A Very Happy Half Birthday!! :) :)

Logan is officially 6 months old today!!

Typical schedule:
8:15-9:15 Mommy wakes Logan up to nurse for an hour before work
9:15-10:30 Plays with Daddy or watches a Baby Einstein video in his swing
10:30-12:00 Morning nap
12:00-12:30 Jumps around in his Exersaucer, or plays with his toys
12:30-1:45 Comes to Mommy’s office to nurse
1:45-3:45 Plays with toys or daddy
3:45-6:00 Afternoon nap
6:00-7:00 Nurses
7:00-7:30 Tummy time with Mommy, or a walk around the neighborhood
7:30-8:00 Few teaspoons of either rice cereal or as of last week, sweet potatoes (which he loves), or as of yesterday, zucchini (which he really seemed to dislike)
8:00-9:00 Practices “standing” with Mommy and Grandmommie, jumps in the Exersaucer, more tummy time and playing with toys
9:00-9:15 Bath time every third night
9:15-10:15 Nurses
10:15 Bedtime

On the weekends Logan typically goes on an hour-long walk with Mommy and Maddy.

He usually sleeps all through the night, but the past 10 days or so, he’s been waking up around 4:00 am to nurse for about 30 minutes.

Mobility: Logan easily turns over from both his back and his tummy. When lying down, he can turn around in a circle. He can easily support his body weight with his legs. If we help him grasp an object, such as my pants legs, he can stand by himself for a minute or two. Just recently, he can sit up by himself for a short while, but his back is not straight when he sits up, and he’s really just leaning forward on his arms. This past week, he’s really made significant progress during tummy time. He used to absolutely despise tummy time, but now he can play on his tummy for about twenty minutes before getting agitated. We always put him on his back to sleep, but in the morning, he always inevitably winds up on his tummy. His favorite thing in the whole wide world is to stand on his mommy or daddy’s legs while he holds onto their hands, so that he gets to wobble around standing up. Even if he’s crying, he will usually start to smile and laugh if you let him stand on you. Logan loves to stretch, and he always makes a big production of stretching whenever he wakes up. It is absolutely precious and adorable to watch!

Funny facts: As of two das ago, he gets a big kick out of blowing hard on my arm and consequently making a loud sound. I think he got this idea, because Zack and I always blow hard on his belly, making him laugh. He’s so proud of the fact that he can now make that same noise. Last night, we made a game out of it. I would blow loudly on his tummy, and then he would do it on my arm. We went back and forth like that for a while, with us both laughing the whole time! Now he has started doing it on his own arm. Also, while nursing this morning, he latched off my nipple and started making those blowing noises on my breast! Logan also loves to give kisses, where he tries to latch onto your nose, cheeks and face. My glasses, a main attraction for him, are permanently crooked from Logan constantly grabbing them. And if I am wearing any jewelry, especially a necklace, he will grab on and pull fast before I have a chance to stop him.

Toys: Logan’s favorite toy is a doggie that has all kinds of loops and balls attached to it. It can hang on his car seat. He also loves anything that makes a crinkling noise. His favorite stuffed animals are his Peter Rabbit and his Mickey Mouse that we got him a few weeks ago in Orlando. He also really likes his big open rubber ball that he can easily grasp. Baby Einstein videos are very popular with my son, and they capture his attention for the entire video (about 30 minutes). He especially likes it and laughs when the puppets stick their tongue out at him. Whatever Logan sees winds up in his mouth. He loves to explore by sticking anything and everything in his mouth. Last night, I used a wet paper towel to wipe away the food all over his head (not just face). It was even inside his ear and noise! I turned away for just a second, and when I looked back, he had stuffed the dirty paper towel into his mouth and somehow already managed to shred it to pieces. Thankfully, he hadn’t swallowed any of it yet. He likes to cuddle and listen to me read him books, but his attention span for books doesn’t last much past five minutes at this time. He loves to stick his fingers and hands in his food bowl, and he is determined to toss his bowl and spoon on the ground.

Songs: When he needs soothing, he really enjoys when I sing to him “Oh dear, what can the matter be”. He also likes “Puff the Magic Dragon”, “Dog named Blue”, “Old Man River”, “Hush Little Baby” and “Bushel and a Peck”. And he loves his car mirror that has toys dangling from it and plays music. One of his favorite songs that the mirror plays is “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”. Finally, he really likes a song I made up when he is in the bath, called “Little Logan’s in the tub, Little Logan’s gettin’ a bath”.

Eating Habits: He tried rice cereal about three times right when he turned four months old, but everything I started reading said that the healthiest path is for a baby to be nursed exclusively for the first six months. Thus, I stopped giving him anything but breast milk until two weeks ago, at which point we started back on rice cereal. On Wednesday, June 9th, 2010, we introduced sweet potatoes. He loves them and immediately put his fingers into his mouth to feel and explore what was inside. Two days ago, on June 16th, 2010, we gave him zucchini. He ate his whole serving, but yesterday, he made a terrible sour face with each spoonful, and he refused most of it. Again today, he made a scrunched up sour face when he tried the zucchini. Thus, since it was his half birthday, we ditched the rest of it and gave him the sweet potatoes. We were eating together as a family, and whenever I was eating myself and he was ready for another bite, he made sure to let us all know. I think he needs to learn patience! And I think he doesn’t care too much for zucchini!

I am making all of Logan’s food with a Baby Cook from Williams Sonoma that Grandma Pat gave me. I love knowing exactly what ingredients I am feeding my son, and I am able to make it in bulk and freeze individual, baby-sized quantities. My books say to introduce vegetables before fruits, so that the baby doesn’t develop a sweet tooth and refuse to eat other foods. We have basically completely given up on the idea of Logan ever taking to a bottle. He took a few sips from the bottle for about four days, and then he has flat outright refused it ever since. Luckily, he is able to come to my office everyday during lunch to nurse, but when we move to Douglasville in a few short weeks, this will no longer be an option. Thus, we have started giving him some water in a Sippy cup. He spills a good deal of it, but he sure tries hard to drink out of it, and he is definitely much more receptive to that than to the bottle. He sees a bottle and starts crying. Also, once he finishes his rice cereal, if we pour a little breast milk into the bowl, he will actually drink the remaining milk right out of the bowl, just like a big boy!

Vocalization and Personality: Logan loves to makes different noises and sounds, including grunting, ALL the time. He is a very vocal baby. He is also a very happy baby who loves to laugh. But when something upsets him, he has no issue letting us know. He can scream and cry and be beat red in the face within seconds. Just like his mommy, he can go from zero to pissy in .2 seconds! Haha! The past few weeks he has figured out how to determinedly reach for an object. So whenever he takes a break from nursing, he will stick out his hand and put it in my mouth, and he squeals with delight every time I “bite” down on his hand and make funny chomping noises. We do this same game over and over again about twelve times before he goes back to nursing. He also enjoys “flying” through the air above us. Recently, he has become very fascinated with our golden retriever, Maddy. He will just stop and stare at her for several minutes, and he has so much fun grabbing onto her fur. Unfortunately for Maddy, more times than not Logan ends up grabbing her ear or eyelid, but she is a trooper and just patiently and sweetly stands there letting him doing whatever he wants to her. He loves his paci, but he only really needs it during his “quiet alert” times. He is certainly not dependant upon it. He loves to suck his thumb, but we are trying to only let him do this at night or when he is sleeping. He also enjoys looking at himself in the mirror. Almost without fail, if we take him outside, he stops crying immediately. He is definitely an outdoor baby, and he loves when we go on walks outside with Maddy Girl, when he is in the Bob stroller. He also loves to be held, and he is very happy in his Baby Bjorn carrier, just as long as he doesn’t get too hot.

Looks: He is truly the most handsome baby in the whole entire world! He still has beautiful, deep, dark blue eyes. His dark hair is finally coming in again, but there are several blond hairs mixed in. His daddy was blond as a toddler, so maybe he will take after him. He had grown very long and therefore doesn’t look as chubby as he used to. He has beautiful olive skin and a very clear complexion. His little dimples are the cutest things ever! The following are the results of his 6-month checkup today:

Weight: 17 pounds, 11 ounces, which is in the 50th percentile
Height: 27 ¾ inches, which is in the 90th percentile. (He is very long and thus he is quickly outgrowing outfits, because they will no longer snap at the crotch).
Head Circumference: 43 cm, which is in the 30th percentile

Nicknames: By far his most frequent nickname is “Little Dude”. We also call him “Little Man”, “The Loganator”, “Mr. Logan” and “Baby Boy”.