Month Six

We made it to 6 months! It feels great! We got through those challenging first months of no sleep, round the clock feedings, total upheaval of life as we knew it. Will has become such a light in our lives and so much fun. At 6 months old Will is now...

• Sitting up, completely unsupported! This is the newest development and oh so exciting.
• Babbles, makes hand gestures (none with meaning but fun to watch nonetheless), loves to throw things on the floor and watch us pick them up, wants to touch and grab e-ve-ry-thing. He loves Tid Bit and Nalani and my mom's puppy who he sees everyday, and he loves little kids and other babies. He smiles at them all.
• Sleeps through the night! This has been a trend for a month now, so I guess that makes it no longer just a trend! Since he was born I slept in the same room with Will. He started out in our room and he and I moved into the nursery after a couple weeks. All this time I figured he needed me to be in the room with him in order to sleep. After 5 long months Bill finally convinced me to try sleeping in our room and leaving Will alone to sleep in his room. Needless to say those first few nights were sleepless for me but not for Will! It turns out me being in the room with him was actually what was keeping him awake at night! Gah! I now feel like a new woman, like a real person again, thanks to 7+ hours of uninterrupted sleep most every night. We had to go through crying it out at the beginning of his 5th month. It was the worst. Mostly for me. But CIO works. It was worth it. Naps have also greatly improved,. thanks to consistency and my mom being so great about keeping him on a rigorous schedule. We've made so much progress this past month.
• Eats solids! We started with rice cereal at 5 1/2 months, after realizing he was just so damn hungry all the time, and he gobbled it up. The kid absolutely loves to eat. He's since tried applesauce, carrots (a huge hit), and pears (maybe not so much). The list of foods is expanding every week and it's a lot of fun to watch him enjoy this new phase. And he's actually not a very messy eater. For now. He;s still a little guy, 14 lbs, 3 oz at Friday's 6 month check up, but he eats like a champ.

Those are the major changes, and it seems they're coming fast and furious now. I keep waiting for his first tooth to break. It seems like he's been teething forever and some days are hard on him. The teething toys are all too big for his little mouth so I've found the teething tablets seem to work best right now. But otherwise he's such a happy, content baby. Every where we go people stop us to comment on how cute he is, how observant he is, and good-natured. It makes a momma proud. 

The first 6 months have really flown; they're sort of a blur really. I'm glad I write this blog so that I remember it all for years to come. But I will say it's easier now. Bill and I would ask each other over and over, when does this get easier? I think the answer is around 6 months. For us, anyway. These past 6 months I've felt like I lived in a bubble. I have an incredible husband, wonderful family and supportive friends, and of course this little cherub of a baby, but the baby blues lingered after the newborn stage. I'm just now feeling more like myself again (thanks to sleep, I'm sure), and less like a drone. I've been able to start letting go of feelings like I'm constantly being judged by others around me (with the exception of Bill, our family, and a few close, wonderful friends). I've embraced this new life, both my own and the one that was given to me, and it finally feels natural. It feels incredible, really. I think I fall more in love with Will, more in love with Bill as a daddy, more in love with God for blessing me with this life, each passing day. There's nothing else in this world that could give me that. There's nothing else that could give me these experiences, these tales and memories I will carry with me all the rest of my life. When Will reaches for me, when I see him search for me in a crowded room, when he "hugs" me, smiles at me, I know he trusts me and loves me. To say it warms my heart is an understatement. It goes so much deeper than that, to depths I don't think I have words for.

Will's 6 months photos, taken in Port Huron, the very spot Bill and I used to sit under the stars together as teenagers and talk and dream about what life would be like one day when we could be together. We fell in love there and here we are with our son, all these years later. If I didn't live to see another day I would look back and see how beautiful, how blessed, this life is and the people in it that God made just for me, and me for them.

  

First Family Trip

July was an eventful month! We spent the 4th with my mom and Dan at their lake house. It was wonderful. I love being with them b/c I can just be myself and relax. And their lake house setting is perfect for relaxation. Will loved being there and he went on his first boat ride!

We traveled to Michigan to have Will baptized. It was something I wanted to do before he was born, have him baptized in the church Bill grew up in. I knew it would be special for Bill and for his family. It would also be the perfect opportunity to introduce Will to all our family in Michigan. We named Carolyn and Chris god parents and shared a cottage rental with them and the kids. It was so much fun! We had never spent that much time together, just our two families, and I hope to do it again soon, and more often. We all get along so great, Will absolutely loves my nieces, and the girls are just a delight to be around. It was wonderful for me to be back in Michigan. I hadn't been in 4 long years but it was like I'd never left. I got to see a friend I met up there when I was a teenager that I hadn't seen in close to 10 years; Bill got to see friends from HS he hadn't seen in 10 years. It was a lot of fun to see Bill's family and get caught up with them. It definitely will not be 4 years before I am back again! They of course were delighted to finally get to meet Will and he lapped up all the attention. He really missed them after we left, I know. Traveling with an infant is no small feat but we did it and it was totally worth the effort!

With Grandma Thrash

Great Uncle Bruce and Great Aunt Kathy

Beautiful Michigan

Roger & Christine, Bill's friends from HS

Will's cousin Breonna

Absolutely fascinated with the water

Cousins Breonna and baby Nathan

Grandma and the cousins

Feet in the sand

Will wore a christening gown that's 94 years old, I believe. My grandma was christened in it, her brothers, all of my grandma's kids, her grandkids, and her great grandkids, have all been christened in it. The church is the church Bill was baptized in, his sister and sister's kids, his mother and her siblings and his grandma. 

God parents

Grandma & Grandpa Thrash

Guppy and Grandma

Oldenburg Family

Hogan Family

Thrash Family

Great Grandma Thrash

Big Boy!