Dear Xavier,

I love you so very much. I love spending time with you and giggling with you. I love how even in pain, you'll give us a smile & laugh. However, your dad is a pretty great guy. So while a part of me finds it very sweet that you want your mama so much while you're dealing with this horrible cold... The other part of me is exhausted after 3 nights of more frequent wake ups & time spent comforting--- you have clearly been uncomfortable & possibly in pain. (Now we're thinking you have or have had a sore throat--poor baby). Anyway, dad does not have work in the morning and I do. I assure you dad is an excellent cuddle giver & he also wields pacifiers like a pro. Please consider utilizing your father's services the rest of the morning... What's left of it anyway..

Love you forever,

Mom

End of the mullet

I forgot to add another very important thing about 6 months: X has lost his mullet! His hair seems to have been going through a growth spurt, except for the newborn hair in the back. Which works well since now it has evened out. I had been joking about wanting to cut the back of his hair to get rid of the mullet for a while because I thought it looked funny, but in the end, it has all evened out. Kenneth asked if I had cut it finally, with a "Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do" type look. On my honor, I did not cut our boy's hair. (Kenneth also thought I was photo-shopping X's hair in pictures. While his hair does look more red in pictures than it is in real life, I swear my photo shop skills are very basic and I have no clue how to make hair red in a picture. I'd welcome tips on how to do that though. Ha.)

6 Months

Xavier turned 6 months. Wow.

 At the doctor's appointment this week, it turned out that he's still a bit on the wee side, at 16lbs, but he's strong and active. He still loves to stand. His 6th tooth broke through earlier this week. Here's hoping an early start to teething means an earlier end. He started scooting, but he doesn't do it often. He's starting to get that he needs to put his backside high in the air to crawl, so he's starting to figure it out... he's so close, but yet so far from crawling. He started sitting on his own unassisted... but doesn't do it often because he's much too busy for that. He'd rather be trying to move. His sleep has finally started getting better, but after a couple of weeks of good sleep, he starts teething again and it all goes to pot for a week or so. 

Solids have really started to be fun over the last couple weeks. He'll eat the purees; he's content with them. But what he really wants is the real food, so we've started letting him while we watch him carefully to make sure he's not taking too big of bites or choking. (So far, big bites have been a problem, but not choking.) He has had roasted apples, bananas, avocados, and a pancake so far. 

We've talked through our childcare plan for while I'm in school. I never imagined it happening, but I'm going to be a stay at home mom from 8-5, and then 2 days a week and in the evenings (more often during finals week) I'll have classes and study time. We'll see how it goes.

Today was rough. He's teething, and not sleeping well because of it. And on top of that it seemed like he had an ear infection. So everything was put on hold and all we did today was nap and try to keep him comfortable, but he was just so unhappy most of the time, especially when he first woke up. It was like the early days with him, where on bad days after Kenneth went back to work, moving from the bedroom seemed like a monumental task-- all he and I did was eat and sleep. So happy to be past that most days. Most of the time he's a wonderful, happy, silly little boy. Love him.

Other exciting things to come, more later.

Avocado... FUN!