happy half birthday sweet boy

I can hardly believe it's been six months since you entered this world, and our hearts. In such a short amount of time you have left such a large mark on us, and we will truly never be the same. You are our cuddly, mellow, smiley little man - a true joy to have around.

At six months we have learned so much about you! You are by all counts a very happy baby. The only things you seem to dislike are having to wait for your food, being left without company for too long, the heat and bright sunshine, and getting dressed. In fact, the more layers that are removed from your body - the bigger your smile becomes. You love to be "free".

At six months you are almost sitting. You will sit with support, but aren't ready to attempt that feat on your own quite yet. You love to roll - back and forth and all the way over. You enjoy laying on your back the most, batting at toys above and beside you. You absolutely love anything soft - blankies, burp clothes, stuffed animals, your shirts - you particularly enjoy balling them up and putting them in your mouth.

Your smiles come easy and often - they literally light up the room. Your brightest ones come when your sister enters the room, followed by the smiles you save for Steve and I. You love to hear songs - you perk up and recognize the "good morning" song I sing to you and Anna each morning, and you also love "The Ants Go Marching" to calm you when you do have to get dressed.

A few weeks ago you started eating food more consistently. You have 4-5 bottles per day (6 oz. each) as well as 2 helpings of cereal w/ fruit and veggies. We haven't run across a food you don't like...you even eat your veggies with a smile (at least for now)!

You take 2 or 3 naps per day. One at around 9 or 9:30am, and another at 12:30 or 1. Sometimes you also take a late afternoon nap around 4pm. Bedtime is early at 6pm and you regularly sleep through the night until between 6 and 8am the following day. Every once in awhile you will wake in the night and need one of us, but more often than not we just hear you pounding your legs in the crib, rolling around or babbling to yourself.

Speaking of, you have started to babble a little bit. There is often a lot of noise around the house throughout the day, so most of the time you are taking everything else in. But when there is a free moment or you have someone's undivided attention for a period of time, you will start to try to converse. Currently your favorite thing to do is to gurgle/blow bubbles with your top lip and gums over your bottom one.

You are a most precious little boy and we can hardly wait to see what the next few months have in store for us. Today we just visited our favorite photographer to have your 6 month pictures taken...later this week we will have both your 6 month check up and your next heart ECHO. I am confident both will be great. We love you sweet boy, our Mr. Magoo, and thank God for blessing our lives with the gift of you.