Rhodes - 6 Months (and his special gift!)

6 months old - January 19, 2013

3 baby bandaids from 6 month shots

At 6 months old, Rhodes is up to the following:

• Weighed 17 lb 4 oz at his 6 month checkup, that's 50%, 26.5 inches long, that's also 50%, head was 44 cm, 50% too.
• Goes down for the night around 7 p.m., wakes up at 6:30 a.m. (on average)
• Has breastmilk 5 times a day, whether in the form of breastfeeding or a 6 oz bottle.
• I am still putting rice cereal in his bottles, this makes for better sleep through the night, I have discovered.
• He has been eating 3 containers of stage 1 baby foods a day - carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas for the veggies and peaches, bananas, apples for the fruits.  I also put rice cereal in these.  Read below for updated food information.
• Rolls from back to front mostly, but has rolled from front to back a few times.
• At 5 1/2 months I discovered two bottom teeth.  They are barely in yet, I can just see and feel the ridges.
• Can't sit up by himself for more than a few seconds, but I can tell he's getting close.
• He's wearing 9 month pj's and 6-9 month clothing.
• He loves the jumparoo and any flashing toys.  He is very interested in getting ahold of my phone.  He chews on everything and his favorite thing to chew on are his socks that he likes to remove while riding in the carseat.
• He has a contagious laugh, the most precious sound.
• He babbles all the time, and is recently putting his lips together to make the "mmmmm" sound and the "gggggg" sound.
• His teachers have described him as "nosey"  They said he's always got that head turned around trying to hear and see everyone.  I've noticed it at home.  He's hard to feed if anyone is in the room talking, he gets so distracted.  Got a little baby ADD going on.

While we were at the checkup I showed the doctor his back.  She wrote me a prescription refill from a lotion that Ryder used that we got from the dermatologist when he was 7 months, so I will try that on Rhodes.

Getting measured. 

While he was getting his measurements the tech noticed his left arm was super relaxed and kind of limp (I guess most babies tense up during this and fight it by waving their arms around because they don't like it).   She even called the nurse in and the nurse started doing some techniques with him to see if he would reach out for anything with his arms.  He did immediately reach for it so they said he was fine.  I asked what they thought it was at first.  She said she was checking to see if he had what they call "nursemaid elbow."  They came to the conclusion he was just a chill baby.  Agreed.

Introducing the two bottom teeth.

She asked if Rhodes was sitting up unassisted yet.  I told her no, not quite, and showed her what I meant.

"I got this doctor!  Don't worry about me."

Here is Ryder at his 6 month checkup.  

They are almost identical in weight and height.  NOT head, however.

Big News...

Rhodes got a pretty awesome 6 month old birthday gift, he got a full-time mommy!

While on maternity leave, I decided that I would go back to work, but not for too much longer, eventually I would stay home.  I decided to give it until May since we would more than likely be in our house by then.  My plan was to let Ryder finish out his school year, then we would all have the summer off and Ryder would begin a 3 day preschool in the fall, and Rhodes would possibly go to Mother's Morning Out twice a week at the same place - or I might just keep him home with me full-time - all this will depend on another story I will share on another post.  But anyway, let's face it, two children in full time daycare while I'm on a part-time salary puts a major dent in the paycheck, it just doesn't add up.

However, things happened alot quicker than I thought.  It all started the day I came back to work from the New Years holiday, which was a Wednesday.  As soon as I walked into work I just knew I needed to be home with my babies.  All that day and night I prayed that God would give me a sign, an obvious sign if home was where I needed to be.  Because while I felt it in my head and in my heart, I kept making excuses. I felt so guilty about leaving my job and I know that sounds crazy, but I just did. I will be there 6 years in March and I've met so many people and made so many connections through my job.  I knew they would be fine without me, but that was the only thing holding me back.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

Sidenote:  I started typing this a few days ago.  This morning as I'm finishing up, I take a break for my Jesus Calling devotion for today.  The above verse was on today's reading, but I had already chosen and typed this verse days ago.  Confirmation!

Ryder adores his school, his friends and school and his teachers at school.  Of course he whines a little bit sometimes when it's time to go, but as soon as he gets there he runs into his room before I can even tell him goodbye.  He's never had a problem being away from me whether it's at grandparents houses, school or church childcare.  He's a social child.  So, after my night of prayer Wednesday night, Ryder went on to school the next day, Thursday.  When I picked him up that afternoon around 2:30, his teacher pulled me aside and said, "Ryder has been having a few sad days lately, and today he was really sad.  He would just sit in the corner and cry and say he wanted to be home with his mommy."

Hello God!  Thank you for answering that!   

So when we got home that afternoon I knew exactly what I needed to do.  It was time to tell my boss I needed to end my time there a little earlier than planned.  So the next morning I was dreading it.  I had this huge knot in my stomach and I was super nervous.  I really didn't want to bring it up - so again I turned to God.  I asked Him to please give me an opportunity for it to come up without me having to bring it up.  I knew it was pretty far fetched, but I also knew He was working with me on this.  So I prayed specifically that somehow, someway, this would come up during conversation at work.

Matthew 21:22
"And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

The next morning my boss and I were casually chatting and during out conversation she said, "I'm about to start working on the budget for the year and I know you are planning on leaving in May.  But just tell me when you really want to leave. "  I was both in shock and so happy all at the same time.  God came through for me again!  She asked if I would at least give her until Jan 31, and that was a-ok with me!

About 10 minutes later I kind of panicked.  Ryder is a busy-body, he is very interested in learning and he loves to play outside.  We have no yard where we are at the moment, it's freezing cold outside and how will I know what to teach him?  I immediately called one of our local churches to see if they had an opening for a couple days a week, they did have an opening in a 3 year old class, twice a week from 9-2.  Perfecto!  Rhodes is just going to kick it at home with me.  Now, this is going to be a major transition for us.  So if you are reading and you stay at home with your children, please comment or email me your daily schedule or ideas of what you do each day.  My email is brittgwilson@gmail.com and I welcome your advice and ideas!

I am also going to try my best to start living off a budget..  The first place I thought I could start is by making Rhodes' baby food.  I did the math and I spend about $50 a month on gerber babyfood.  So I did a little research and saw where lots of people said they were spending $15 a month or so by buying food and making it.  Simple stuff.  So I bought the following:

• bag of organic carrots (I'll cut into small pieces and boil until tender)

• bananas (mash and mix with either water, breast milk or formula)

• organic sweet potatoes (boil until tender and mash)

• frozen peas 

• frozen peaches 

I was tempted to buy a baby bullet, but I figured my food processor would suffice.  So all the things I listed above, I will just put in my food processor to puree it.  Then I'll freeze it in ice cube trays and pop them out and store them in freezer bags per everyone I've asked.  I also bought a big jar of applesauce, no sugar added instead of using real apples.

This morning's batch was made with some assistance.

This is probably a weeks worth of peas and bananas.  Next time, I'll make more trays, but I wanted to do a little tester first.

The bananas smelled so much better, Rhodes tore them up.  He cried when they were gone, which he never does, so he got more. Mmmmm Mmmmm.

I will definitely have several gerber containers on hand for when we are on the road.  I just want to make what I can while we are at home.

So to wrap it up, this little guy is thrilled with the news!

His daddy is quite pleased too.  I think he thinks he no longer has to make the grocery runs, do chores, help with dinner, change diapers, or bathe children.  But that is not the case :)  Don't tell him that until February 1st though!

One of the things I look most forward to (besides more time with the boys) is taking part in my extra curricular activities without the guilt of leaving them at home.  I'll be able to enjoy my JA duties, church small group, going out to dinner with friends, even going grocery shopping - all without feeling bad for leaving my babies.  I'll actually be able to look forward to these things rather than feel bad for being gone all day and then all night too.