6 Months

WOW! I cannot believe Maxim is 6 months old today. I do not know how much he weighs but a couple weeks ago he weighed in at 14 pounds 3 ounces. He has his 6 month check up appointment next week and that is where I will find out the exact weight and his length.

Here he is at 5 months. Not a whole lot of change but Max is definitely bigger now.

Maxim, this past month has been so much fun with you as we watch you learn and do new things. You have discovered your feet and you find them very fascinating. If you are super crabby we just hand you your feet and you find it funny as you hold them. Due to your NICU experience you are unable to flex and get your feet yourself. That's ok as we don't mind handing your feet to you and watching your face light up as you grab them.

You have also found your tongue as you find that fun to play with. We crack up all the time as you play with your tongue while you are talking to us. You just want to always grab onto your tongue as if you are trying to figure out what it is. It's hysterical.

You also figured out how to blow bubbles...well sort of!

You love your play gym and rolling on your side underneath it. I think you are getting close to rolling over.

Madison and Izzy are very good with you and when they get up in your face you are in awe of them. I think you are trying to figure out what they are. Izzy did not mind at all when daddy sat you on her and of course you just wanted to look at the TV.

Your hands have definitely gotten much better as you grab at EVERYTHING and want to hold onto EVERYTHING! This is also fun to watch you learn this, but definitely hurts when you grab onto my hair and don't want to let go.

Maxim, you are definitely obsessed with the TV. We don't like you to watch it but you will break your neck to look at the TV. I have turned cartoons on to see what you would do and you immediately get bug eyes as you stare at the TV. You have also talked and laughed during the cartoon shows.

You are definitely one happy baby and we are very appreciative of this. You wake up in the morning laughing, giggling and just excited to see us. You pretty much stay this way for most of the day. If you get crabby there is typically a reason. You are either tired, hungry or gassy. Since your gassiness has calmed down (and by that I mean it doesn't cause you to get fussy, but you still fart really loud all the time) it's typically that you are tired or hungry and that's easy to figure out. You now rub your eyes when you are tired and slam your body down (if someone is holding you) to the side and put yourself down for a nap. I give you your paci and all is good. We feel like we have lucked out with you since you are so laid back and go with the flow...that is as long as you can see mommy and daddy.

You love playing the nose game with me. I point to my nose and say "mommy's nose" then I point to your nose and say "Max's nose." I repeat this with lips, chin and then we say "yay" as we clap our hands. You get a kick out of this and you anticipate me touching your nose, lips and chin. It's fun to watch you giggle over such a simple game. Also, this past week I have taught you "kisses." This is where I say "kisses" a few times as I come in towards your face. You always smile and get ready with your mouth open to lick (aka kiss) my face. It's the simple things right now that bring so much joy to my life.

You have slept through the night about four times this month and let me tell you it was glorious. You definitely woke up ready to party from all the sleep you got. Now you will sleep for 5-6 hours straight at night instead of the 3-4 hours. This is much nicer since we do work.

You are going to the sitter's house about three days a week and you are doing excellent. It was a little bit of an adjustment for you, but once you got used to the change you just love it there.

You even made this fun craft project last week for us while you were with Stephanie and Kristen. What awesome caretakers to do a project like this with you when you were not even 6 months old. I just love it and it's going in the scrapbook.

You got to visit Santa Clause this month and today is your first Christmas. We decided to stay back in Arizona to keep you healthy and stay away from the cold and flu season in WI. That plan backfired on us since you are now sick with a cold. This started yesterday morning and you quickly got congested and sound awful. Even though you sound bad you are not acting like it as you are still laughing, playing and talking like nothing is wrong. Since you are sick we are staying home on this holiday. Here is your Xmas Eve and Xmas day photos. All smiles as nobody would know you are a sick baby.

Maxim, you are such a sweet little boy who has brought so much joy into my already very happy life. I can't believe you are already 6 months old as time is speeding by so fast now. I definitely look forward to watching you learn many more new things and I know Xmas 2014 is going to be a ton of fun with you.

Love, your mommy