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| s i x m o n t h s |
today is a special day...it's my birthday and Clark's half birthday! there is no one I would rather share this day with than my little Clark. he fills my heart with so much joy, gives my life true meaning and I feel so incredibly blessed to be his mother. my first birthday as a mom...no sleeping in but lots and lots of cuddling with my sweet baby boy!
this past month has been busy! busy for Clark and busy for us. we bought a house!!! yes, more on that in another post. we closed on November 30th but we're having it painted right now so I've been using that as my excuse for why I haven't started packing. but really it's this kid...
I still have nooo idea how we're going to move with him. I barely have time to get dressed most days and I'm supposed to pack (and unpack!) all our stuff??? I guess I'll let you know how I did in next month's post!
we had our six month well check and Clark is measuring right on track...
six month stats:
weight: 16 lbs. 14 oz. (40th percentile)
length: 27.5 in. (85th percentile)
head circ: 17 in. (40th percentile)
♥ ♥ ♥
f i r s t s
♥ thanksgiving - we went to my Uncle Paul & Aunt Tara's and ate the most delicious feast!
♥ black friday - we shopped till we dropped, literally! poor Clark was not a happy camper by the end of the day. he definitely takes after his daddy's feelings towards shopping! mom, on the other hand, could shop for a living!!
♥ sucking on tags, sucking his shirts, sucking on anything - what can I say he's a little sucker! hahaha. his favorite pj's have this smooth polar bear on them and in the mornings before we come get him, he's always sucking on his face!
s l e e p
there have been some sleepless nights this month due to a combination of factors. Clark has started rolling back to belly and sometimes he does it at night when he's trying to fall asleep, which wakes him up. he has also been teething and we can tell he's been in a lot of pain.
then, there's the weather change. winter has hit Texas! unfortunately, Clark's room is the coldest room in the house and no matter how high we crank the heater, it always feels chilly in there. so we think he's been waking up cold a lot. we're currently getting up with him 2-3 times a night, usually once before we go to bed, around 10:30. then again at 1 or 2 and again around 5. each time we just give him his paci and my shirt and he goes back to sleep. we've unintentionally started taking shifts and every other night we each take a turn getting out of bed. I'm not really looking forward to going up and down the stairs once we're in our new house but maybe he'll be back to sleeping through the night by then! one can hope!
p l a y / d e v e l o p m e n t
it takes a lot of energy to keep Clark entertained these days! he wants to get into everything! I'm constantly having to find new things for him to play with and I am so ready for him to be able to sit up on his own. he's so close! I think he actually can, he just chooses not to because he has to work out his abs, ha! he just leans forward when he gets tired of holding himself up but then gets annoyed and wants one of us to help him sit up so he can play. exhausting!
♥ thanksgiving - we went to my Uncle Paul & Aunt Tara's and ate the most delicious feast!
Clark was sooo good during dinner and played happily in his carseat while the rest of us were able to eat in peace! happy thanksgiving to me!!!
♥ black friday - we shopped till we dropped, literally! poor Clark was not a happy camper by the end of the day. he definitely takes after his daddy's feelings towards shopping! mom, on the other hand, could shop for a living!!
♥ food - green beans! he HATED them!!! more on this later.
♥ met my best friend - this month I introduced Clark to my childhood best friend, Sarah! we have been through everything together and it felt so crazy to have her meet my baby! Clark loved her and her mom, as he loves all pretty girls :)
f a v o r i t e s
f a v o r i t e s
♥ being sung to sleep - Clark's second favorite way to fall asleep (first is the boob!) is with my hand on his face, singing him to sleep. it's kind of my favorite too :)
♥ sitting by the fire - he loves staring at the flames with grandma!
♥ playing the piano with grandad - he loves when grandad sings and plays the piano...it always puts him to sleep, haha!
♥ the itsy bitsy spider - something about this song makes Clark stop whatever he's doing, mid-scream even, and quietly listen to the whole song. then when I'm done he goes right back to screaming or whatever else he was doing. but it's a great 20 second break when I can't think of anything else to calm him! I think it's the hand motions...I'm pretty good at them ;)
♥ Wishbone - also known as "the pooping puppy" because when Clark was little (and by little I mean up until a few months ago, haha) he had trouble pooping and when a week had gone by with no poops and we could see him trying or getting uncomfortable, we would lay him on a changing pad and strip him down to his diaper. Mark would massage his tummy and bicycle his legs and I would entertain him by jingling Wishbone around over his head. to be funny, I would make Wishbone encourage Clark that he could do it and told him to push "like this" and would make Wishbone grunt like he was pooping. well, one time when Wishbone grunted, Clark copied him and was able to poop! so that became our method for getting Clark to poop for the longest time. he just copied Wishbone! hahaha
♥ rubbing his face with blankets / my shirts - Clark just loves things touching his face! I guess he thinks it's cozy...and I totally used to love it too when I was little! my mom says I always had my yellow satin blanket in between my fingers and would rub it all over my face. I remember doing it too!
Clark also gets the biggest thrill out of having blankets thrown over his head! one of our favorite things to do with him is huddle in close and toss a blanket up and let it fall down around us. he holds his breath as long as he can and then lets out a happy sigh when he realizes he can breathe inside our little fort after all! haha we crack up every time!
♥ water bottles - I'm not sure if it's the fact that they're cold, make noise when they shake or that he's actually thirsty and tries to get the water out by sucking on the outside of the bottle but this kid loves water bottles! I don't even know when he is allowed (?) to start drinking water out of a bottle!
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| playing footsie with the soda cup while nursing in the front seat |
♥ cough drops - no idea...
♥ Mickey Mouse magnet - my parents have this pretty cool Disney magnet on the fridge with 3D objects on springs jumping out of it and Clark is obsessed with it! anytime we walk by the fridge he has to grab it! he has yet to pull one of the springs off but any day now...
♥ Christmas lights - this kid is mesmerized by all things Christmas!
♥ laying under the Christmas tree - obviously!
♥ jingle bells - no explanation necessary.
♥ bows - the present kind.
♥ sitting by the fire - he loves staring at the flames with grandma!
♥ playing the piano with grandad - he loves when grandad sings and plays the piano...it always puts him to sleep, haha!
♥ the itsy bitsy spider - something about this song makes Clark stop whatever he's doing, mid-scream even, and quietly listen to the whole song. then when I'm done he goes right back to screaming or whatever else he was doing. but it's a great 20 second break when I can't think of anything else to calm him! I think it's the hand motions...I'm pretty good at them ;)
♥ walker - a favorite of everyone's! Clark is so independent and loves being able to get around on his own...and we love not having to carry him or help him walk around!
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| did I mention these two are obsessed with each other?? |
♥ plastic bags & anything dangerous - Clark's favorite toys are the ones he's not allowed to play with - fragile ornaments, long ribbons, bags of all kinds, things with tiny pieces that he can break off and put in his mouth, the wrong end of his pacifier clips (the sharp metal part that clips on his clothes), and anything with glitter! this kid is going to be t-r-o-u-b-l-e!!
e a t
we have started attempted solids with Clark!!! I think we were all wayyy more excited than Clark about this. we started out with green beans, per recommendation from the doctor that we should start with greens, and he absolutely hated them! he gagged twice and made the most disgusted faces. since then we have tried applesauce, bananas, and rice cereal and he has hated them all!
so we had given up on the baby food but then one day I was eating a cutie and, as usual, Clark was trying to take it from me. I decided I would let him suck on a section and he happily chewed away on it like a teether. then when his bottom teeth broke it open and the juice went into his mouth he made a sour face but then wanted more! and that was how we discovered Clark's love of real food over baby food! since then he has enjoyed apples, yogurt and smoothies. he will pretty much eat anything we're eating. maybe we should start eating his baby food!
in other news...this past month, Clark bit me for the first time! I had read about babies getting teeth and biting mom's nipple and so many moms said they screamed out in pain and scared the baby so they didn't do it again. for some reason, I was thinking they were choosing to scream so the baby would stop but let me tell you, screaming is completely involuntary!! when Clark bit me, it hurt so bad I screamed as loud as I could without a second to even think about it. I think it was more painful than my worst labor contraction!
it happened near the end of the feeding, which I've read is common. he started biting down a little harder than normal. I told him, "no biting," thinking that must be what biting felt like. ha! a minute later he bit me for real and I was pretty sure we would never nurse again. somehow I mustered up the courage to feed him again a few hours later and at the end of that feeding he bit me again, thankfully not as hard!
since then I've learned to pay close attention to when Clark is finished eating, instead of letting him suck on me like a binky. he still bites on occasion and a few times have been as painful as that first time. in fact, a few days ago he clamped down and wouldn't let go! I actually started seeing red and my vision got blurry it was so painful. all I could think was pain, pain, pain as I tried desperately to unlatch him. and yet somehow I haven't even considered ending our nursing relationship. nursing Clark is probably my favorite thing we do together and there's nothing that makes me feel more like a mother or closer to my baby. I'm so sad to wean him in six short months!
there have been some sleepless nights this month due to a combination of factors. Clark has started rolling back to belly and sometimes he does it at night when he's trying to fall asleep, which wakes him up. he has also been teething and we can tell he's been in a lot of pain.
then, there's the weather change. winter has hit Texas! unfortunately, Clark's room is the coldest room in the house and no matter how high we crank the heater, it always feels chilly in there. so we think he's been waking up cold a lot. we're currently getting up with him 2-3 times a night, usually once before we go to bed, around 10:30. then again at 1 or 2 and again around 5. each time we just give him his paci and my shirt and he goes back to sleep. we've unintentionally started taking shifts and every other night we each take a turn getting out of bed. I'm not really looking forward to going up and down the stairs once we're in our new house but maybe he'll be back to sleeping through the night by then! one can hope!
p l a y / d e v e l o p m e n t
it takes a lot of energy to keep Clark entertained these days! he wants to get into everything! I'm constantly having to find new things for him to play with and I am so ready for him to be able to sit up on his own. he's so close! I think he actually can, he just chooses not to because he has to work out his abs, ha! he just leans forward when he gets tired of holding himself up but then gets annoyed and wants one of us to help him sit up so he can play. exhausting!
one of Clark's favorite games is "1, 2, 3"! when he's laying down, we hold his hands and start to count and he smiles and knows what's coming. when we get to 3, he leans forward and we pull him up to sit and then he stands up, beaming and looks around proudly like a little gymnast dismounting!
he still loves going for walks, still hates getting dressed. he's constantly rolling onto his tummy and then screams because he can't always roll back! he's definitely got a bit of a temper. at his check-up, the nurse said, "is he always this good?" and I said, "nope!" a few minutes later when she went to measure his head, he was not having it! when Clark doesn't like something, he lets you know about it! he also can change from happy to upset in a matter of seconds! I hate to admit it but he gets all those traits from yours truly! oops.
happy six months sweet Clark!!! you are the best Christmas gift we could ever ask for.
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