Jacob is 6 Months Old!

Today Jacob is 6 months old!  Wow.  Where has the time gone?!  There were times during the first 3, colicky months when I thought some nights would never end.  But here we are!  Jacob has always been a sweet baby, but when he was suffering from colic and reflux, there were times that he just seemed miserable.  Now, he is a happy, giggling, fun baby.  It is amazing to see his little personality emerge.  I think Matthew and I are going to have quite the little clown on our hands.  It is hard to describe with words, but there are times that he acts downright silly, and then will close his eyes, fall backwards, and giggle at himself!  One of my favorite new 'skills' of his is when he reaches out his arms for me or Matthew.  My goodness! It melts my heart every time. 

Speaking of skills, Jacob is working hard on sitting on his own.  Every day it seems he can sit just a little bit longer before toppling over.  Jacob can now roll from his back to his stomach, and as of yesterday- can now consistently roll from his stomach to his back.  This is an important milestone for us!  He has been able to roll onto his stomach for a little over a month now.  The problem is, once there, he gets very upset and fusses...cries...screams... until you go flip him back over (only to roll back onto his stomach 10 seconds later...).  This is not my idea of a fun game.  And the times where I decided to leave him fussing to see if he would figure it out for himself (or figure out that being on his stomach isn't fun, and would stop rolling over), I find him face down in a puddle of spit-up (no Mother-of-the-Year awards for me!).  Fortunately, this hasn't affected his sleeping.  We were really worried that if he rolled over in his crib, he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep until we came in and rolled him back over.  Most mornings we find him still on his back, but there have been mornings where we go to wake him up and he is sleeping peacefully on his stomach.

And speaking of sleeping.  Praise the Lord, Jacob has become such a great sleeper!  It took him about 3 days to re-adjust after flying back to France, but since then (knock on wood) he has been sleeping through the night.  7pm- 7am.  Wow.  I still can't believe it.  AND, remember all of those blogs on the napping issues?  Jacob now takes 2 naps of 1 1/2 hours (sometimes 2 hours, or longer!).  This has been the greatest change to our days.  I now can plan our days because I know what time he will go down for a nap.  I know how long he will sleep, which means I know when he needs to go down for the next nap.  Ironically, this type of scheduling has been the biggest source of freedom for me! 

Let's talk a little bit more about scheduling.  When Jacob was first born I made up some charts to keep track of when he ate, which side I started feeding him on, and how long he ate on each side.  I also kept track of how many wet and poopie diapers he had (sounds silly, but everyone who has breastfed knows that diaper 'output' is the best way to gauge whether the baby is getting enough milk).  After Day 13 and the 6 hours straight of crying, and the research I did on colic being diagnosed by a baby that cries for more than 3 hours/day, for more than 3 days/week, for more than 3 weeks, I decided I needed a more detailed chart to keep track of really how much he was crying.  All moms know that 5 minutes of crying can feel like an hour sometimes!  So my 24-hour chart was born.  I have received a lot of flack about my charts, but they have also come in really handy when Jacob was finally diagnosed with reflux.  More recently, they have helped me find the 'sweet spot' when it comes to Jacob's naps.  I will never forget the look I got when I pulled out my charts after spending the night in the ER with Jacob.  The ER doctor looked at the charts, looked at us, and asked (in French) "Um, where are you from?  That must be an American thing, I have never seen that in France."  Nope, not an American thing, just a Kim thing.   I admit that I am a little addicted to my charts.  Here are some examples.  It really puts things into perspective when I look at what our days were like then and now.  Just fyi- blue=sleeping, green=eating, red=crying, and the red stars are when he spit-up A LOT.  There are a lot more colors/symbols, but I won't bore you (well, bore you any more than I already have).  Can I just say how satisfying it is to color in all the blue after a full night of sleep? Or after a long nap.  Kind of the like the feeling I get when I get to cross something off a to-do list.  Sometimes when I make lists, I will even write things I have already finished, just so I can cross them off.  I know I am a dork, but I also know I am not the only one that does this.  ;)

So, anyway.  My baby is 6 months old today.  My sweet, funny, adorably chubby, cuddly (sometimes), light of my life.  I love you Jacob!  I love being your mommy.  I love your sweet smiles and giggles.  I love your chubby cheeks (that everyone comments on).  I love your beautiful blue eyes.  And I love how happy you are when you see me first thing in the morning, after each nap, or even when I have just left the room for a second and come back.  It is amazing how you can make my heart melt one minute, and the next I feel like my heart might burst it is so full of love for you.  Happy half birthday!