Happy Half Birthday!

I can't believe it's been 6 months since my little man was born! Since I haven't posted any updates lately, I thought I would tell you all about Benjamin at 6 months!

6 month stats:
Weight: 18lbs 1oz

Height: 27 3/4 inches

Favorite toys: Anything he can chew on

Favorite activities: rolling all over the house, bouncing in his jumperoo, attempting to steal the twins food and toys, laughing and laughing and laughing some more ;)

Eats: Entirely breastfed so far, won't even take a bottle of pumped milk. Darn kid ;) He made a grab at his brother's banana at the beach on 4th of July weekend. He took a bite and decided he hated it, spit it out immediately. He also kept grabbing at the twins avocado yesterday. Alright kid...you want food? I gave him 1 small bite of avocado and he spit it out and acted like he was choking for 5 minutes. I'm not sure he's quite in the mood for food yet ;) I did start making baby food and freezing it though so I'm ready when he is ;) My plan is to do some baby led weaning, and have purees to feed him along with that to practice using a spoon. We have reusable food pouches so I'm also stashing some purees to use with that. I'm thinking it'll be a few more months until he's ready for the pouches though.  I'm not really pushing the food though. The way this boy eats, I'm not sure we can afford to feed him so I'm glad his food is still free ;)

Sleeps: Through the night....usually 6-8+ hours. He's in bed around 7:30pm. He has a bad habit of a midnight snack but he eats for about 30 seconds then is back asleep until 6 or 7am. He also has a bad night from time to time, my guess is because of teething and he'll have 3-4 quick feedings at night. I think they're mostly for comfort so I nurse him for a few seconds, then put him back to bed. I think he'll cut all of his little snacks out once he starts eating real food or cuts some teeth. He is a terrible napper! and naps at off times of the twins! He cat naps in the car to and from activities and naps in the stroller usually every day. But he never naps when the twins nap. I've been terrible and not been putting him down upstairs for a nap (car, stroller and couch are his nap spots) but it's hard to have him upstairs and the twins downstairs and running up and down between the 3 of them. So Benny just gets lugged around and naps on the go usually. Once he gets down to 1 nap a day I'm hoping I can get him on the twins schedule. Fingers crossed!

Clothes: Mostly all 12 month clothes, he can fit some 18 month things. Nothing smaller fits anymore so he's almost caught up to Jack (who wears 2T).

What he's up to: He can roll belly to back and back to belly. He rolled from his back to his belly the day after he hit 5 months. He can lift his stomach up when he's on his belly so he's on his hands and knees and he rocks a bit before falling back down (aka getting ready to crawl! Yikes!). He army crawls/scooches pretty well. he prefers to roll, but he'll scooch himself around or closer to a toy. I've left him and found him on the other side of the room in a minute or 2 so if he wants to move, he can move. Luckily, he's still pretty laid back so he prefers to chill on his playmat with the fish and octopus.

 He's been sitting unsupported for a few weeks but would topple hard if he lost his balance and couldn't stay sitting for long. Over the past week or so, he's gotten better control and balance so he sits well by himself and can scooch himself down to his belly when he's done sitting. He can't get back up to sitting yet, but I'm sure he'll figure that out as soon as he starts crawling. He reaches and grabs for toys and small objects, can hold on to things that he picks up, puts EVERYTHING in his mouth, and is very alert and interactive. He loves to chat and will sit there babbling with anyone who will listen to him ;) He wakes me up every morning with his babbles. I'm trying to get him to call me mama but he's not quite there yet ;) He knows his name and will look around whenever anyone says Ben or Benjamin. He also knows my voice and will stop everything to find me if he hears me. He loves me the best but we spend a lot of time together since the kid hates bottles! ;)

Firsts!
First food-Banana 7/5/13
First Time in the pool!-7/6/13

 First time being adorable: 1/12/13 ;)

The only issue that Ben has had so far in his 6 beautiful months of life has been a stupid rash! He's had it for about a month, after many guesses, we still have no idea what it is. The viral reaction stuff has recently been crossed off the list of possibilities since he's had it for so long. Benadryl and antihistamines don't seem to help. So pretty much, we're at a loss. We will more than likely be doing a skin biopsy next week. Luckily, it doesn't bother him and he has no other symptoms with it so it seems to be completely skin related. It comes and goes so hopefully one of these days it will just go away for good! Many doctors have assured me it's nothing serious and to not stress so I'm trying to take their advise ;)

Benjamin has been so much fun these past 6 months! The twins absolutely love him (usually...except when he grabs for Amelia's toys...then she screams at him "no touch ben!", it's pretty hilarious haha). He is my blondest and fairest baby so far and is such a chubby little cutie :) As he grows up, I'm still saying he looks more like me than Tom ;) sorry babe! :) I have loved these past 6 months and I'm excited to see what the next 6 has in store for us ;) Hopefully it'll be rash free! ha