Oh my goodness! The time has seriously flown if I’m writing Augustine’s 6 Month Update! How is my little baby almost half a year old?! He’s just days away from his half birthday and I can hardly believe it. While on one hand, it seems like this little guy was just born, it also seems like so long ago. As excited as I am for all the major milestones ahead, I hope it doesn’t go by quite as fast. I really want to cherish every moment with our sweet baby! Here’s a little update about life with our favorite little guy at 6 months:

Augustine’s 6 Month Update

STATS

– 18 pounds –

TEMPERAMENT

Augustine is such a sweet little guy! He’s pretty calm unless he’s tired or hungry. He laughs and makes the cutest little noises when he’s excited! I already have a feeling he’s going to be a busy little boy because he’s always kicking his legs around and wants to be investigating things. He’s very curious! Matthew jokes that all his excited little grunts sound like zombie noises from The Walking Dead. I have a feeling he’s going to be quite the talker!

MILESTONES

Augustine is rolling from his back to stomach, which is really exciting! He still needs to work on rolling from his stomach to back, which apparently is the easier of the two, but we think it’s because he just never wants to put his head down. He wants to see all of the action! We just started walking with him facing out in the BabyBjorn carrier which gives him a whole new view on things. He’ll chew on the front flap and look at all the trees outside. Speaking of chewing, our little guy has his two bottom teeth in! They came in within four days of each other at the beginning of February. Over the weekend he seemed to be showing those teething signs again and we think the top two teeth will be here soon, too. He’s getting more hair and it’s coming in so fluffy! I see a lot of blonde in his hair so I’m curious what his color will be. His eyes look like they’ll probably be hazel and this one little patch of brown is still in his right eye. Hoping that sticks around because it’s so cool! Augustine can grab his feet, although he hasn’t put them in his mouth just yet. I’m wondering if that will happen!

LIKES

Augustine likes being on his stomach on the playmat. He’ll kick his legs and wave his arms. It almost looks like he’s paddling out to surf! We have this toy mirror with crinkly edges that he loves to play with on his mat. He also likes Misty the Mouse and Gerry the Giraffe, especially when they’re accompanied with funny voices from Mom. He likes to be held up high and then down low. It’s one of our favorite games. We’ll play Hawaiian music and he’ll bounce his legs up and down in the BabyBjorn Bouncer. He loves Ginger and already knows who she is. We’ll say, “Where’s dog dog? Where’s Gingie?” and he’ll look right at her! We’re still pretty careful with Ginger around Augustine, but she’s been giving him little kisses and it’s so cute. Augustine always laughs! When Matthew’s gets home from work, he’ll play the guitar or piano for Augustine and it’s so sweet. Augustine will bounce around in his chair, or try to strum the guitar strings. I already have a feeling this boy is going to be very musical.

EATING

We’ve been waiting for our 6-month pediatrician appointment to introduce solids. I always thought we’d do it right when we got the go ahead but I’m wondering if we should wait for Augustine to be sitting up on his own without assistance. It might be easier. Also, I’ve read a little bit about baby-led weaning, which is the idea that the babies feed themselves. The “weaning” is a misnomer because breastmilk is still the primary source of nutrition, but it’s the idea of allowing the baby to direct their meals, reach for which fruits/vegetables, and put it in their mouths themselves. It obviously gets very messy but I’ve heard the benefits are that it supports better hand/eye coordination, chewing skills, and healthy eating habits. Have any of you heard of it or done it? I’ve heard some mixed thoughts but there are definitely things about it that are intriguing.

SLEEP

Oh thank goodness this area has had such a big improvement! I’m going to be talking more about his sleep schedule next Monday, so stay tuned! Currently, though, he’s still waking up 2 times in the middle of the night, but the process of putting him down to sleep has gotten significantly better. We’re still working on naps, though. He will take 3 a day but they’re each pretty short, usually about 35 minutes long. Sometimes we’ll get lucky with one that’s an hour, but for the most part, they’re short and sweet. He’s supposed to be napping much longer for his age, though, so if you have any ideas on how we can make the naps longer let me know!

FAVORITE PRODUCTS

That BabyBjorn bouncer is probably our favorite thing! He loves to be in there kicking around, bouncing to music, and playing with the toy bar. It’s a nice toy for him to be in that allows him to get some energy out. We also still love the Jonathan Adler for Fischer Price activity gym. Since he’s been rolling over, we took off the top part so that he’s just on the mat, but we play with all the toys still. I’m trying to enjoy baby wearing as long as I can! We’ll go on afternoon walks in the BabyBjorn carrier and I also love the Solly Baby Wrap. The Solly is a softer fabric material so Augustine gets nice and cozy in there and will sometimes naps in there. My mom got Augustine Sophie the Giraffe for Christmas and he loves to chew on her legs and put her head in his mouth. I love that my mom got her not knowing how popular she was. My mom just thought Sophie was cute! I recently got this cat seat activity toy and Augustine likes to play with that when we’re out running errands. This one would be cute for a girl!

MOM UPDATE

Since Augustine is sleeping better, my quality of life has greatly improved. It was so so tough when it was taking hours to put him to sleep. The fact that I can put him down now and he won’t cry is absolutely amazing. It made me feel like I was doing the right thing. Now, in the evenings I can cook dinner, do my work, and just hang out with Matthew. We haven’t gotten to the point where we can watch TV yet, but we’re getting there. To be honest, I feel like I have major sleep debt that I’m trying to get back. On Friday night I went to bed at 7:45! 7:45pm! That is so incredibly early but I was just exhausted. I think the week caught up to me.

Life with Augustine is so special and wonderful and I feel lucky that I can be home with him. While it can be challenging juggling work with mom life, it’s so incredibly worth it. I love watching Augustine process things and take new experiences in. I know it will just get better and better, too! I’m looking forward to all his major milestones ahead, specifically crawling, walking and talking. And summertime is going to be so fun with warm weather walks and taking Augustine to the beach for the first time. I’m really looking forward to it all. I just hope it doesn’t go by too fast!

xox

P.S. Check out my New Mom Essentials and our Newborn Essentials.