6 Months...

To me, this six month thing feels like a huge milestone. This sweet baby of mine has been with me for half a year now, and it has been the best six months of my entire life. The best, most exhausting, most challenging, most wonderful six months ever. Every day I fall a little more in love with the silly little boy that's emerging from within my tiny baby, and every day I swear he is cuter than the last. I'm pretty smitten, I must say.

Grayson,

Well, all of the sudden you seem to have turned into a little boy instead of a teeny little baby. You have a crazy little personality that I absolutely adore, and I see a little bit more of who you are going to be each and every day. You and I are becoming best buddies, and I think it's safe to say you're growing just as attached to me as I am to you.

The past few weeks we've developed a pretty solid daily routine. I'm not a big routine person, but you are definitely turning me into one. So much easier when I know what to expect with you. You must have some tiny internal alarm that goes off right around 7:15-7:30 every morning, because that is the time we will be up, without fail. We come in the living room and you sit in your bouncy chair while I get breakfast. Then we play on the floor for awhile, you'll bounce in your exersaucer, and right around 9:30 you're ready for sleep. You wake up ready to eat, and then it's right back to the same thing as before. We repeat that exact routine just about four times throughout the day, with you taking a 30 minute nap every 2-3 hours. When daddy gets off work we play for a couple hours, and then you're in bed right around 8 every night. I must say, you are a MUCH easier baby than I was expecting you to be based on our first few weeks together.

This month has been a big one for you. Every day it seems like you're doing something new. You laugh a lot these days, and it might be the cutest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. Daddy still makes you laugh the most, with Addie following close behind. You are absolutely in love with Addie...she still is undecided about you. But I would say you are definitely growing on her. She actually acknowledges you occasionally, and you've even got your little hands on her a few times, which makes you soooo happy.

Anytime you see something you want, which is constantly, you reach out for it and grunt and your whole body shakes like it's vibrating. It's hilarious and strange...I've never seen a baby do anything like that. Cell phones, TV remotes, and water bottles are the things that make you go especially crazy. Your baby talk has gone to a whole new level and it really looks like you're trying to talk now. It's hilarious and I could watch you do it all day. It's a lot of "Dah dah dah" "Bah Bah Bah""Mah Mah Mah"....or just moving your jaw up and down with no sound. I really hope this means I'll be hearing a "Mama" out of you soon!

My very favorite new thing is that you "dance" now. You started this about two weeks ago on my birthday weekend. Anytime you hear music or someone sings to you you immediately start rocking side to side. And I swear you have perfect rhythm. You rock fast or slow, depending on the music. Definitely my child ;)

You sit up by yourself all the time now, for just about as long as you care to. You also roll over like a pro, and you're just right on the verge of crawling I think. You get up on your knees, and you get up on your hands, but you haven't figured out how to put it all together. You kind of just scoot around in circles right now and go backward when you mean to go forward. I can tell it's incredibly frustrating for you. But pretty adorable. You also just got your first tooth yesterday! It's barely broken through, and you won't let me see it, but I definitely feel it. That almost made mama cry...you're getting SO big so fast!

You've also figured out the whole people getting farther away thing, and now you cry about half the time when I leave the room. It absolutely breaks my heart, but secretly makes me feel good that you don't want to see me go. Right now I think it's precious...but I hope it's something you grow out of or mama will never get to go anywhere alone! You reach for people now whenever you want to go to them, and you smile at anyone and everyone. You adore every one of your grandparents, and I can tell it makes them all soooo happy that you are happy to see them. You're also developing a really sweet relationship with your daddy. The older you get the more fun the two of you have together. He dishes out tons of kisses to you every day, and they make you giggle like crazy. Makes my heart want to burst into pieces I love it so much.

We just started giving you "real food" last Saturday, the 19th. You were freaking out every time we ate in front of you, and you were showing all the signs they say to look for before starting solids. I wanted to wait six months, and we almost made it. Daddy says technically we did, because if you go by weeks rather than the date, you are older than six months. Either way, you looooove to eat. We started with pureed bananas and you are a huge fan. Now whenever you see a bowl and spoon when you're in your high chair you do the shaking/vibrating thing. We just tried a zucchini puree today, and you were definitely not near as excited about that. About three bites in you decided no more for you, thanks. I'm making all of your food here at home so I know exactly what you're eating, and I'm being kind of obsessive about it. Typical mommy (you'll figure that out).

Right now your favorite things are Addie (always), music, when I sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" or "You are my Sunshine" to you, being outside, playing on the floor with daddy, and baths. Pretty sure you're going to be a little water baby, you don't even care when the water gets all over your face. There really isn't anything that makes you super mad anymore, other than me trying to put you to sleep when you don't want to. That's about the only time we have a meltdown these days. You still don't like to have your clothes changed, but it's more frustration than tears at this point.

You are SUCH a happy little guy these days and such a good baby. You never ever throw fits when we're out in public and we can take you anywhere with no worries. We get comments all the time about how cute you are whenever we're out and about...I'm sure all babies get these comments actually, but I prefer to think it's because you're the cutest baby on the planet. You're pretty much everything we could have hoped for in a baby and you make your daddy and I happier than we ever could have imagined possible. I love you oh so much!

Mama