1/2 a Year!

I can't believe he's reached the 6 month mark. Chance and I watched a lot of videos of him as a newborn last night and seeing how much he has grown makes me sick. He's such a big boy! Right now, he has been asleep on me for the past 1.5 hours and I can't bring myself to take him to his crib. I never get to snuggle him any more. Here are a few things about my little guy:

• If I had to use two words to describe his personality, they would be crazy and happy. He is non-stop action and non-stop smiles. He loves being thrown around and smiles and laughs through every bit of it.
• He cut his first tooth about 2 weeks ago. It made for a rough night-- poor guy. He cut his second tooth on his 6 month b-day. I'm hoping that's the last one for a while. =)
• He sucks on his bottom and top lip non-stop. Sometimes he'll smack his lips over and over again.
• He still loves kisses. He opens his mouth and I go in for them over and over again.
• He's using his tongue like crazy. He feels his tooth, sticks it out, blows raspberries, and drools everywhere.
• He army crawls EVERYWHERE. He can get across the room quickly and is always proud of himself.
• He's up on his hands and knees rocking back and forth, but hasn't shown much interest in actually crawling. When he wants to move in that position he'll lunge forward and land on his chest and then drag himself where he wants to go.
• He can sit-- kind of. He'll still fall backwards. He actually doesn't have much interest in sitting. He wants to be moving all the time so he doesn't get much practice.
• His laugh is coming out more and more. STILL loving it to pieces.
• He LOVES other little babies/ kids. I hope he's a social little guy.
• This month he decided that he loves peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, and pears. Pretty much anything we give him, he eats. He LOVES to eat and still has not mastered the concept of "I'm full, so I should stop eating." He'll eat and eat and then spit it up everywhere.
• Rice cereal is so boring now. He'd rather have the good stuff.
• It's fun to know that he REALLY knows Chance and I now. He smiles and smiles when his dad gets home.
• He loves rolling around and banging himself all over the bed.
• He's starting to look to us for what seems like approval now. We'll sit and watch baby einstein with him and he'll look up at us at the "funny" parts like, "yeah, that's funny, right dad?" or when he does a 'cool' trick it's "yeah, dad-- I'm good at that, huh?"
• He is self-entertaining a little better now that that tooth has come through. Right before that tooth came through I felt like I was at his side or holding him every second.
• When he gets stick of playing by himself he start to whine and look at me and crawl to me till I pick him up. Then, he just wants me to sit with him and play with toys. Melts my heart (I'm such a sucker).
• He still does not like the car seat or the stroller-- AHH! Drives me crazy!
• Even though he's wild and crazy (I prefer to say fun), I honestly think I have an easy baby now. He is happy as can be and LOVES to get out and about-- whether that's getting outside or going to the grocery store.
• He will scream and screech and talk all day long. He loves to growl and loves to be growled at. He thinks it's hilarious.
• He rolls and rolls and rolls, every which way.
• He likes to be thrown up in the air and will laugh hysterically when we do it over and over again.
• He thinks I'm funny (at least somebody does!)
• He is very intrigued with a certain older woman-- Greta Bryan. =) They share kisses all the time.
• Sleep is getting better and better. He usually goes down around 7:30 each night. I still let him get up once each night (usually around 5AM). I feed him and then he falls asleep again and is always up around 7:30 AM. We will have to eliminate that feeding some time soon!
• He is moving to 2 naps a day, but sometimes still takes 3. When he does take 2, he is usually a little more fussy. We are in that awful in-between stage where 2 is not enough and 3 is too much.
• His hair is coming in white-blonde. He looks like he's bald, but he actually has a decent amount of hair (sort of).

I have really grown to love motherhood in that past month. The adjustment of becoming a stay at home mom was really hard for me. It's not that I didn't love my little boy like crazy, but finding my 'groove' and feeling productive and challenged was difficult. It's definitely a much different type of challenge and a much different type of productive. I'm sure it's been a combination of me getting used to the new pace my life runs at and Tate getting older (thus him being a little easier), but man, do I LOVE being at home with him. He brings me so much joy and has taught me so much about the most important things in life. I can't imagine going a day without him. I'm so lucky to be this little man's mom!