Lucan: 6 months and counting!

I'm just really behind in posting Lucan's monthly updates. Gads.

We had his 6 month check-up on Tuesday. It went well! Shots break my heart every time. But Lucan is so brave, he just cries for a moment and then he is okay. I wish his momma could be as brave as he is.

• L is tipping the scales at 18 lb 12 ounces and is in the67th percentile for weight.


• He is 27 inches long and in the 64th percentile for length


• Lucan's head is 45.1 (cm? inches seems extreme) in circumference and in the 81st percentile for head size (yikes!)


• I hope he stays in size 3 diapers awhile. They go up to 28 lbs, so lets hope so.


• Two weeks ago L started rolling both ways - from belly to back and now he is also doing back to belly. But the problem is that he'll only roll over his right shoulder, so Lance and I will often have to pick him up and turn him the other way because he's ran out of room. I discovered him under the Christmas tree the other night. Lucan appeared to be secretly pleased with himself because Fire has reserved the tree as his special domain. Poor Fi Fie, mobile baby means his life is in for some changes.


• Lucan is eating a lot more different foods: butternut squash, avocado, applesauce, and the latest: carrots and rice cereal with prune juice. But he seems to be a little bit constipated as he just cries and cries when he's pooping and his poops are more solid than they should be. So now we've also expanded his diet to include a daily dose of prune juice. Ughhh...


• Speaking of food, to date I've made all of Lucan's baby food. It has been a relatively painless process as we already had squash that had been scooped, seeded and baked; homemade applesauce from 2010's canning adventures; and avocado jsut requires mashing. I had Tuesday off and spent some time steaming peas and green beans and then pureeing them and then freezing them into ice cube containers. I also baked a giant sweet potato and pureed it too. We will see how long this lasts. While it really wasn't difficult and is much cheaper than buying baby food, it certainly is not as convenient. But I did enjoy pulverizing and pureeing to my heart's content. It's also fun to think about veggie and fruit combos. And then I thought about pureeing everything and then sneaking the veggies into unexpected places. But that's the evil person I am.


• Lucan hasn't been nursing as well. When he was 4 months old, he would eat as much as 7-8 ounces at his first morning feeding. This morning, for example, he had about 4.5 ounces. I'm not really sure what to make of this, but I don't like it. It's doing screwy things to my milk supply.


• Lucan likes to stick his fingers in his mouth. Like when he's nursing. Yum, milk is good. Fingers are good. Both ... well that must be even better! Nursing doesn't work too well with fingers.


• We've started to be more intentional about Lucan's bedtime routine. We read "Time for Bed," sing a lullaby and then pray with him. Then we lay Lucan down and turn on his sleep sheep. Sometimes Lance gets confused and calls it a Sleep Polar Bear. Really?! 1) The sheep only resembles a polar bear in the fact that it is white. 2) What kind of branding department would call it a "Sleep Polar Bear"? It certainly doesn't roll off the tongue.


• Lucan is usually in bed by 7:30 pm. He gets crabby and just can't control his emotions after 7:30. Christmas with Lance's family should be interesting as festivities are starting at 7 pm.


• Still no signs of teeth. I'm not looking forward to it.


• Lucan got his first cold. It was the first time he was sick. Snotty daycare kids. Man, the cold was a doozy. We took him to the doctor twice and he was on two different antibiotics.


• Lucan still loves bath time. Let's just say: water everywhere. Usually I'm soaked.


• We started baby sign language after Thanksgiving. We are working on "milk," "more," "food," and "all done." Sometimes I remember to do "kitty," "mom," "dad," and "diaper change." I like to imagine that Lucan is recognizing the sign for "milk" as he get's the biggest smile and gets really excited. Lance is having some difficulties remembering the sign for "more" so finaly I told him that it was two dinosaurs talking to each other. Now it seems to be sticking.


• One game that Lucan loves is having us wrap him up like a baby burrito in a blanket and then for him to try and throw the blanket off of his head. Lucan runs into problems when he's laying on part of the blanket and can't get it off. The only way L can get it off is for him to pull it down off of his face. But it does keep him occupied!


• One of my favorite developments is Lucan will reflexively smile back at you. It's so rewarding.


• Omigoodness, this child is obsessed with his feet. If he isn't wearing footies, he'll pull off his sock and suck on it. And sometimes he'll even get his foot his mouth. But often times I'll have to take his socks off because one of them will be SOAKED. Sometimes I'll walk into his room and he'll be stretching in his crib with his legs in the air. I'm sure if they weren't enclosed in a sleep sack, they'd be in his mouth.


• Our child sleeps with his arms straight out and snores. It's actually pretty cute and at night I have to restrain myself from picking him up and hugging him. Sleeping babies can't be beat for cuteness.

Thus ends Lucan's 6 month updates. I had an older woman who was aghast that I wasn't keeping up on Lucan's baby book. But I blog! It's basically the same thing. But now I'm on the hook for actually keeping up on Lucan's development. Crap.