Austin: 6 months

Happy 1/2 Birthday!

Let me pause to wipe away the tears....

Ok. I must admit I've had a hard time writing this letter. Not just because I can't believe how quickly it's all gone, but because I've been so busy taking care of you to write a letter to the future, virtual you. You've had a rough week, complete with your first late night trip to the ER What started as a cold turned into croup which turned into RSV. Which is where we are now. Unfortunately there's not much we can do for you other than run your humidifier and cuddle you. The good news, it that you are still the same happy kid and are pretty active and smiley in between the coughing fits.

The main downside to this whole sick thing has been your sleeping. We had started this month off by weaning your from your swaddling blanket and then trying to get you to sleep through the night again. However, with the illness all of the sleep training has gone out the window and I'm sure we'll have to start over again once your healthy. I'm ok with this. I'm happy to cuddle and feed you whenever you need it right now, anything to help you get better.

When we finally got you out of the swaddling blanket, I discovered yet another characteristic we have in common: we sleep the same way. You are most comfortable (and sleep the deepest) when you are on your side, with your giraffe between your arms and and one leg bent over. (picture an upside down 4 hugging a stuffed animal) It makes me smile. It's also quite handy to know just how to position you to calm you down when I need to get you back to sleep.

Though it seems a lot of this month revolved around your sleeping habits (or lack thereof), you also learned the important exciting skill of sitting up by yourself. I think this is one of my favorite baby stages; and, I love to sit on the floor with you and watch as you play with your toys. You favorite toys are the ones that either make a lot of noise (drums, singing flowers, snail) or things that you can easily grab and bang other toys to make noise (football). Then again you also love the remote, your stuffed animals and the teddy bear thingy that spins when you push the top. So, basically, you love toys. And you love to make noise. And bang on things.

Oh, such a boy you are.

You also still love to move. We bought you a walker toy for when we're outside playing with the neighborhood kids. It took you a little while to figure it out, but you've kinda figured out how to move now. It is hilarious.

Last month I wrote about out disastrous first attempt at rice cereal. Seeing as your almost six months, we tried again last week and I'm happy to report you are taking to it much better this time. In fact, you LOVE it. After a recent feeding, you got really mad for the first time. You really wanted more food, but for the sake of your sensitive tummy I wouldn't give it to you. There was a whole new kinda cry coming out of your mouth.*

Despite the rough patches this month, you've still been so much fun. This first six months has flown by, and I can't wait to see what's to come in the next six!

Love you,
Mommy

PS- At this point, I feel it is obligatory to mention your eyes are still blue. They are so blue, that they are the first thing people mention about you. Next is usually your smile.

* By the way, have I ever mentioned that when your hungry your cry sounds like MaMa? It's convenient because hearing you yell "Mmmmmaaah Maaahhh!" is a sure fire way to get me to give you whatever you want. You totally have me wrapped around your little finger.

A Sibling Moment

Before Austin was born, my Aunt Sandy gave Abby a pretty silver and purple bracelet that says "Big Sister."  It's a little big for her, so we only let her wear it around the house but she loves to pull it out and try it on from time to time.

This morning, while I was doing the breakfast dishes, Abby was entertaining Austin in his walker.  All of the sudden, she came running in the kitchen and got her bracelet.  She went over to Austin and said:

 "Austin, this is my big sister bracelet.  It is very special to me, because you are my best friend."

Austin responded by giving her a big smile, a happy yell and some jumping.

 It was a good thing I was doing dishes, because the running water masked my tears.

Rice Cereal- Round 2

We tried rice cereal with Austin a while back, but it resulted in much screaming and tummy issues. After three days, we stopped and decided to wait until he was six months. Well, that date is around the corner (HOLY CRAP! HOW IS MY KID ALMOST 6 MONTHS OLD!!!!) so we started again yesterday. Thankfully, so far, things seem to be going much better tummy wise.

However, Austin has developed an interesting eating method:

1) Open mouth for a bite of cereal.
2) Shove fist in mouth.
3) Suck on thumb.
4) Take hand out of mouth and rub spit and cereal all over head.
5) Bang said hand on the high chair tray with mouth open until Mom gives another bite.
6) Repeat.

I will spare you pictures, but trust me it is gross.

Sigh. Boys.

The Hug Signal

When Dan and I were dating, we came up with "The Hug Signal." I don't remember why or how it started but, basically, when one of us holds our arms open wide, the other is required to stop what they are doing and give the other a hug. We've used it when we we're arguing, when we're happy and Dan loves to use it when I'm happily sitting on the couch watching TV and he's all the way across the room. He thinks this is funny. Dan and I have been doing this for years, but have never mentioned it to Abby.

This morning Austin was napping and Abby was watching a movie since she's been sick this week. I was trying to use this short window of time when both kids were occupied to pick up a little. When I passed by Abby she had her arms out, but it looked like she was just dancing. (there was also some twirling going on) I continued past her to put things away. Abby then looked at me, opened her arms wide and said, "Hey!" I stopped and asked if she was giving the hug signal. She just smiled.

The Hug Signal is like the Bat Signal: you cannot ignore it. No matter how busy or mad.

So even though I had a whole lot of things to do and not a whole lot of time, I stopped. And I hugged. I pulled Abby on my lap and hugged. We stayed this way, watching Sleeping Beauty, for about 15 minutes before Austin woke up.

For 15 wonderful minutes, we just hugged. No talking, no cleaning, just hugging.

The Hug Signal has always been a big part of Dan and my relationship (my maid of honor even talked about it in her toast at our wedding) but it was really awesome to share it with Abby. Though all the craziness that life brings, she's seen her mom and dad stop what they were doing and hug, and she learned from watching.

We taught our daughter that sometimes, you just have to stop and hug. How cool is that?!?