks this should be an Olympic sport.

-Talks all the time and SCREAMS in excitement when he plays. And by scream, I mean SCREECH!!! Like there is a Pterodactyl in the house.

-Gets frustrated and grunts really loud in his frustration. I think now that he can sit up, he wants to be moving and gets annoyed that he can’t yet.

-has his two bottom teeth

-loves to play airplane!!

photo by Catchfly

And just because I know I read other blogs and websites and I get tired of all the "my baby is an angel lamb heaven-sent wonder" and "Motherhood is the most blessed, natural, amazing thing ever" type posts (come ON ladies...you can admit you're covered in spit-up and just want to burst into tears)... here are the not so fun moments. Just to keep it real, and to let all other Moms who may be reading this know... we have our crappy times too! 

-usually screams in the car and will not settle down. I have to let him "cry it out" and he'll eventually fall asleep. 

-is impossible to put to bed some  nights. Like crazy "I can't handle you and I need to walk out of the room and send your Daddy in" kind of IM-POSS-I-BLE!!!! 

-Refuses to be held and rocked or comforted. Pushes me away, squirms, kicks and cries.. yet screams when I put him down. This breaks my heart sometimes because I literally can't do anything to comfort him. 

-Claws at me when he's tired... aiming for my face and neck and has left actually welts before. 

-Will go from totally fine to totally screaming with hunger in a matter of minutes and you can't make a bottle fast enough! 

-Really wants his binky when he's upset but always flicks it out of his mouth, then cries more... and this usually gets put on "repeat" for about 15 rounds. 

-Somedays will not look at me or want anything to do with me.. he'll smile at his teachers, his Daddy, the passing stranger, but will push me away. Those days are hard on this sensitive Mama's heart. 

So there ya go... we aren't perfect, Austin isn't a perfect angel-lamb, and Motherhood is damn hard! But it's full of a lot of laughter and joy too, so I guess as with anything else in life, the good times make up for all the moments you struggle through the bad times.