Isaac's 6th Month
Wow, I just can't believe he's already 6 months. Time sure flies!
I have been consistent in getting Isaac to nap in his crib, and I'm happy to say that he's really good about falling asleep up there and is starting to sleep longer than the 30 minutes he was doing last month! He is now taking about a 30 min - 1 hour nap in the morning, and a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon up there. He'll go to bed in his crib too, and then I'll wake him to nurse him as we are going to bed and put him in the bassinette for the night. In the last week I've been putting him back in his crib after nursing him, where he'll stay until morning. Since we are headed on vacation we decided not to change him to sleeping in his crib at night before we leave. We will probably do that when we come back, since he's getting too big and too roly-poly to confine in that little place! But we'll see! He continues to sleep about a 5-7 hour chunk after I nurse him at bedtime (although lately he's been waking up in between that timeframe crying, needing to be settled not nursed). I wish I could say he's sleeping through the night, but we just aren't there yet. And I remember with Kayla it was a process, and a milestone she slowly came to. So I'm being patient, and loving the long chunks that I am getting!
He typically wakes up somewhere between 8-9 in the morning, is napping 2-3 hours after that, and then napping about 2-3 hours after waking up from the first nap. Then he's going to bed between 8-9 at night. We are nursing often about 4-5am, 9-10am, 1-2pm, 6pm and then 10-11pm, for a total of 5 a day.
One thing that really helped me with his sleep is that we installed a "baby-cam" in his room! We had originally bought it to check on Kayla during her nap times, but when I started having him nap upstairs I seemed to constantly being running up and down the stairs to see if he was crying and needed help (like he got a leg stuck in the crib or something) or if he was just settling himself. Kayla often wanted to come too, so I had to placate her in order to run and help him. It was exhausting, physically and emotionally. Now that we have this camera, I can see and hear him on our tv, and can determine if his fussing is just to calm himself to sleep, or if he needs intervention. I am SO THANKFUL to have this here, it has really helped him get some good sleep!
He's figured out how to roll from front to back to front to back to get from one side of the room to the other. But again, he's just not that motivated to do it often! While on his belly he can lift his torso really well and he kicks with his legs. We are (I am thinking/hoping) a ways away from him crawling, but I do realize it's only a matter of time before he can do it. That will mean putting up the baby gates again and moving lots of Kayla's toys and books to a different area. But he now can get to toys that are surrounding him and he often will roll front to back and then back to front (in the original location, so not moving anywhere). Maybe one of these days I’ll get a video of him rolling over!
We started him eating solid foods about a week ago. We tried avocados first and then sweet potato. The faces he makes are just hilarious! Unfortunately, he seems to have spit up more than he's gotten down. I was hoping that he would take to solids, to help fill the gap when I'm gone since he won't take a bottle. But it seems this kiddo like his milk, from the source, period. In the meantime, we keep trying!
He loves his exersaucer, his colorful caterpillar, his ring of keys and his coins from his piggy bank. He can transfer an object from one hand to the other. He loves to explore things/textures with his fingers. He loves balloons with all of his heart! While I realize it's a huge danger, I let him play with them while I'm supervising 100% because he gets so much pleasure from them. He loves Kayla so very much and his face lights up when he sees her and sometimes he'll cry when she leaves the room! So cute.
He still has just the 2 teeth, although I feel more coming. We'll see how long it takes them to pop out! I'm glad I started documenting his eyes, because over the course of this last month his right eye has started to change a little bit. There is a bit of green/hazel peeking through on one side. We'll see how this progresses! The spitting is continually slowing down. Some feedings we don't get anything at all! And then there are times when I'm changing my outfit and his and washing couch cushions, etc. At least I'm seeing an improvement here :)
