This past Saturday, the 13th, Daniel hit the 6-month mark! This handsome little devil is now 6 moths old. It's so crazy to think that it's only been six months, and that it's already been 6 months. He feels like he's been a part of our lives so much longer, and at the same time it's crazy to think he's already so big. I took him in for his 6-month well-check on Monday. I can't find his growth charts with all his new stats, so I'll have to post those later. BUT, I do remember his weight. The doc pulled up his charts, said his height was right on track, then switched to his weight and says "..Oh.." Apparently his weight went from the 34th percentile to the 9th percentile. She even weighed him again just to be sure the numbers were right, and sure enough, he only weighs 15 pounds. She asked me questions about his eating habits and activity level, and determined he's just a super-active baby and has been burning off all the food he consumes. So, that means more food...and a weight-check in a month. Sigh. She made sure to assure me he's still a healthy weight, they just need to check his weight again in a month to make sure he's growing ok and doesn't have any problems. When I got home and thought more about it, I came to the realization that it's not only his activity level that's to blame for his weight...it's my milk. A few weeks ago when I pumped some milk for him, I made a comment to Mike that it looked like skim milk..yet more watery..almost see-through. There was BARELY any fat in it, which I also thought was weird, and I could only get 2 ounces out of one side. By the time Diana was 4 months old I was getting 4 ounces out of each side, more if she went longer than normal between feedings. I just don't think my body has been doing a very good job keeping him fed, which explains why he still wakes up 2-3 times a night, and maybe why he spits up so much...it's not heavy enough to stay down. So, because of that, and the fact that he has two teeth, Mike and I decided we're going to start moving him to bottles. Hopefully that, along with the 3 jars of stage 2 foods he's eating every day, will be enough to help him start gaining weight again. Unfortunately, he's not too happy about giving up nursing. I'm still nursing him in the middle of the night, but I'm trying to get him completely switched over soon. It's hard, and he's a lot more resistant than Diana, but this is really the best for him. I can at least say I gave him 6 good months of nursing, giving up all dairy and chocolate to keep his tummy happy (which has been SOOO hard!), but still, I feel a twinge of guilt because he really doesn't want to give it up yet. It's weird.
Other than that, the little monster is doing great! And we love him to death!! Here's what he's been up to lately:
*He's in the 9th Percentile for weight, 24th Percentile for height, and 9th Percentile for head circumference (He's small, but we love him that way!!)
*He started sitting at 5 1/2 months (2 weeks later than Diana started)*He got his first teeth (two front bottom ones - at the EXACT same time) at 5 1/2 months and has two more bottom ones coming in
*He's been trying to crawl since he was 5 months old, and is SO, SOOO close, it's only a matter of days now..
*He can sit up from the crawling position (5 1/2 months) and can go from sitting to the crawling position (a week after he went from crawl-to-sit)
*He still LOOOOOOVES baths and now takes them sitting up
*He holds out his arms when he wants to be held
*He can and loves to hold his own bottle
*He loves Diana the most and thinks she's a comedian
*He loves when Diana wrestles and is rough with him (Mommy doesn't like it so much, though)
*He's going through a stage of separation anxiety and freaks out if I walk away from him or if someone else has him and he sees me from a distance
*He loves to be rocked to sleep every night
*He loves his little musical sea horse that we turn on every nap and night time
*He LOVES watching movies (just like his sister and his mommy)
*He loves to be held, but loves to look around and /or down at the ground while he's being held..he doesn't want to miss anything
*He loves car rides and will usually either fall asleep in the car or silently play with his moose while we drive and rock out to music
*He LOVES eating real food, but loves nothing more than mom's milk (poor kid)
*He's VERY picky
*He's terrified of the vacuum, the Roomba, balloons, and very loud, quickly-moving objects
*He's a pro at pulling and inching his way around the house and finding things on the floor to put in his mouth.
*He loves to reach for things, like outlets, hanging clothes, blankets hanging off the bed, etc....He's trouble
*He still doesn't like binkies and it took some trial and error to find a bottle he would actually take (latex, wide nipple)
*He can say "Mama"
*He LOVES blowing raspberries (he especially loves doing it with his hands on or in his mouth so he can feel the vibrations)
*He's SUPER ticklish and LOVES to laugh
*He has fantastic hand-eye coordination and has since about 5 months old
*He loves being tossed in the air
*He's a SCREAMER and will scream bloody murder until he turns purple if things don't go his way...I've seriously never heard anyone scream louder than this kid can scream
*He LOVES to be outside
*He loves playing with his toys (His favorite right now is his 'Lamaze' brand Moose), and Diana's toys, too
*He loves to bite everything, especially me
*He hates having his nails clipped...unless he's taking a bath at the same time
*He's still nursing/eating every 2 hours during the day and is still waking up 2-3 times at night
*He takes 2 half-hour naps and 1 one-to-two hour nap a day
*He's a little love-bug and is ALWAYS full of smiles!
