6 months old! A whole half a year! I remember when Ems turned 6 months old; it felt like it happened much much slower than this! I’m half way through my maternity leave with Ever and loving every minute of being home with my babes. I find the days go by so much faster with having two in the house. Since I’m breastfeeding still we haven’t sent Everton off for a sleepover yet so the odd days that Ems goes alone to one of her grandparent’s houses, I find the day drags on a bit more having just a baby in the house. I love watching the interactions between them and having a busy toddler running and talking about!

One of the major highlights this past month was Everton going on his first flight. We went to Phoenix with some friends in late March to early April and he did wonderful! He slept both ways on the plane on me after I nursed him. On our way down to Phoenix, we had booked a flight with a 7:15 am departure not thinking of the fact we would need to be at the airport by 5:15 am. That meant leaving our house at 4:45 am and waking the kids up shortly after 4:00 am! Whoops…
Needless to say we were all sleep deprived when we woke Everton up just before leaving and put him straight into his car seat. I didnt feed him then as he never eats until 6:30-7:00 am so I didn’t want to feed him and waste time if he didn’t need it. I figured he’d fall back asleep on the car ride to the airport since he was awaken so early but he actually didn’t. He stayed up happily. Daddy wore him through security and he continued to be content, taking it all in. Around 6:30 am we found out that our airplane needed to be fixed and that our flight would be delayed by 2.5-3 hours. I fed him by my lead around 7:00 am knowing he had been awake for 3 hours already and that this would be the time he normally ate at. However, if it wasn’t for me offering the boob to him, he sure wasn’t looking or asking for it! I was shocked by this as I know I’d be hungry if I was up that long without food! He literally is just always happy and content it seems, especially if he’s taking in the world around him.

This last month was exciting as it brought out Everton’s bottom two teeth! We were spoiled with our daughter who never seemed to be phased by getting teeth. Everton however seems to be more typical in that he definitely has had some bouts of fussiness, drooling, and early morning wakings associated with them appearing.

I wasn’t sure if these early morning wakings which were once infrequent but had started to increase were only from teething. I had read that if babies don’t get enough sleep at night that they might be overtired and wake earlier in the mornings. Once we returned home from our trip to Phoenix we decided to move his bedtime up. Before we left I had been putting him in the Mamaroo for a very late night nap around 8:30-10:00 pm. I’d then wake him and do a feed before I’d transfer him into his playyard in our room for the night. After our trip to Phoenix I decided to move his bedtime up and remove the late evening nap in hopes more sleep would reduce the early morning wakings. I would begin feeding him around 7:45 pm and put him down by 8:30 pm. I started to notice that he would start fussing around 7:00 pm on average and gradually this bedtime moved up to as early as starting to feed him by 6:45 pm some nights. Before Phoenix and during the trip he would nurse 45 mins to an hour before going to sleep but after Phoenix this decreased to about half an hour. I figure since he sleeps so well at night he was storing up like a chipmunk heading into winter. He is now sleeping from 8:30 pm ish to 6:30-7:00 am.

Naps are still all over the place. Most days he naps once in his playard/crib in the morning but other days it happens once in the afternoon. The odd time he will have two shorter naps but mostly it’s one longer one. In Phoenix he was napping around an hour at supper time and those days he would nap in his stroller outside by the pool. When he sneaks in this later nap he seems to be happier and not as tired around 7:00 pm which pushes back his bedtime. Since coming home he hasn’t really been doing that anymore. He doesn’t seem to need to nap more than the one longer one and overall is typically always happy so I haven’t been forcing a two nap routine on him.

We are excited to try solids but haven’t yet. It honestly seemed like more work to start that during our vacation so I decided to hold off until we got home so we could do it in the comfort of our own home. He’s definitely more than ready as he’s showing interest and grabbing very well (and quickly I might add!) at our food and utensils. He watches his sister eat and wants whatever she has in her hands!

He is happiest when he is around his sister and is always excited to see her! She make silly noises and faces at him and he giggles away. Hanging out in her room watching her play and checking out her light fixture and wallpaper always make his day!

His mornings are spent on the floor rolling around and playing with toys. He spends a lot of time on his belly exploring items. When we eat he tends to sit in his Mama & Papa chair and play with toys while he watches us. He still enjoys his SkipHop Table and Jumperoo. We have tried the Jolly Jumper now and he loves it! He has such strong legs already that he can jump happily for 45 mins! We tend to save this activity for after supper aka the witching hour as this can be the time he is the most fussy (although it’s pretty minor fussiness overall) and sister can be the most silly. In the Jolly Jumper he is never unhappy. He enjoys jumping along to polkas or the perogy dance while his sister dances away next to him!

Happy 6 months Everton Row!