Porter | Six Months

It's his Half Birthday, holy moly!!







Porter is six months old and I'm 75% excited about him growing up and 25% sad about the passage of time. It's such a bittersweet process watching your last baby change into a real little person, an actual being with personality and desires and emotions, one that doesn't resemble a squishy newborn blob anymore. He is such a part of our family and is a freaking fantastic addition that has done something weird to my heart. I can't quite explain it but I'm a fool for Poter, like woah. This baby boy is so cherished and so loved it's hard to put into words, but I'll do my best.

Big happenings for mister man this month? His first solid food, his last nursing session, his first Christmas, and his baptism.

Porter loves his formula bottles and still downs 6 ounces at a time, every three hours during the day and at least once at night. Which means he slams about 36 ounces of formula a day and he does it with such authority and sincerity that we don't dare mess around with his precious bottles. He'll do this really adorable/fatty thing when he sees us make a bottle when he opens his mouth and kind of shakes his arms excitedly, breathing quickly and making a little squeak noise like the world depends on him gulping that bad boy in the next second OR ELSE. He's a hungry boy, this one, and we went up to a level 2 nipple for the first time in history of feeding our babies because P really does need it as fast as possible.

Also: real men pose on princess blankets like what.


Just let me suck on this wet washcloth, woman. Enough with the pictures.


Those eyes.


And YESSSS, he still makes this extreme pouty face sometimes!


On top of the bottles, we introduced solid foods one week ago. I made a big batch of butternut squash and sweet potatoes and he started with the squash. Immediately he got the hang of swallowing and demands to hold his own spoon, which gets incredibly messy and tricky at times. (See also: nightly baths). Porter is already downing 4 ice cubes worth of squash or sweet potatoes at dinner time, which is usually about an hour after a bottle and two hours before his final bottle of the day. I'm sure he would be happy to eat twice a day and we'll probably start that next week but I wanted to make sure the real stuff didn't clog him up too badly (it didn't). I've given him some whole banana smashed and fed off my finger tip and he likes to manhandle Baby Mum-Mum crackers by himself. I think he could probably eat a cheeseburger if we let him but obvi we aren't quite that advanced over here;) Portly Porter loves to eat and it's fun to watch his facial expressions as he moves from an all liquid diet to big kid stuff. Ah, my baby boy. See this is one of those milestones that gets me right in the old ticker---love it/makes me want to cry.







Speaking of that crying business, no more nursing for Porter P. Separate blog post found here, you are welcome for sparing you another round of emotions. But still: Wahhhh.

His 'milk drunk' face after a bottle.


Oh, he is just too sweet.


Now sleep is a topic that could make me want to sob my bagged eyes out or rejoice with much gusto, depending on the day. Consistent, he is not, but we have had a few wonderful nights and naps mixed in with some craptastic versions, too. On an average day at home, Porter will nap at 9:00 and 12:00 in the crib and occasionally 4:00 in the Ergo. Most of the time he wakes up after just 45 minutes or an hour, sometimes agreeing to return to sleep with a few snuggles in the glider. Sometimes he seems very happy and well rested after his 45 minute naps so I don't push it, but other times it's obvious he needs a little assistance to return to sleep. I think his longest nap at home was barely two hours but at Lori's he apparently naps for at least two hours for both of his naps there.  All of the kids have pulled this stunt and I have picked Lori's brain for her secrets without luck. I think they just get worn out at daycare because they watch the other kids all day and Lori is big on 'baby workouts' with tummy time, etc. Who knows. There are worse things in the world than 45 minute naps I suppose.

I mean...




Nights are anyone's guess, so feel free to place your bets on what tonight will bring for us. Two nights ago Porter slept for eleven straight hours, from 7:30 to 6:30 am---not his first time sleeping all the way through the night, but probably only the fourth or fifth time ever. That was the very first night we ditched the swaddle and we also remembered to dust off the space heater from the attic, since the nursery does tend to be an icebox. When my alarm went off at 5:00 am for the gym, I panicked when I realized he never woke up for his bottle. His room was seriously a sauna when I went in to check on him, and I couldn't bring myself to set the space heater so hot the next night. In return, Porter treated us to a wake up at 10:30 pm for a bottle, was awake from 2:00-3:30 am and eventually got a bottle, and was awake again at 6:00 am when I finally brought him to bed with us. Yawn. Just never know with this guy, I guess!

Don't let that smile fool you.


Oh, mister P.


I suppose his most common type of night is one when he goes to sleep by rocking in the glider with his nuk and white noise around 7:30 pm, wakes up one time between 2-4 am when we'll give him a bottle, and then he's up around 7:15 am for the day. We've dropped the 'dream feed' we did around 10pm each night and instead just bring up hot water in a thermos, an empty bottle, and pre-measured formula into the bathroom for a quick mix when needed.

Without dentures:


Happiest baby ever.


Loves everyone, even Henry.


I've also started singing to him at bedtime after reading a book or two and it's pretty much my favorite thing ever. Such a nice substitute for nursing him down, as I read to my boy and sing him a few tunes. There was a really sweet moment a few nights ago worth mentioning: Porter was staring up at me with his big blue eyes, listening to me sing random songs off key. He seemed to be really obsessed with watching my mouth form the words and was sort of staring into my soul (not just my mouth). The room was dark, the white noise was a nice distraction from the chaos going on next door with the big kids'  bedtime, and the motion of the glider made me kind of sleepy, too. But as I was singing him whatever random song would come to mind, Porter started to grin at my from behind his nuk. I felt like he was saying, 'I like this time of night, mommy. Even though you are a crappy singer, I really like it.' Bonding time without nursing? Check!

My heart:


Can't believe he is ours.


Back to the wicked roller coaster of sleep extremes: I think he is teething, I'm sure the transition from the swaddle is a part of the inconsistent nights, and maybe he really does want the room to be straight out of the tropics. His 'norm' of waking up just once is fine for me, but two times including a stint of wakefulness for over an hour? No. Not okay. I've never been one to sleep train my kids, but I also always believed Tru and CC didn't sleep well because they were big nursers, wanting the boob for comfort and because they might actually be hungry from that quickly digesting breastmilk processing so quickly. Porter doesn't have that as an excuse so I'd consider being tough and forcing the sleep issue harder than I've done before. Because, really Porter? If you aren't going to nurse, if you are going to drink 36 ounces of formula plus another 4 oz in solids a day, you can't actually be hungry at night and you need to sleep. Trade off, buddy---I don't get to nurse you but then you need to let me sleep, okay? Please? I thought formula fed babies were better sleepers but apparently not. Sigh.

Yummy toes.


You are going to leave me in this crib?


Other things to mention: he is not rolling over yet and he just seems totally uninterested. Truman was rolling by now but not Cecelia and she turned out just fine, so I'm sure Porter will get there on his own time. He loves to sit upright but definitely needs to be supported, prop sitting for a few seconds before toppling over. P does fine in the high chair and sort of okay in the Bumbo in the bathtub, but he gets distracted by his tasty feet many times. He has great hand-eye coordination and enjoys spending time on his play yard, pulling his dangling animal buddies into his mouth for a good chomp. EVERYTHING goes into his mouth and his chubby hands reaching out for any object in a six inch radius is my favorite. Kid loves the jumparoo and actually sort of bounces up and down in it already, gnawing on the toys and owning that Circle of Stimulation.

Sitting up is hard.


But toes are delicious.


Circle of Stimulation/Neglect


Play yard is always a hit.


Gah.


Porter is quite social and in everyone's business, following the big kids around the house with his eyes and smiling at them whenever they get close. Cecelia likes to unsnap his onesies, gives him frequent/aggressive hugs, likes to help me put him down for naps and bedtime, and is pretty much a little mommy to her little brother. Truman prefers to entertain Porter by making goofy faces, which make little brother giggle, and T will regularly tell me, 'He is looking for his mother,' when Porter is fussing. Both big sibs are huge fans of their baby brother and I'd say the feeling is quite mutual.













He is going to lap her in weight within the next year, I think.






Porter is still the happiest of the happy babies--smiling all of the time, laughing at us, being content for long stretches of time when left alone to play. That part about being content when he's on his play yard or jumparoo? It's the best and I don't remember the other kids being alright with me out of the room for longer than 2 minutes. Porter would prefer to be on my lap or in the high chair when we are all at the dinner table but he's fine to chill out in the other room, too. I can make dinner alone, tend to an emotional big sister, take the dog outside, change the laundry---all without Porter freaking out when I set him down. He's such a third child in this sense---totally down entertain himself for a bit while I tend to his older siblings or life, because he's not used to getting 100% of the attention anyway. But he is also a great 'baby of the family' in that I tend to carry him around and hold him as much as possible. I totally plan to baby this kid forever if he will let me and sometimes I will pop him in the Ergo as we go about our day just because I want to be close with him but he's getting too porky to carry all of the time. I'm pretty sure he is pushing 18 pounds, is in size 3 diapers, size 9 month clothes, and size gargantuan head;) His six month well-baby appointment isn't for a few more weeks but P is definitely bigger than Cecelia was, not quite as big as chunker Truman was at this age.

(True Wisconsin baby and doesn't seem to mind sub-zero temps)


The rest of us mind quite a bit though.


P-man is super happy but also very vocal--shrieking, yelling, squealing, making all kinds of loud noises that usually reflect his excited demeanor. He only cries when he is hungry or tired or wants to be held. He hasn't cut his first tooth yet but I swear he is getting close, so I can't stop running my finger over his little gums to check multiple times per day. I know I'm making the rookie mistake of assuming that once a tooth breaks through, he might sleep better but I can't help it. Teething is always a fantastic excuse for everything around here---that and a 'growth spurt.'

My goodness, I love him.


Daddy's little helper


We just love you so much, Porter, and I'll never be able to describe my love accurately. Happy Half Birthday, buddy!

{Truman at six months and Cecelia at six months}