Felix - 7 Months

You are 7 months old! This month has been particularly eventful in your development. You learned to sit up on your own from laying down position. And you went from rocking on your hands and knees to pushing up into downward dog and falling on your head quite a bit to eventually CRAWLING! It happened just before your 7th month birthday. You learned to crawl right when we got home from a really long car ride on the way back from the beach (9.5 hrs in your carseat). I think you were just ready to get things moving after sitting still that long.

The first bits of movement forward you made were directly towards books and then you sat up and started looking through the pages. So cute! This milestone has been so exciting and has made for some pretty awesome changes. You play by yourself really happily for long stretches of time, but I can no longer even step out of the room to grab something, without taking you with me. At first your crawling was slow and involved a lot of rests so I could still pop in and out checking on you ever 30 seconds or so, but now your a fast little bugger! You can make it across a room in about 5 seconds and I'm not gonna lie, you found your way up 2 (TWO!) stairs at one point before I realized you even were on the stairs. I'm going to need to drink so more coffee and stay a bit more alert with my little mobile man now.

Two days after learning to crawl, you decided it was time to learn how to pull yourself up, so for the last week, that's pretty much been your favorite thing. Crawl across the room and then pull up on mommy's lap, on the couch, on your play table, on the stairs, trashcan, toilet, cabinets, kitchen island, TV stand...you name it. Standing is the name of the game. In fact, it's evening time right now and I laid you down for bed around 8:30, and an hour later I heard you cry. I went in there and you were standing on the side of the crib. Holding on to the rails. It was so sad and cute. You just want to practice your new trick even in your sleep and then you wake yourself up.

This month has been one of my favorites so far. Your personality is emerging even more every day and you are such a happy, content, lovely baby. With so much adventure and boldness and smiles that are contagious.

Daddy and I have made a point to pray over you more often. You were dedicated this month and establishing a daily and natural involvement of the Lord in your life is important to me. I sometimes will read you scripture verses while you are nursing and Daddy will whisper prayers over you when we are snuggling before bed. Worship music fills the space between these walls. I want you to feel God's presence in our house and be at peace here.

Your middle name is Fire for a reason, my son. At first we chose the name because it seemed cool. It was a very unique and strong name. But after you were born the meaning of Felix Fire settled in. I prayed that the Lord would make you passionate. That you would be a person of great emotion and feeling with strong convictions and an energy for life that people would be drawn to. That you would have a fire in your heart for God. And when I held you in my arms the Lord showed me that He spoke to his people in a burning bush and led them with a pillar of fire and He was going to use your kindness and charisma to lead people to Him.

I love watching you grow. I love being your mom. Happy 7 months my little buddy.

Felix - 6 Months

The 5th month flew by with me never taking his photo. Whoops!

You are officially 6 months and getting so big! You were 28 inches and 18.5 lbs at your doctor's appointment on Monday and hitting all your developmental milestones on time or early! Sitting without support - Check (since 5 months!) Rocking on hands and knees getting ready to crawl - check! Eating some puréed goodies every now and then (sweet potatoes, bananas, avocado)  - check!

You had your first two airplane trips this past month and did swimmingly. Hardly a peep for the first 3 times and a bit fussy, but nothing uncontrollable on our most recent return trip. You are starting to have so much more energy when you are awake. Two Sunday's ago we couldn't keep you still during church. You were such a busy little bee trying to grab everything and see things behind you. We eventually just sat you on the floor and put a bunch of quite toys in front of you to play with. You loved it!

We went in the pool a few times this past month. The first time you got in the water, it was a bit chilly and you took a deep breath in from shock, but once you got used to the temperature you just kept looking at me all bright eyed saying "da da da da" (your new favorite word) over and over.

You practically fold yourself in half every time you lay on your back to stick your toes in your mouth, but staying on your back never lasts very long. You roll both ways now and are constantly pushing up into downward dog position and more recently into all fours rocking back and forth. Today you even got one knee moved forward and then face planted. (whoops!) I think if you could skip crawling you would. When I hold your hands you sway back and forth moving your feet forward walking! It's quite impressive for 6 months.

All this new movement is making for some interesting sleep time. I lay you down to sleep and when I come back in you have completely changed positions. Head at opposite end of the crib. (You're sleeping in your crib now, too!) leg tossed up on a railing. bootie up in the air. I think it will be more amusing when you can figure out how to keep yourself asleep in such odd positions. Most of the time you end up waking yourself up, which means I'm still one tired momma.

You've started to fake cough to get my attention and when I look at you, you think it is the funniest thing. You also get super hysterical with laughter when you are slightly over tired. It's quite entertaining, but then I know i'm in for it when it comes time to put you to sleep. Fussing and kicking and wiggling all over your crib is bound to ensue.

You could read books for hours (A son after my own heart.) You are a ham for the camera, bu are hard to catch with the iPhone because of how fast you wiggle around. We have migrated to sitting in the blue bath tub, but honestly, it's too small for you. Big baths are in your near future! You are so much fun to play with and we spend hours together every day examining your toys and trying new things with each one! Tossing the ball. Shaking the rattle. Squeezing the stuffed fox. Or I can set you on the ground with a variety of play things from your toy chest and you will amuse yourself while I cook dinner, fold laundry, etc. etc. What a sweet boy.

I'm amazed at how many people remark how happy you are. Family members and Friends, of course, because they are around you all the time and get to interact with your sweetness day in and day out. But complete strangers come up to us and say "What a happy baby!" To me this is odd. I would never think to say that about a baby I don't know. "Cute" "Beautiful" "Sweet" those are my go-to adjetives for pretty much any baby I run into and you are all of those things, my precious child, but Happy...happy is what people feel when they see you. Happiness is what you exude and you bring joy to those that even just briefly come across your path. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since we specifically chose a name that ment "happy" when we named you.

I'm so thankful I get to be your mama. Your daddy and I constantly pray that your life would be marked with the presensce of the Lord. and that you would know Him from an early age. We love you sweet boy. Happy half birthday.

xo
Mom

Felix - 4 Months

Getting this update in just under the wire! He turns 5 months on Friday! 

I can't believe you are four months old already! This last month you have really gone from infant to baby in my eyes. You have so much head control and I hold you on my hip with one arm all the time now and you just grip onto my shirt/hair/braid look around and take everything in.

You are constantly grabbing for things around you and you get such a sweet inquisitive look on your face when you see something new. I know you are going to be super smart by the way you interact with the world around you. Anything with flashing lights is mesmerizing to you and nearly anything that is new to you will be pulled really close to your eyes and you will poke your lips out in a little duck face, study each object carefully and then promtly shove said item into your slobbery mouth.

Speaking of, you still drool. It's crazy. Daddy always says it's a miracle you aren't dehydrated all the time based on the amount you salivate all over everything. After you do tummy time there is always a puddle under you head and every shirt I wear inevitably is two-toned after I hold you because half of it is darkened with slime.

You are ticklish! Which is so cute! If I'm having a bad day my go to for cheering up is to softly stroke my nails on your bare belly and arms, poke your sides or wiggle my finger under your armpit. Most times I can get you to laugh till you can barely stand it. It always starts through your nose like you think something is kind of funny and then before you know it you are squealing and kicking your legs and twisting your body away from my fingers, but looking me in the eyes and smiling SO big.

You are getting more coordinated with your hands as well! Last month you could reach of things with both arms and most of the time bat at whatever you were reaching for. Now your little fingers open and close around items and you ALWAYS pull it to your mouth. Sometimes you get really frustrated if you can't quite reach something. I let you try for a while and hopefully start to learn how to overcome obstacles, but often times I cave and come help you reach whatever you are striving for.

You are getting too big for you bath! The water barely comes up to your belly button and your legs reach all the way across the bath. You constantly kick your legs sending water ALL over the bathroom and you gasp and chatter with excitement the whole time. You have started trying to see if you can grab the water that I pour over you. Obviously you aren't very successful but that doesn't stop you from trying nearly every time I pour water on you. Then your index finger and middle finger go right in your mouth and you suck off the moisture and go back for more with the next pour.

You are so much more talkative this month! You kind of seems very sincere when you talk to your stuffed animals. You get this furrowed brow like you are discussing important ideas and need them to take you very seriously. Then other times you just gasp and scream with excitement or continue on sounding like you say "hi" or "Ok".

We like spending time outside. If the house starts to feel small we will grab a blanket and willow and go outside in the shade of a big tree behind our house. we just sit out there. I let you put your feet and hands in the grass and we listen to the birds and the breeze. It's lovely.

You are infatuated with your toes as of late. You grab them when you are in your bouncy seat and lean forward so far that sometimes i'm afraid you are going to fall out! You also really love it when I make all the different animal noises or sing songs to you with hand motions. You really love inspecting my hands and me counting to 5 with my fingers never seems to grow old.

We have spent several days out and about in the moby wrap. You like being carried as often as possible and have really found a happy place with the baby carrier. I wish we had a better one, but I used the Moby at the Franklin Art crawl at the beginning of May and it worked out great! you chewed on the side of it and peeked out over the edge at all the art, strangers and music. Several people said you were the best art they had seen all night. Then the other day we ventured out just you and I to Barnes and Noble and I stuck you in the moby. We looked at toys and then when you got sleepy you rested your head on my chest and I swayed and read a book standing up for about 30 mins. It was sweet.

Speaking of sleep, the 7 hour night was a fluke. (ha!) You regressed back to about 2-3 hour stretches and I have been so sleepy because of it! I think it is because you are more aware of your surroundings so when you wake up it's a bit overwhelming to you. However, you do go to sleep faster nowadays. A few rocks. A few shushes and a kiss on the nose is typically all you need to calm down and doze off in the evenings. Not as much of a fight in you at that point of the day.

You started this funny thing of snapping my tank top strap, stroking down my chest methodically and throwing your leg over my shoulder when nursing. At night when you are especially happy you will suck and sigh repeatedly and grab at my nose and mouth till you drift off to sleep. It melts my heart.

You had your 4 month Dr. appointment and you were 26.5 Inches long and 16 lbs 1 oz (95th and 90th percentile respectively). Dr. Swarr said you were the perfect model of a healthy 4 month old boy! yay!

Happy four month little moose. I loveth you.

Felix - 3 Months

My Little Man,

You are 3 months old! So much is the same around here but the changes you are making that seem tiny to outside eyes are monumental! You have learned to roll over from your back to you side and you love to do this when you are in your crib playing with your stuffed animals. This morning for the very first time you rolled over from your tummy to your back! I think it was your way of getting out of tummy time (which you don't like to do) but I was still so impressed! 

Speaking of tummy time, you have gotten SO much better at it. In month 2 you could only hold your heavy little head up for max 1-2 minutes and it was just barely off the floor, now you can go 5-6 minutes and you're looking around and smiling even! In the same vein you still LOVE standing, but can do it for much longer with out tiring and have much better head control.

You are beginning to master the art of intentionally grabbing things with 2 hands. The first time I saw you do this was on a day you were especially cranky and I just sat you on my lap facing me while I was cross legged on the bed. You were eyeing the button on my shirt and very purposefully reached one little hand folded in the shape of a lobster claw up to the button grabbed it and then reached your other lobster claw up to try and get it with both hands at once. I was beaming and giving you my best high pitched "Good Job, buddy!" encouragement.  You were so proud of yourself and you looked up at me through little red eyes (from all your fussing) and gave me one of your big gummy smiles that melted my heart. It was a very special moment.

You spend most days shirtless cause I've gotten sick of changing you out of sopping wet onsies from all your drool. It's a good thing the weather is getting warmer, or you would be chilled either from wet clothes or nakedness.

A few nights ago you slept 7 hours straight! This was a big milestone! Up till this point the most you have slept is 5 hours at a time. I got 6.5 straight hours for the first time in 13 weeks and it was glorious. We've been trying some unswaddled naps but they typically only last 30 minutes because you wake yourself with flailing arms.

You adore sitting on my lap and reading books. We could do this for hours and you will stay entertained cooing and talking at each page and especially loving the soft interactive books with crinkly pages.

Your hands are balled into a little folded mess and shoved into your gummy mouth more often than not and your fingers and feet are constantly sticky and clammy and getting caught in my hair.

This past weekend at church was the first time you weren't startled by the loud drums during worship and I didn't feel the need to constantly cover your tiny ears to protect from the noise. I've also noticed that you no longer get scared when Willow barks! It used to be terrifying and daddy and I would have to pick you up and comfort you and your giant quivering lip. However, we did discover that the vacuum a new fear. (Sorry about that!)

You aren't super talkative, but when you do talk, it's so cute and I swear sometimes you say the word "Hi" and "Ok". I love it.

Bath time is still your favorite and you REALLY love the green seahorse that shows up and squirts you with water. The big mile stone with the bath is that you no longer scream and cry when taken out. You're maturing.

Oh! I discovered you are ticklish! A little poke in your side or a gentle stroke of my finger tips on your arm will have you laughing through your nose, gasping and shrieking!

I would be lying if I didn't say I prayed to God multiple times a day to keep you safe and watch over your health. But outside of that, the incense of my prayers is for God to meet you and grab your heart at an early age and for you to have a passion for the Kingdom that's contagious.

It is ridiculous how proud I am to be your mama. I know I said that last moth, but it remains true. I love you little bud bud. Happy 3 months.

Ma

Felix - 2 Months

I didn't get a chance to make one of these for Felix's one month, but I hope to be able to write my little buddy a monthly note moving forward. Here is his two month note at 2.5 months. 

Bud Bud,

I'm typing this note as you rest in the next room all swaddled in the blanket your Aunt Jo made for you. That blanket is your favorite (and my favorite, too). It is the perfect size for you right now and is covered in cute little birdie silhouettes.

The last few days have been hard for your for some reason. You have a lot of emotions and flip from happy and smiling at mommy (big beautiful gummy grins and squinty eyes) to tearful crying with the saddest pouty lip you ever did see. Sometimes it's because you have gas, sometimes you may be tired, other times I'm convinced you are overwhelmed with emotion and you aren't sure what to do with it but cry. When this happens I snuggle you and you rest your tiny fuzzy head on my shoulder or rub your face back and forth on my chest to find a good place to snuggle.

Right now our days typically start around 7:30 or 8 am. We wake up (either together snuggled in bed with you resting on my breast) or you stir in your pack and play and I pull you out for morning snuggles and chat with daddy. I then change your diaper and you eat your breakfast in the Nursery. After this is your best time of day. You are all smiles and chatter. We spend some cozy time together and then head down stairs for you to play in your bouncy seat.

You are enamored by your bouncy seat. It has two little bugs, a snail and a lady bug in blue and red, that bounce and smile at you and you smile back. You squeal and coo at your buggy friends every morning while I make coffee and eat my breakfast. By the time I'm done you are typically ready for  your morning nap. So I snuggle you in your favorite blankie and lay you down (fairly quickly most of the time).

That nap will last from 9:30/10 - 11:30/12. When you wake it's time for you to eat again. Then we will spend some time reading books (you love the book of colors and the Baby Bear, Baby Bear book) then I try and give you a bit of tummy time on your play mat down stairs. You can only lift your heavy head for about 1 minute with me cheering you on every step of the way before you get tired nom on your fist or rest your face on the mat (inevitably in the pile of drool you just left there). By 2 or 2:30 you are wiped again and it's time to nap.

Another 1.5-2 hour nap sometimes while we are out and about running errands or on a walk followed by eating, more playing. Perhaps some assisted standing practice, or stuffed animals talking and singing to you. Your favorite stuffed animals right now are your orange fish and the snuggly brown bear. You also love your colorful playmat. You recently discovered you can bat at the hanging toys and this provides hours of fun. :)

On good days you stay awake playing listening to music from my iPhone, chatting with me, etc. till about 5 and then head back down for another nap till daddy gets home.

You LOVE it when daddy gets home. All smiles and coos for him. He is one of your favorite people. I think by the end of the day you are getting a bit sick of starring at me and his big scratchy beard and ruddy cheerful face are just what the Dr. ordered.

The evenings are spent out and about for dinner and errands. You sleep through this sometimes around 7:30 - 8:30 then wake back up when we get home. You start to get fussy around this time and you know it's time for bed so at 9 or 9:30 we get a bath ready for you. Baths are your all time favorite. You adore the warm water and kick  your little legs around splashing water all over the counter all while mesmerized by the red cup I use to pour water over your tiny body. Your least favorite thing of all time is when you get out of your bath. You HATE being cold, you are no longer in the calming water and I think you realize how tired you are. A triple threat.

Screaming ensues, but daddy and I wrap you tightly in a blue owl towel and do our best to sing to you and calm you till we can dry you off and get you in warm PJs. I'm going to be so happy the day we take you out of the bath and you don't get so sad, it makes me sad to see you sad!

Once you are all comfy and warm in footed pajamas, I will swaddle you, sing to you, rock you, and walk with you to get you to fall asleep. Almost like clock work your heavy lids fall around 10 PM. and you are out.

You are getting better at sleeping, and for that, I am SO thankful. You go till 3 or 4 nearly every night and then will sometimes sleep till it's time to wake up the next morning! Other times you wake up 2 or 3 more times before it's time to get up and start all over again!

I'm so proud of you big boy. The Doctor at your 2 month appointment said you were perfect. (24.75 inches long and 13 lbs 13 oz - 95th and 93rd percentile respectively). You do so well with your cousins, aunts, uncles and all the fun visitors we have had since you've been born (G-ma, D-Pa, Nana, Grandpapa, Aunt Rebecca, Natalie, Liz, Matt, Aunt Jo, Uncle Nate, Aunt Drassy, Uncle Mike and all your cousins).

It's so exciting watching you grow and at the same time I already ache to keep you my little snuggle bug. You are so wonderful, my happy lil man. Happy 2 month.