Six Months

Height: 26.5"

Weight: 16 lbs. 5.5 oz.

He's wearing mostly 6 month clothing, though he does still fit in a lot of his 3-6 month onesies.

Some of Peter's current favorites:
*Crawling/rolling/wiggling/movement of any kind
*When Mommy sticks out her tongue
*Daddy tossing him high up in the air
*Trying to eat his shirt
*Playing with his squirt toys in the bathtub

Peter is a great napper. He still takes 3 naps a day that last about 1.5 - 2 hours each. He sleeps about 13 hours at night, but still wakes up at least two times every night. We had a week where he was back to waking up 4-5 times a night and that was rough! However, I think that was due to teething, and that is, thankfully, much better. As much as I love the idea of 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, I truly do love our nighttime feedings.

In the day, Peter is very distracted and wiggly when nursing. At night, he is still and sleepy and cuddly. He will usually run his fingers along my skin or through my hair while he's eating and it's so sweet (until he grabs a chunk of hair!). After he's finished eating, I put him on my shoulder and he falls asleep up there almost every time. I often stay in his room rocking him while he sleeps on my shoulder because it's so sweet to listen to his breathing and feel the weight of his little body melt into mine. I know these days are fleeting, so I'm soaking up all these little moments that I can.

His two bottom teeth came in this past month and it was a relief for all of us when those suckers finally popped through! He wasn't particularly fussy, but he had a runny nose and had a really hard time staying asleep at night. His favorite game of chewing on my fingers came to a screeching halt with these new chompers, however. 

We started solids this month, but haven't been very consistent with them yet. He's tried carrots, butternut squash, bananas, and avocados. It's hard to tell if he likes the food or just the experience at this point, but either way he seems to really enjoy it when he gets to eat. I'm making his food and am having fun learning what he likes so far.

Significant moments in Peter's 6th month:
*Went on his 1st Hiking Trip
*Celebrated his 1st Easter 

*Traveled to Portland to see the Wells girls

*Baby Dedication at Redeemer's
*Watched his first tennis match

*1st weekend away from Mom (we both had a great time!)

Peter did really well sitting for me to take pictures. And then sitting got boring.

Peter is definitely on the move these days. He just about crawled right out of the chair with that last photo, so I put him on the ground in his room. Our bedrooms are carpeted and the rest of the house has laminate floors, so he doesn't like to crawl anywhere but on the carpet or on the living room rug. That is working out really nicely because it means we don't really have to baby-proof the rest of the house yet.

He started crawling about 3 weeks ago and it's been fun to watch him get faster just about every day.

He can't sit up on his own yet, but he does lean to one side and use that as a starting point to dive forward and crawl away.

What a joy these past 6 months have been! I find myself feeling kind of sad at bedtimes these days because I'm not ready for Peter to go to bed. (Not to worry though...I'll see him again in just 4 short hours! ;) haha)

He's such a happy baby and he plays independently a lot these days, so I feel like he's at a fairly easy stage right now, in terms of how much hands-on attention he requires. I know he'll be walking soon (he already LOVES to take steps while you hold his hands) so I'm trying to enjoy each stage as we are in it. There's plenty to appreciate when your days are spent with this cute guy! 

Five Months

Height: 26 in.

Weight: 14 lbs. 5 oz.

I probably should delete this picture above but it makes me laugh every time I look at it. 

Some of Peter's current favorite things:

*Squealing in a VERY high-pitched tone

*When I pretend to eat his toes, sound effects included

*Being tossed in the air above your head

*Jumping in his Exersaucer

He has just started trying really hard to get his toes to his mouth, but he can't quite get them there. I thought maybe his fluffy cloth diapers were the problem, but I think he's just not quite flexible or strong enough yet.

His sleep schedule remains consistent. He's a good sleeper, day and night. He sleeps from about 8:00 p.m. until he wakes up once between 2:00-4:00 a.m. Thankfully he goes back to sleep very easily after I feed him and then wakes up once more about 7:00 to eat. He will usually go back to sleep again until he gets up for the day around 9:00. He takes 3 naps per day that last 1.5-2.5 hours. 

Early in his fifth month, he mastered rolling back to front. I was so hopeful that he would roll himself back over in the middle of the night (rather than scream until I turned him over), but that hasn't been happening, despite my varied efforts. 

Just two days ago, I put Peter down in his crib to take a nap (he sleeps on his stomach) and as I grabbed his blanket, I noticed he was on his tip toes and hands. I put the blanket over his back and he went to his hands and knees. I was quite shocked as this was the first time this had happened but I didn't think much of it. Every time he's on his tummy since then, he goes up to his hands and knees and he even started rocking back and forth yesterday. I think it's safe to say he'll be crawling by the time I do his next monthly update. 

In the following series of pictures, you can tell what Peter thought of my 5 month sticker. I'm afraid these monthly photos just got much more difficult for me. 

He still has no teeth, much to the chagrin of almost every old lady who sees him drooling and chewing on things. The only things he doesn't want to chew on are the actual teething rings that we have for him. Every other object is fair game. 

 I have a lot of favorite times with Peter, but my top 3 (in no official order) are: when I go to get him out of his crib and he's laying on his back and grinning and talking to himself; when I finish nursing him at night and he will lay his head down on my shoulder and wrap his arms around my neck; and when he gets out of the bath tub smelling so wonderful with his incredibly soft skin and he wants to cuddle in my arms while we look in the bathroom mirror. 

Peter started slipping down in the chair but I continued taking pictures since he was so happy and cooperative. I don't remember what happened to cause him to make the face in this second picture, but it is SO unlike all the other pictures I have of him that it must be included in this post. 

I haven't started giving Peter solids yet. The main reason is that I just don't feel ready. It seems too soon for us. He's doing great with nursing and I've been in no hurry to move along to other foods. I think we'll probably skip the rice cereal and oatmeal and start with some pureed foods at six months. 

Highlights of his 5th month include:

*Pop & Granna visiting for a week while Kory was in Guatemala

*Visiting Bandon and the OR coast for the 1st time

*Going hiking on the North Umpqua Trail

*Celebrating his first Easter

Peter has been very patient sitting in my lap as I typed this blog post, so here's a message from him to end with:

 ikj cvf\]v bc 

Junk Drawer

As a part of my 15 in 2015 goals for this year, I'm organizing all the cluttered drawers, cabinets, and other spaces in our home. I just completed one of the worst offenders: our kitchen junk drawer. Here's the before picture:

Not surprisingly, I found many items you might expect to be in a junk drawer: paper clips, tape, rubber bands, a flashlight, thank you cards, etc. However, since this drawer has been collecting treasures for the past three years, I also found many more interesting items, which included the following:

• 1 popsicle stick
• 2 expired airline vouchers
• 1 pocket knife
• 1 digital camera
• 2 garage door openers (that do not operate our garage door)
• 4 handmade soap samples
• 1 DVD remote (to a player that we haven't owned since we moved in this house)
• 1 pack of Greek flash cards
• 19 writing pens (which is appalling because we NEVER have any pens around this house...or so I thought)
• 1 iPhone 3GS
• 6 Sharpies
• 1 Canadian flag patch
• 3 Christmas light bulbs
• 1 tube vampire blood Halloween make-up
• 1 tool to break out a car window or cut a seatbelt (which is supposed to be used when you get trapped inside the car...not helping much to store it in our house)

And the MOST unbelievable find of all...

• a grand total of 87 NEW batteries! Again, I feel like we never have batteries around here. Apparently, we buy a pack every time we go to the store thinking we are out. If our power goes out and we need to live by battery-operated devices only, we should be set for about 5 years. 

Most of the items in this drawer belonged in a different room (thank you cards, hand sanitizer, safety pins) or in the trash, so I ended up without very much left in the drawer. Don't you just love seeing organized spaces like this? I keep opening the drawer just to look inside.  

Four Months

Weight: 14 lbs, 0 oz.

Length: 25 in.

Some of Peter's current favorite things:

*Bicycling his legs non-stop

*Making gurgling noises

*Shoving his fists into his mouth until he gags

*Standing up on your lap

*Looking at any electronic screen (TV, phone, tablet, computer)

*Pulling my hair with his Hulk-like grip

*Peek-a-Boo (but only if there's nothing else more interesting to look at)

In early February, we used all of the disposable diapers that had been given to us so we decided it was time to try using cloth diapers (which had been my plan all along). We now use cloth exclusively and really love it! I'm going to be doing a post about cloth diapering  soon where I'll talk about the details and how we make it work. 

I didn't really notice it at the time, but something changed around the time Peter hit three months and nursing is suddenly much, much easier. Most nursing sessions last about 10-15 minutes and it requires basically no effort from me. I just lift my shirt and put him up to the source and he takes care of the rest. That may seem obvious to you, but it has not been this way all along. It used to take a great deal of effort on my part to get him to latch and to stay there. I've even recently found myself looking forward to feeding him, where it used to be something I almost dreaded. 

He's had rolling front to back mastered for quite a while now and he's SO close to rolling back to front, but he just doesn't know what to do with his arm, so he can't quite make it yet. He doesn't enjoy being on his back so I'm thinking he'll figure out the solution before too long. 

This has been kind of a weird month of sleep for Peter because of a cold and a growth spurt, but he's still doing really well overall. He's sleeping about 12 hours at night and is waking once or twice to feed during that time. We start his bedtime routine about 8:00 most nights and he still naps really well in the daytime. He sleeps in his crib all the time, including his 3-4 naps per day.

The major change I noticed this month was improvement in his hand control. He started to notice and play with toys for the first time and is able to hold onto his rattle and teething rings. We've been putting him in his Exersaucer bouncer and his Bumbo seat too, and he seems to really enjoy them both. I also discovered that his play mat has an elephant mobile that plays music, so he's been listening to that a lot lately. I'm thinking we probably need to get a mobile for his crib to occupy him when he's laying in there awake. He will happily play on his own for about 10-15 minutes at a time most days, which gives me time to step into another room to start a meal or take a shower.

He's still drooling and chewing on his hands and putting everything he can grab into his mouth, but he doesn't seem to be teething yet (or at least no teeth have popped through). He's not really very fussy and doesn't act like he's in pain, so I think it's more just that he's discovering the world around him through taste. 

I know it's a lot of pictures, but these two series of shots really crack me up as they are such an accurate depiction of how things go with him these days.

I love that he looks like he got caught chewing on Lambkins. That's a guilty face, for sure.

Highlights of his 4th month include:

* Attending his (and my) first wrestling meet

* Learning to squeal/screech like a pterodactyl 

* Grandma (Mereness) spending a week with us 

Peter continues to be a very happy, sociable guy. He seems more content at a group function (youth group, family game night, church nursery) than at home. He is really giggly and it's so much fun to discover new ways to make him laugh every day.  

15 in 2015: February Update

1. Write at least 2 blog posts per month. 

Check! 2 posts in February.

2. Read 5 books.

I have read 2 books so far in 2015. I just finished So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore. I read it several years ago, but didn't remember much of it (except that I really liked it the first time) so I decided to read it again. Before you dismiss the book, think of the premise more as being the church rather than going to church. It is a fairly easy read and really challenges our modern day notions of "church" in really positive and meaningful ways.

3. Eat more whole foods.

I did really well at the beginning of the month and then about Valentine's Day I discovered that Reese's eggs were in stores and I gave in to temptation and had a lot of them! However, I've still been doing pretty well in this area. I've cooked dinner at least 4 times a week each week, and we've had leftovers most other nights. We're having vegetables with just about every meal and I feel really positive about the changes we're making to our diet.

4. Spend less time on my phone.

I had a realization when I read this blog recently: my phone isn't really the problem for me. My addiction to social media is the issue (and my phone is just how I access social media most of the time). This post resonated with me SO much. I'm working on figuring out how I will "detox" from social media now.

5. Find creative ways to save and/or earn money for our family.

I got my first payment from Ebates this month for $14.81, which was deposited to my bank account.

I've received two payments from the Walmart Savings Catcher this month. I've been going there once a week for my grocery shopping and so far I've received $9.21 back in reward dollars (which go onto a Walmart gift card).

It's easier to save money on groceries when you have limited room in your cart!

I also contacted a Dave Ramsey Endorsed Local Provider (ELP) to find out if we could get a better deal on our home and auto insurance. We got new policies which saved us almost $400 per year combined (with a few other discounts included like paying for the whole year at once, multiple vehicles, combining auto and home, and a low mileage discount for our vehicles).

6. Keep up with my One Line A Day journal.

I wish I could say I was better about filling this out every day. However, I've done well to never get more than a week behind so I can still remember what happened each day and fill out several days at once.

7. Purge our home of 300 unnecessary items. 

I'm up to 170 items so far (and it's only February), so I'm feeling really positive about this goal. Our guest bedroom has been the "catch-all" room for a while now, especially since we cleaned out the other bedroom to make it Peter's nursery, so I imagine I can probably get the other 130 items from this room alone.

8. Spend time outside.

I've been going for a walk or jog outside 2-3 times a week all month now, so that's a start. We've also had a stretch of beautiful sunny days, which helps a lot. I'm excited to be able to go hiking on the weekends soon.

9. Learn how to use our new camera. 

I've been playing around with our camera a lot more recently but that's about it. I asked a photographer friend for some tips and she recommended I read the manual and gave me a few specific things to pay attention to when learning about the camera.

10. Run a 5k.

I'm jogging a couple times per week now. The 5k I plan to run is held the last weekend of May, so I'm working now to get into shape for that. Running has never really been easy for me, so adding the weight of a stroller/car seat/baby that I'm pushing and a dog on a leash around my waist and the hills in my neighborhood...let's just say it's sloooooow going.

11. Complete 6 crafty/house/Pinterest projects.

Nothing completed here yet, but I've got a couple ideas for what projects I'd like to tackle and I'm looking at how to budget for them and when I can realistically get them done.

12. Try 12 new recipes.

I tried three new recipes this month:

Healthy Mexican Enchilada Casserole
PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps
Pulled Pork

I liked all three of them, but Kory wasn't really a fan of the Enchilada Casserole. I would HIGHLY recommend the pulled pork. It was delicious and really easy!

13. Lose 20 pounds.

I've been working on this goal this month but progress is pretty slow. I really feel like nursing is a big part of that. I require so many more calories because I'm feeding Peter also, and I know that's a calorie burner as well, but it just seems like my body hangs on to extra weight more than it ever has before. I'm sure it's a survival mechanism so I can nourish he and I both, and I'm really not worried about a number on a scale, but I do want my clothes to fit better and for me to feel healthier and more energized. I'm going to keep working on being healthier and we'll see where the body changes come in.

14. Organize and file our stacks of paperwork.

I got our taxes done this month, but somehow that means I pulled a lot of papers out of our file box and ended up less organized than in January. Fail. I'll get back on this stat. I've also decided to tackle several other stacks of "stuff" around our house in an effort to get better organized. Before and after pictures will be posted as I get those areas cleaned up.

15. Plant a garden.

Seeds are planted and growing! I am not sure why, but several of these seeds never took, so I'm having to replant several weeks later. I do have broccoli and tomatoes growing really well for now.