Preston at Six Months (Half a year Old! )

How did this.....

Get to this??

Half a year old now.

At six months...

--Preston remains a happy and alert baby. That is, until you try to put him in a pack -n-play at night (!) More on that in another post :p

--Rolling, and rolling, and rolling to wherever he wants to go. He otherwise just sort of waves his legs and arms in place. You know he wants to get somewhere, he just hasn't figured out exactly how yet.

--Eats real food now! He takes to it much better than rice or oatmeal. So far, he likes sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas, carrots, green beans, apples, pears, banana a bit...but you know, doesn't like mango.

First time making my own. I can see why people buy, it's time consuming. It's been nice though to freeze portions and put some in to-go packets too, though.

--I know y'all are wondering how he is sleeping, haha! Better! Everything is "consolidating" much better. Since I started to feed him more (I discovered I needed to supplement, and/or that he needed more ounces of formula if given by itself), the sleep started to come. I feel bad, looking back, because it now makes me think that he was probably truly hungry all those times he woke, and cried until I finally fed him! :( Makes me wish our first sleep training person would have asked to double check and be sure his nutrition needs were being met in the first place, as my friend had asked about right away.

Anyway, he is taking two naps, both 1-2 hours, we're still giving him a "dream feed" and then he is typically waking once. I should enjoy this for now, because he has not gotten any teeth yet so my days could be numbered!

--Just had his six month doctor visit - he is lower percentile on weight, but high for length. Yep, another long and lean Kucenski boy, in other words! He has doubled his weight since birth, which is good. He's otherwise meeting all his growth markers and doesn't need to go back until 9 months.

--Definitely knows faces and voices. Definitely also is starting to learn distance, like when mommy and daddy leave his side (or perhaps separation anxiety?)

--Just had his first, big trip out of state! More on that in another post :)

Puppet book reading

Not sure about  bubbles popping on him

His mood most of the time :)

--Close to sitting up unassisted. The Easter Bunny should probably invest in some bath toys soon!

And then to end things, how about another 6 month comparison between brothers? You see Preston above...

Nathan

Aaron

February School Happenings

I was able to make it in to both of the boys' classrooms for their Valentine parties.

Waffles, fruit and other Valentine fun for breakfast that morning. Hubby was nice and brought home flowers, chocolate and picked up dinner from one of our local restaurants.

Valentine experiment

Aaron's cute kinder class

I also was able to join Aaron on a field trip to the Stuffington Bear Factory,a bit like Build A Bear.

Lucky me, I only had Aaron and one of his buddies in my group to watch

Lastly, Nathan got Student of the Month for February for Sharing and being Cooperative.

I was also suppose to go on a field trip of Nathan's, but unfortunately the babe and I were sick. Nate is suppose to have one more field trip yet before the end of the year, so I hope to make it on that one since I haven't been able to do any of his others yet.

Preston at 5 Months

Look at how big P is getting! In every which way. Even his hairs are starting to grow in, haha! (though they're very light) No pediatrician visit this month, he will go back when he is six months.

So, to talk about what's been going on in this last month...well, sleep training continues! :p After close to two months working with the method we were told by the sleep coach we had, well, we stopped. :( Just was NOT clicking. He generally stuck to eating and sleeping around the same times, but durations have just continued to be all over the place. At night he would spend upwards of an hour crying, trying to get to the next "feed" time. Night after night of this I got tired of it. I just got up and nursed him back to sleep so that we could all go back to sleep again! (basically, what I did the beginning of January)

Just yesterday, then, I turned to my friend who had helped us sleep train Aaron (I would have gone to her in the first place but thought she was trying to sort of get out of that area). What can I say, desperate times call for desperate measures! I wanted a second opinion on if we were on the right track in comparison with what the sleep coach we were working with said to do. Well, in my opinion...not really. Thankfully she pointed us in what she thinks is the right direction (new schedule with new times for eating,sleeping,etc) Today is Day 1. As expected, rough. I'm even more scared for the night :o He will still get a typical feed at 10, right before we go to bed so that he doesn't wake up soon after, but after that he is "suppose" to be able to make it through the whole night until morning without another feed. Yikes!

I'm desperately hoping, since I kept watch all day that he was getting the ounces of milk and rice he is to be needing, that he will sleep at least better tonight. I have now resulted to pumping milk so I can see how many ounces he is drinking, and then supplement formula for what he is missing. Things are lined up for success, it could just be hours of settling eventually, ack! One of our biggest issues is that I was nursing him right before sleep which is a no-no...It still wasn't allowing him to self soothe very much since he was already pretty drowsy.

Anyway, so I really hope we're on the right track now and will see results by the time I write his 6 month post!

-has discovered the feet!

-perhaps "pre-teething". I think it was around 6-7 mos when the other two really started the teething process. Boo!

- definitely takes more notice to us - smiles when we approach, notices when we come and leave the room..

-starting to operate his own toys! Push buttons, etc

- and this! He can now roll onto his tummy! I thought at first he liked it, but when he's in bed especially it doesn't seem like he does. So now he can do a complete roll and move all around.

-he's starting to attempt to sit up on his own. He doesn't last long, though, before he topples over to the side. Not quite ready for the high chair without support but also isn't crazy about the Bumbo.

Time for medicine, brother

First rice

Come watch with me

Cuddles!

-we'll call this section Brotherly Love! Aaron especially, still. Feeding him, playing, checking on him, everything. I think definitely much more so than Nathan was. Aaron is just eating this all up!

- loves to pull hair. Ouch.

- gives kisses! To mommy at least ;) Its very cute, he just puts his mouth open wide on my cheek. That's what I'm going to consider it as, anyway.

-at least at first, wasn't taking to rice or oatmeal much. Our pediatrician was concerned about him starting yet because of his reflux, thinking his system may not be ready for it yet. So far I don't see that as the case, I think he's just getting used to it or just doesn't care for it much.

- likes to be outside (gee, what a shocker! that's everyone here!)

-likes to be nude. As soon as I start to take his socks off at night, he knows what's happening. His arms and legs start going crazy!

-still doesn't mind being bathed. Maybe it has to do with the nude part ;)

Hmmm...I think that sums this month up for now! I really hope to have super, duper, good news in the sleep department next month (have I talked enough about this yet?!) Mama is surviving on the coffee drip for now. I don't think I've had a good night's rest since last summer! :p