6 Months

We've made it to the 6 month mark! This is definitely when we start to really love the baby stage! Joel is such a wonderful baby and we've definitely been blessed to have him in our lives for half a year. He is such a mellow baby and just goes with the flow. He is content anywhere and many times he's so easy going that we forget he's even around. He rarely fusses and just keeps himself entertained no matter where he is.

EATING: Joel is just about completely weaned from breastfeeding and takes formula at 3 out of his 4 feedings. He's at the point where his 4 feedings are about 4 hours apart, but with quite a bit of flexibility. We can pretty much go about our day and get out a bit more without worrying about working around his feeding schedule. He's eating oatmeal mixed with yogurt in the morning, fruit at lunch, and veggies at dinner. About halfway through the month, he seemed to get much more interested in baby food and now he really loves to eat. He's also enjoying eating puffs. He can pick them up by himself, but can't quite figure out how to get them into his mouth, so we usually feed them to him.

SLEEPING: We are finally at a point where we like Joel's sleeping schedule!!! He sleeps a solid 12+ hours at night and takes two naps a little after 9 and 1. Both naps are about 2 hours each and it's been nice to have them much more consistent over the past couple of weeks. He's wonderful at soothing himself to sleep because he's become a huge thumb sucker. We enjoy not having to worry about his paci falling out, but worry about how we'll break the thumb sucking habit in the future. 

MILESTONES: Joel is still a huge mover. He can't quite crawl, but gets all over the place by rolling. He's lived up to his nickname of "Roly Poly Joely" and amazes us with how quickly he's gets where he wants to go just by rolling. He's also gotten very good at sitting up and he seems to enjoy the new perspective. Other than that, not much is new. The doctor is very pleased with his developmental skills and even said he thinks he's advanced with how much he moves...maybe we have a future athlete on our hands! He might, however, have to pack on some extra pounds if he chooses football like Daddy wants.....Joel is quite the peanut and is only in the 30th percentile for weight (he weighs 15 pounds 14 ounces). He is, however, quite tall and falls somewhere over the 80th percentile for height (at 27 inches tall).