This month has been a big one for our little boy! Lots of changes and tons of growth…he’s gone from a baby to a little man 🙂
Newest Sound
It seems like every month Kye has some new sound he’s learned to make that he does constantly this month it’s a grunt noise. It seriously sounds like the kid is constipated!!! I don’t like it but it’s a VERY “manly” sound and it is pretty funny. He now mixes it with the high pitched squeal and that’s hilarious because they are total opposites in sounds!
Click here for a video of Kye grunting
Looking Backwards
This seems to be Kye’s new favorite thing. While you’re holding him he’ll jerk back and want to see the world up-side down! I think it has to do with the fact that at this age he’s realizing that things exist even when he can’t see them. It makes it trickier to hold onto him but it’s super cute too 🙂
Reading
I love to read with Kye but it’s become rather annoying. He used to just lay there and look at the story quietly, then he started trying to “read” with me, then he would watch the book and look at me and watch the book and look at me, and now he’s just wanting to hold the book himself. I used to wonder why they made those board books but now I understand. It’s so the baby can hold the book on their own and chew on it and stuff without it ripping the pages! Whenever we read together Kye doesn’t pay attention at all now. He has one mission: grab the book. I’m not really sure how to handle this. Do I say “no sir?” Do I let him hold a bored book that he can chew on while I’m reading? Do I let him have a toy while I’m reading? Any suggestions on this would be great as I’m at a loss for the right thing to do. I know reading is so important and I want to make it an enjoyable experience for both of us!
Sitting Up
I know last month I mentioned that Kye could sit up unsupported for about 30 seconds before falling over. This has been the BIGGEST way he’s developed this month. He went from siting hunched all the way over for 30 seconds max at the beginning of the month to sitting almost perfectly straight for 15 min by the end of the month! It is SO neat to see how it changes every single day! It isn’t to the point yet where when I set him down I put him in the seated position (just because I fear him falling over while I’m not looking and it scaring him) but I have him sit to play ALL the time. It makes it WAY easier for him to enjoy his toys because they aren’t falling on his head all the time!!! He is even able to bend down, pick something up, and sit back up without falling! He isn’t able to go from laying to sitting yet but he’s great at going from sitting to the crawling position! Here are some pictures of the great sitting baby:
Textures
I’d heard that this is the age to start buying toys and books that have different materials on them because babies love to feel different textures. I noticed when we were in Melbourne that Kye would stroke the wicker chair I sat in to nurse him. He’d move his hand back and forth back and forth and LOVED the feel of it. That trend has continued since we’ve been home. He’ll purposely roll over to things in order to feel them. It’s so funny because not to long ago he’d just lay on the carpet and now when I put him on the carpet he rubs his hands all over it! I bought him some soft blocks that have different textures all over them and he loves to play with them now! I think it’s so neat to see him gently rub things and even use his feet to feel them. A lot of the time during independent playtime I’ll catch him just laying there feeling the mesh siding!
Click for a video of Kye feeling the texture of things!
Poop
Kye had his first REAL poop! I was sooo excited but I resisted the temptation to take a picture! It was what I call a human poop! Since he’s a breastfed baby his poop has always looked like Carmel pudding but now it’s little brown turds 🙂 Now that he eats solids his poop has evolved. SO much easier to clean up for diaper changes and it’s just one more thing to remind me that Kye’s growing up right before my eyes!
Chewing
Kye is still a chewing machine (I think we have AWHILE until that phase ends). Everything he touches goes straight to his mouth. I read that babies actually learn by touch and that their mouths are the most sensitive area to touch so that’s why they put everything in their mouths. Until recently Kye couldn’t even hardly jump in his jumperoo and now he’s able to not only jump but also play with the toys. This one toy hangs over the edge of the jumperoo, imagine my surprise when I saw Kye with it in his mouth!
While we were in Melbourne Kye fell IN LOVE with a toy mom had gotten him. I love her jumper because it’s lower to the ground than mine. Well Kye likes it better too!
Click here for a video of Kye in Gramma’s jumper
Independent Playtime
I’ve become hardcore about Kye’s independent playtime (I posted on this earlier) this month and it’s really paying off. He LOVES it. He plays so well on his own and just talks and talks to his toys. I’m adding a basket in the pack and play so we can start having “clean up time” when it’s over and I’m going to start having blanket time this month as well! It’s hard to believe that at the beginning of this month I had him sitting in his Bumbo for independent playtime and now I just stick him in the pack and play and he goes to town rolling over and such!
Click here for a video of Kye during independent playtime
Naps
Naps have been going much better…much more predictable! While he’ll often still wake at the 45 min marker, it’s less and less often. Now he’s napping almost the solid 2 hours in the morning, about an hour and a half in the early afternoon, and around 45 min in the evening. I read that at 6 months he needs 11 hours of sleep at night and 2 naps that are between 1.5-2.5 hours long each. He gets a little more sleep than that right now but we’ll ease into it when he’s ready 🙂
High Chair Kid
Kye is officially in a high chair!!! I’m going to pull out my high chair/ grocery shopping cart cover thing so we can use it! Very exciting! Here he is in a high chair out to eat with us back in the beginning of the month. He could only sit in it for about 10 min before getting fussy.
Here’s is first time in OUR high chair at the house! Doesn’t he look proud to be a big boy??? He sits in it EVERY TIME he eats solids and he sits in it with a toy while I get his solids ready and after he eats while I clean up. He really likes his high chair and I’m so glad we bought this one (it’s a Chicco) because it’s super easy to clean off, has an extra tray that’s dishwasher safe, and it’s easy to wipe down when he makes messes.
We also bought a portable high chair which attaches to a table top. We’ve used it several times so far and it holds up great! It’s a little awkward feeding him from the side but I’ll get used to it. The great thing is that it folds up and can fit into luggage! It’s also by Chicco and was another good buy on our part! This is his first time using it, we were at Uncle Gage’s house!
Playing in the Tub
Bath time with Kye only gets better and better. First he started splashing and kicking his legs and now he’s pulling himself up! Zach and I were both super surprised that he could do this! It seems like at least once a week Zach is yelling across the house for me to come see something new that Kye starts doing in the bathtub! We have to keep a close eye on this little squirmy child 🙂
Click here for a video of Kye getting up on the side of the tub
And click here for a video of Kye pulling himself up in the tub (and yes right after we took this video I got out our faucet cover and stuck that junk on!) His prize is always the ducky!
Also Kye had a fun time with Gramma while we were in Melbourne, click here for a video of him playing in the tub with her.
Giving Kisses
Kye is no pro in the kissing department yet but he’s learning. Usually I practice it with him after he’s done nursing and he does occasionally lean in, mouth open, for a kiss! It seriously melts your heart! He’s done it for me 4 or 5 times and once or twice for Zach…and now he’s even doing it for the dogs! I caught one of him trying to kiss Levi…I also caught one that I will NOT be posting of Levi kissing Kye and Kye’s tongue kissing Levi back. SO gross and I, of course, pushed Levi away as soon as I saw it happening haha
Breastfeeding
I made my goal of 6 months of breastfeeding! As I mentioned awhile back my plan is to keep going as long as it’s enjoyable until he can drink cows milk. So far it’s still enjoyable! He nurses SO fast and finishes in like 10 min total. I am back to using Lansinoh cream because he’s such a quick nurser it hurts my nipples pretty badly if I don’t. He has started to clamp and pull which can hurt SO bad. When he does this I unlatch him, pop him pretty hard on the mouth, look at him sternly and say “no sir.” He doesn’t do it very often so I think the system is pretty effective. It’s so nice knowing I made my goal and it feels like a lot of pressure is off of my shoulders. If he starts hurting me (when teeth come in?), doesn’t seem to want it anymore, or if I just get sick of it (doubtful but it could happen) then I’m 100% fine with stopping at anytime!
Feet
I’ve heard about babies this age being hardcore about their feet. Our friend Robyn’s daughter went through a phase where she seemed to always want her feet in her mouth. Kye just isn’t that way. I think it’s really just part of Kye’s personality. He masters something then quits doing it. When he started rolling over he did it a ton for a couple days then didn’t do it again for almost a month. He’s like that with his feet. The only time he really goes to put them in his mouth is when we go to change his diaper or if he doesn’t have a toy around and gets bored. I caught a rare picture of it though!
Hair
I know you can’t tell in most of the pictures but Kye is REALLY getting hair back! It took long enough but it’s super cute and fuzzy. I’m not sure what color of hair he’ll have. The new hairs look very light and since Zach and I were both blond children I think he’ll follow the trend but we’ll see. I just wish he’d have more hair for his 6 month pics 🙁 Oh well..maybe the 9 month ones for our Christmas cards 🙂
Pushing Up
Kye can REALLY push himself up now! He can get his arms all the way straight and even lifts his belly off the floor. I swear it seems like he’ll crawl any day now. He wants to go go go sooo badly. It’s sad to watch him try and try and not be able to do it. He has figured out though that he can roll just about anywhere to get what he wants and he’ll roll over and over and over again. Last month he wasn’t rolling both ways at the same time but now he’ll do it. He’ll roll to his stomach then over the other side to his back. We have to keep a constant eye on him because you’ll leave him alone for a second and he’ll end up being somewhere else when you look at him again!
Click here for a video of poor Kye trying to crawl
Click here for one of my favorite videos, Kye rolling all over to get his paci!
Car Seat Fun
At one of my baby showers Ashley got me a toy bar thing that attaches to Kye’s car seat. Of course, we put it on right away even though he was a newborn and probably couldn’t even see that far away. Slowly Kye’s gotten more and more involved with it. The little frog part of the toy has eyes that are also a button you can push to play music. Omg Zach and I can hum the melody to ALL the songs it plays by heart! Whenever Kye gets fussy in the car our first thing we do is push the frog’s eyes. It adverts his attention and sooths him. Well the song isn’t very long so a lot of the time I’m stuck with my arm in the back seat pushing the eyes over and over again. The day I’ve been praying for has finally arrived! Kye has learned to push the frog’s eyes himself! We were riding along when we heard the music and Zach and I both got super excited!!!
Click here for a video of Kye pushing the frog’s eyes all by himself!
Me
I am FINALLY feeling good about myself again! I’m in the Maintenance part of Weight Watchers and I’m staying right around my goal weight. I weigh less than I weighed before I was pregnant but I have come to grips with the fact that my body just won’t be the same. That little pooch isn’t going anywhere anytime soon! I could either work my butt off to lose it just to gain it again when I have another baby or I can just live with it and have a tummy tuck after I have all four kids. I’ll take the tummy tuck thank you!
I recently got my hair cut, took off about 3-4 inches and put a lot more blond in it. It feels SO much better! I think with everything going on with Nana passing away a change like that was something I needed. A simple little hair cut just made me feel so refreshed. I still am having a pretty hard time thinking about Nana being gone and my thoughts will often go towards big life questions about death, Heaven, God, and our purpose for living. I don’t like focusing on those kind of things and I hope it’s just a phase of grieving…we’ll see I guess.
As a mom though I feel very content and confident in my abilities. I don’t second guess myself anymore and I even feel more comfortable with other people’s babies too. It’s nice to have an area of my life where I know I excel. I’ve never been a big sports person so I never have that feeling of being “the best” at something. Well now that I’m a mom I have that pride and that sense of accomplishment. I’m not saying I’m the best mom on earth but I think I’m pretty dang awesome 🙂
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I think it is so great that you see yourself excelling in being a mom. I always felt that I was missing something until I had Clayton and now that I am "Clayton's Mom" I feel much more confident in as a person. I love reading your blog, I feel like I know Kye and Zach. Jason is always asking about you and Rachael and Liz b/c I am always talking about your lives based on what I read!