Wallace | Six Months

As Truman says, 'It's Wallace's half birthday! I can't believe he's zero-and-a-half!'

Quilt shots getting really difficult. #ConstantBlur


This baby is no longer a teeny tiny baby. He's officially army crawling, pivoting on his tummy, up on all fours and rocking, scooting himself around the house, and has discovered Porter's delicious trains and trucks and various toys/dust bunnies. He will plank, get up on all fours, and then plop down in satisfaction. He can move forward now and seems to practice his new moves in his crib, when he is supposed to be sleeping.

Very dangerous place to be now.


On that topic, we are still working at the sleep thing. Ace is finding his groove with a solid bedtime routine at 7pm: bath, jammies, playtime in the dimly lit nursery, then nursing and bed. I want to move the nursing up in the schedule so it's not the very last thing he does before snoozing, but we aren't there yet. He usually wakes up about twice at night to eat and sometimes goes back to sleep easily, sometimes NOT. The new fun is when he wakes up RIGHT when I fall asleep for the night, around 10:30, for the first time---then again around 2 and 4. Yawn. I'm pretty sure he's old enough and large enough to night wean, so I will put that on our To-Do list.



We took an epic nap together over Christmas and it was the greatest.


Naps are decent, usually taking his first one around 9 or 9:30 and it lasts for about 1-1.5 hours. Then his second nap is a little harder to come by, but usually happens after he's been awake for 2-3 hours. On my work days he is rocking the bottle now, taking about 5-6 ounces no problem. He still prefers to nurse at least twice in the evenings when we are reunited but it's much improved from last month. YAY. I find myself being able to set him down and he can play on the floor while I cook dinner. Gone are the days when I was nursing and carrying a fussy baby while eating/wiping butts/etc.

Oh, my heart.


I think Wallace will cut his first tooth really soon, based on the constant red cheeks and hands in his mouth non-stop. The others all cut their first teeth at 6 months so I'd be surprised if mister man takes much longer. His cheeks were so red and seemingly chapped this month that I thought maybe he had Fifths Disease, but now I'm thinking it's just from drool and dry air. I've been putting Aquaphor on the baby's sweet skin and that seems to help a little bit.





Also enjoys sucking in his lower lip.


The other really big event from this past month is that Wallace is eating solid foods! His first foray into anything other than breastmilk went well. I baked and then pureed some sweet potatoes mixed with water and breastmilk, and he was immediately impressed. I love the look on his face, like, 'Why have you been holding out on me this long?' We also tried an avocado and then a banana in the mesh teether, and both seemed fine but I doubt he actually ingested much. The thicker, store bought version, of baby food in a squeeze pouch did NOT got over so well---definitely too thick for the texture, I guess!





Nightly baths in the bumbo are now a must, given his love for holding his own spoon full of sweet potatoes. He loves his jumparoo and his playmat, although he won't stay ON the playmate for longer than a minute before he is across the room, getting into trouble.



Yellow water from color changing tablets, not pee (I think).


Timehop told me that three years ago, Porter completely weaned himself from breastfeeding at this same exact age. Combining this fact with the memory of Porter refusing to roll or crawl or move at all until one year of age? These two boys are complete opposites. Ace loves to nurse and for that I'm really grateful. I haven't had to supplement with him, mostly because he has amped up my supply with frequent and efficient nursing this whole time. I'm still pumping once during my work days, getting about 5-6 oz at a time, which is exactly what he's taking while I'm gone. I'll feel random let downs (even at home) if I go more than 3 hours without nursing/pumping. This seems sort of crazy to me, at the six month mark, but I'll take it. At the advice of many IG friends, I started taking Sunflower Letchin, and (knock on wood) I haven't had mastitis or a bad plugged duct since. Hooray! Mostly very grateful to have such a wonderful nursing relationship with this babe, because the snuggles are intoxicating. He's more distracted now than he was a few months ago, which makes nursing a little more challenging (ripping my nipple off as his whips his head around? No thanks). But for now it's working and he is a big nurse for comfort guy, too.



Wallace is still just the smiliest, most laid back baby. Strangers comment on how HAPPY he is. They also say he is Nate's spitting image, which is sweet except that Wallace is super fat and bald and has big ears ;) Ace has his six month appointment this Friday, but he's probably at least in the 50th percentiles for everything. Wearing 9 month clothes, size 3 diapers, and still boasting some mega arm rolls and thigh fat.

He loves his big siblings and is highly entertained by their antics. The love is reciprocal because Truman, Cecelia, and Porter all have their own ways to interact with Ace in the most awesome ways. Truman enjoys carrying Wallace around the house and talks to him in a high pitched voice, announcing to his class at school about every little milestone Wallace hits. Cecelia requests to lay with Wallace on the couch and she 'babysat' him once for me, in the nursery, while I gave the big boys haircuts in the shower across the hall. Granted, she did let him crawl inside of the closet where he started pulling out diapers from a box but hey, it worked! And Porter has a big heart for his little brother, frequently telling me that he doesn't like Wallace to cry, and he will provide numerous toys to keep him distracted if the baby is upset.





Someone had his first Christmas and got maybe one gift!




Also had his first cold and rocked it, too. Definitely threw off any good sleep training we did but whatevs. Watery eyes and stuffy nose, so sad.


Oh, duh. ALSO, Wallace got baptized this month! We had Nate's brother, Jon, and his wife, Brittany, as the godparents while they visited us from Oregon over the holidays. Wallace did amazing, considering he hadn't napped that morning before the 11:00 service. He wore the same white outfit that my mom made for Truman and also Porter wore. Ah, seeing all three boys in the same clothes does something to my heart.










His nursery is nearly fully decorated and I love it so so much. Sneak peek of my view in the glider, at those Swiss cross decals that nearly killed Nate and his brother to apply:


I don't know what else to report about our caboose who is a half of a FREAKING year old already. He is pretty much smothered in love at all times and brings us an absurd amount of joy daily. We love you, Waller Baller!