Almost 7 Months Old

Now that our son is almost 7 months old, I decided it would be a good time for a little update.

Southern is really mobile now. He can scoot around very quickly - especially if he spots his sippy cup, a remote, a phone, or the kitty. He has also started to push himself up. Depending on what he's using to push himself up on, he can sometimes get into a standing position that way. Who knows, he might just skip the whole crawling phase.

He loves his water from his sippy cup - or from any cup for that matter. If you leave your cup within his reach, he'll go for it. We were visiting the Wyatt grandparents one evening. DeDe had her usual glass of wine next to her chair, and while she was holding Southern, our son almost got his first taste of alcohol! He picked up the wineglass, opened his mouth, and was about to gulp some down. Good thing being a mother has taught me to have extra fast reflexes!

Southern is a very good eater. He is still getting his milk, though I'm trying to slowly steer him more toward solids. (Any suggestions on how best to do this? Sometimes even after his solids meal, when he won't eat anymore, he'll cry until he gets breastfed.) He's up to three meals a day now. We'll usually do one 2nd stage serving of fruit for brunch, one of veggies for an early supper, and a bowl of oatmeal banana baby cereal before bed. He still doesn't like rice cereal, and he usually puts up a fight with green beans, carrots, and peaches. But he LOVES pears and peas still, along with most fruits and sweet potatoes.

He is sleeping better now. He will usually sleep for about 5-6 hours now that both of his bottom teeth are in. Thank goodness! Hopefully we'll have a nice little break before any other teeth decide to show up.

Southern's New Jeep

Southern got a Jeep walker from his grandmother this week. He absolutely loves it! It's so cute. It has side view mirrors, and he can't get enough of spinning those around. The steering wheel turns and has three buttons on it - a button for music, a horn, and one button that sounds like he's starting the ignition. He has gotten really good at going in reverse. We just need to practice going forward now!

Below is a video clip of him in the Jeep -

All I Want For Christmas...

It looks like Southern is getting an early Christmas present. His two front teeth are coming in! I felt one tooth starting to emerge last Friday when we were at the bank opening up his first savings account. It was his left front tooth. And now today as I was laying him down for his nap, he had a big yawn, and I could see a little bit of his right front tooth coming out as well.

He has been a little extra fussy this week because of it. I have tried teething tablets, and those usually work well for a little while. I have also tried giving him Motrin right before bed but that doesn't seem to help him sleep any longer. He will sleep for about 2-3 hours, then will go back down for about 3-4 hours, and then he'll usually wake up every hour after that. So we still aren't getting much rest. Hopefully after these two teeth are in, we'll have a little break!

Our little jumping bean

My mom had bought Southern one of those Johnny Jump-Up's that goes in the doorway for babies to bouce around in about a month and a half ago. We thought Southern would love it for sure since he enjoys jumping up and down so much in my arms. We put him in it, and he would just sit there. So we'd go ahead and bounce him to get him going. Well, he loved us bouncing him and would just laugh and laugh, but he would never jump on his own.

Over the past month, I started putting him in the jumper for a few minutes every day while I did the laundry or the dishes, and he would stand there watching me. I figured he would eventually get the hang of it. And sure enough, this past Saturday, he started jumping! My mom was over, and she put him in it and was encouranging him to jump. And there he went! Just bouncing around on his own! So I decided to catch a little video clip of him in action this week. He's having so much fun!

6 Months Old

Can you believe it? Where has the time gone? Southern is now a toddler... crazy!

We had Southern's 6-month check-up today. He weighed 20 pounds and was 27 1/2 inches long. That put him in the 90th percentile for weight and 87th percentile for height. The doctor gave us some tips on how to get Southern on a sleeping schedule. He also gave us some children's Moltrin since he said that Southern's lower gums are enflamed. He thinks that the pain Southern is feeling from teething may be why he's not sleeping well. We'll try that tonight to see how it goes.

Southern got his 6-month shots as well as the first round of flu shots for his age group. We will have to go back for the second round after at least 30 days. He did well with the shots. He had a good 30 minute nap when we got home and is now scooting around on the floor again.

Another beach trip

Southern had an excellent weekend at the beach. He loved hanging out with all of his family who he hasn't seen in awhile. He was good with everyone and only cried once - when my Grandpa talked to him in Spanish. haha! He loves Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go on TV... go figure.

We started out our trip with a short detour through Yoakum. We got to see my grandfather, dad, and Dustin's granny for a little bit. When we made it to the island, we headed straight to the beach. Dustin, Southern, and I got to walk up and down the shoreline as the sun set. We then unloaded the car and made our way up to our condo. We hosted supper that night in our condo so everyone came over and got to see Southern. He had a meal of pears that evening. He loves pears and will eat them with no problem. (He still doesn't care for rice cereal though but he does enjoy peas. His first meal of those was on Monday.)

The next day was spent sleeping, playing, souvenir shopping in town (my mom bought Southern a really cute Port Aransas onesie), and eating. Dustin spent time fishing. Then, right before sunset again, we took Southern out to the beach. This time to get dirty. Dustin walked him out into the ocean and let him get his legs wet. Then I held him in the shallow water so that he could bury his feet in the sand. He enjoyed wiggling his toes and making a mess. I then held him in the water so that he could feel the waves slap up against his back. You could tell he didn't really care for that part, but he didn't dislike it either. So we walked around some more then headed inside to get cleaned up for supper.

We had supper at my grandparents' condo this night followed by our annual poker game. I was the only girl playing this year and am quite proud to say that I ended up winning $4.40 (after I paid Dustin back for my starting money). Not too shabby considering the entire amount we played with was around 30 bucks. Southern slept during most of the game.

The next morning as we were getting dressed and packing up to leave, my mom was going to change Southern's diaper. She had him sitting up on the bed and asked if he would stay like that if she took her hands away for a bit to reach the diaper. I said no as she was doing it, but low and behold my son was sitting on his own! Albeit in a saggy bed that probably helped prop him up a bit, but sitting none the less!! Since then I have had him sit on his own once at home for a little while. Another new skill! Yay, Southern!!

Southern is mobile!

Over the past few days, Southern has been perfecting his scooting skills...



You can't turn your back on him for a second now!

(you must be on my blog to view the video)