Six Months...

Six Months. SIX months! JUDE IS SIX MONTHS OLD! It's so crazy!

It's so hard for me right now to imagine a time when he wasn't a part of our lives. Practically every minute of my life is spent thinking about him, how he's doing, growing and becoming our little guy. However, it's crazy to think that it's been half a year since he was born! It feels like just yesterday we were putting the finishing touches on his nursery, washing all the new clothes from the baby shower, packing my hospital bag, being induced, delivering and adjusting to our new life with this new person. It's all happened so quick, which makes him being such a significant part of our family even more amazing.

He' so quickly growing and getting his own personality. He smiles, he laughs, he 'hugs'.

Some of the amazing things he's just begun doing now that he's approaching six months:

- He knows where his milk comes from. When he's hungry, he knows where to go and while mildly creepy, it's endearing.

- As we've discussed he's eating solids (not a lot and not for any significant calorie intake, but he's experimenting). He picks it up, plays with it, sometimes puts it in his mouth... rarely swallows. We're really in no rush with this as breast milk will continue to be his main food source through 1 year.

- Currently he's laying on his stomach in front of me and actually playing with his toys. He's pulling them back and forth in front of him, he's chewing them and he's finding ways to move closer to them (without actually crawling). In short: he's becoming more and more mobile.

- Recently he's started to "pet" Buddy. He's very interested in Buddy and loves his kisses he gets from him.

- He loves to pull people close to him. Usually this requires him to grab on to your hair, face, ears, whatever he can get and tug. He'll either give baby 'kisses' or try and suck on your nose, etc.

In addition, he's still a champion thumb sucker, he loves to talk and tell 'stories', he likes to be read to, he's looking more and more like his daddy, he hates to be alone, he loves to be held, he can sit in a highchair at a restaurant, for the most part he's still a great sleeper, he wants to put everything in his mouth (except his food), he is easily distracted while nursing and we are on and off about Elimination Communication.

He's had his first Memorial Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day and Halloween. He's gone to his first kiddie birthday party, participated in a mini Halloween Parade and much more.

Already so many exciting things and still so much more ahead of us!

I'm so excited for the next 6 months and see what they bring. More holidays, milestones and the cherry on top: his first birthday!

There are a handful of mothers I know who are all currently planning/executing first birthday's and it's such an exciting thing for us to look forward to! I know that I won't even begin planning his first birthday until after the holidays, but I'm already trying to think of exciting and fun things to do! No matter how much I want him to stay small and precious, I'm also very eager for what the future holds and watching him become more of an individual.

So.. here he is at 6 months!

And with his 6 month birthday present which he LOVES: