You are 6 months old and I can't even believe it. Time is going by so fast. Here is what you are up to this month.
I feel like this calm, chill face is a very typical Otto face.
Happy 6 months sweet boy! We celebrated your half birthday with cupcakes for us and fruit for you and your grandparents were there which was fun. They can't wait to see you and hold you but we are thankful they've been so careful this year so they can hopefully see you soon!
You weighed 7.53 kgs (16 lbs 9.6 oz) which is in the 27th percentile. Linnea weighed 13 lbs 5 oz at 6 months and Stella weighed 14 lbs 6 oz so you are definitely the chunkiest 6 month old I've ever had. You were 66.8 cm (26.2 inches) long which is the 27th percentile. I think your length has stalled out a bit or we mismeasured you in the past because you used to be closer to40-60 percentile for height but maybe this is why your arms are so chubby. Your head is 43.8 cm which is in the 58th percentile.
You finally tried baby food this month. You weren't a huge fan of it but you are slowly warming up to eating something that isn't straight from me. You've tried sweet potatoes (the first food for all of our babies), avocado, carrots, peas, green beans.
You are also being very finicky about bottles. You used to take a bottle no problem. Then we didn't give you one for two months and now you won't have anything to do with one. We tried a new bottle recently and it worked the first try but then it didn't the next several days. You don't really need to take a bottle right now but a bottle means freedom for me so it feels very trapping that you don't take one. The good news is you are happy missing a feeding as long as we aren't trying to get you to drink a bottle so it could be worse.
You know that you nurse on both sides. If for some reason I have to put you down after one side before the second side the look of disappointment and betrayal on your face is so sad.
Sleeping
Overall you are doing really well as far as sleep goes. Your morning nap is probably your best from 9-1030. Thankfully your afternoon nap is also going well from 1245/13-15/1530. Towards your 6 month birthday, you started skipping your evening nap. I'd lay you down but you'd just play instead of sleep. After checking your sisters' 6 month blog posts I realized they also gave up naps around 6 months so I stopped laying you down for an evening nap unless you had a short afternoon nap.
You fall asleep almost daily at your bonus 1230 feed. I am going to most likely cry when we give up this feed. I look forward to this every single day.
One thing that is VERY different with your sleep and your sisters is that when you wake up in the middle of the night or even in the evening before we go to bed instead of trying to rock you back to sleep (which makes you so dang mad) we take you out of your room and walk you around the apartment. It seems like you do best waking up a bit and calming down and then we will try laying you down awake again.
We've never had a thumb sucker. You only do it when falling asleep but you don't have to have it to fall asleep every time. Just most of the time.
This seems to be a favorite position in your crib recently. It is a good neck stretch which is nice :).
You can fall asleep in the stroller on a walk even when I don't want you too which is good and bad.
You are wearing size 68 tops and 62/68 bottoms with 6 and 9 month pajamas. We switched to Pampers diapers this month after SEVERAL blowouts. Overall it seems better but baby food also helped the situation.
Rocking the pink.
You are still rocking tummy time and spend most of your awake time doing that. I've been trying to get you to play with your feet so you'll roll from back to belly but you aren't all that interested in that. You'll show some interest if you aren't wearing pants.
A few of the other babies in our Stroller Gang group could sit up at 6 months and if I'm being honest, I hadn't even thought about trying to set you up until I saw them sitting independently. Sorry buddy but we've got a lot going on sometimes and I just kind of didn't think about it. We've tried it a few times but with your tight neck you still lean to the side which makes sitting harder to do.
We've been working on stretching your neck.
Our days are very routine which I enjoy for the most part but our days can also feel very mundane. I did start taking an online Swedish class Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It is offered for free for parents on parental leave. It has been really great. I've wanted to improve my Swedish for a while but it is hard to find time to do that while working and taking care of kids so this was the perfect opportunity plus I had another friend in class with me.
Overall you are very happy and super chill, maybe a little too chill at times. You have almost no desire to roll or move much because you have so much entertainment why would you work for it. I'm thankful for a chill 3rd kid vs a high-needs baby.
Activities and Outings
We've still been hanging out with our stroller gang group whenever we can and are healthy.
Overall my mental health is doing pretty well. I had my last counseling appointment (she quit me because I guess she thought I was doing okay). I've been trying to run and workout regularly which definitely helps.
One of the coldest runs of my life, -12C but man I was proud of myself after this run.
We had LOTS of great snow this winter that stuck around for a while which was so nice.
Very drippy, dirty outside clothes.
Jake on the frozen lake looking at our favorite metro bridge.
We've still been hanging out with our stroller gang group whenever we can and are healthy.
We spent a lot of time on the frozen lake so that Linnea could practice ice skating.
Getting better at ice skating.
We celebrated Valentine's Day this year by giving our neighbors a 'heart attack' by decorating their door with hearts. Linnea worked so hard on these decorations.
We went to Johan and Chelsea's for a game night which was fun. You did a pretty good job going to sleep there and a great job going back to sleep once we got home. You did have a bit of a hard time while we were at Johan and Chelsea's house. If I left you, even with your dad you would freak out and cry. I think since you only spend time at our apartment you got scared of being somewhere new.
We celebrated Stella's birthday with Johan and Chelsea during our game night which was fun.
Firsts, Lasts and New Skills
Rolling from your back to your belly kind of happened this month but it is the slowest roller ever if you are on the floor. You can rollover in your crib pretty easily probably with the help of the bars.
It is funny because you'd think I wouldn't compare you to others your age but I do. Two other kids in the stroller gang who are almost your age are sitting up and rolling over. They are also the first baby in their family so they get all of the attention and you get all of the entertainment.
I added Lasts to this section because I'm realizing that you will be doing lots of lasts since we aren't planning on having any more babies. So this month you are getting close to being done with your bassinet on your stroller which makes me sad because that means the new baby stage is really ending.
Sister & Brother Moments
Your big sister Linnea loves talking to you, reading to you, hugging you, touching you and playing with you. Stella thinks it is hilarious when you touch her or hold her hand.
Linnea New Skills
Linnea is still working on learning how to read. It is hard to find a time to do it without Stella around but we're trying to make it work. She is also learning how to play the piano.
She still loves putting together legos which we often do after Stella is in bed to give Linnea some one-on-one time.
One afternoon Jake was on the lake with Linnea while Stella, Otto and I went back home. While they were out there they found a dad and daughter fishing and Linnea caught a fish through the ice.
Stella New Skills
Stella turned 3 this month. She is a hilarious three-year-old with very expressive eyebrows, strong opinions on what she wants to do, where things go and how things should be. I wonder who she gets that from 😉. Her last night as a two year old.
Linnea went to a preschool classmate's birthday. We learned that she needs a little practice with self-control. She ate too much candy and had a stomachache and she also painted her face as you can see below.
Whose feet are these?
Linnea has been falling asleep while sitting up in her loft. Crazy girl.
Stella New Skills
Stella turned 3 this month. She is a hilarious three-year-old with very expressive eyebrows, strong opinions on what she wants to do, where things go and how things should be. I wonder who she gets that from 😉. Her last night as a two year old.
She tends to be shy with new people but also very silly once she feels comfortable. She hasn't met a sensory bin/activity she doesn't love. She'll play with oobleck, kinetic sand, colored water for over an hour and still not be ready to put it away. Blue is her favorite color. She loves Daniel Tiger.
She very rarely naps but still needs it about once per week. Sometimes she has a hard time using words to share her frustrations and she just screams. She's getting better at taking a deep breath and telling us what she needs.
One of her birthday gifts was a picture of her Otto from the same newborn photographer who took all of our kids pictures. She loves it.
Jake had an idea to make a curtain for the area below the loft as a little house for Stella. So my mom made this from scratch and it turned out so neat.
Stella wanted to sleep in her house and she did several times.
We had our neighbors and preschool classmates come over for a small birthday party for Stella. It was so fun.
We had Stella's parent-teacher conference and they said that she has good communication with her peer and teachers. She can speak in long sentences in Swedish and can put words to her feelings and thoughts. Shel ikes fairy tales to make up her own stories. They don't see big tantrums from her at school which kind of surprised us but we're glad that she doesn't.
We've been going to the doctor and the ENT to get her ears checked because she complains about noises hurting her ears and also has balance issues. It is actually more like she falls over often when she is running inside.
Stella Funnies/Quotes
Linnea summed up what it is like to live with Stella. "Mommy, Stella is making a noise and I'm making the same noise but Stella says it's hurting her ears but she's also doing it so I don't understand. I'm confused about that." Yep. Pretty much.
Stella went to the dentist for her 3-year check-up.
We also had her ears checked in one of these white tents behind the doctor's office just in case she had covid (she didn't).
Linnea summed up what it is like to live with Stella. "Mommy, Stella is making a noise and I'm making the same noise but Stella says it's hurting her ears but she's also doing it so I don't understand. I'm confused about that." Yep. Pretty much.
She often comes out of her room during quiet time and says "It need . . . something' and then looks around the room until she can find something to take back to her room.
Stella set up this trolley ride for our family. She loves having us go on trolley rides and pretending we are going to Denmark.
Remember
It is so easy to just love on you, hold you, feed you, etc. Our baby days are disappearing and I hate it. There is a part of me that would be totally content having a 6-8 month old indefinitely especially when they sleep all night long. I'm just trying to soak up this maternity leave while I still can.
Love,
Your Mama
