Amos's Six-Month Check-Up

Age of Baby: 6 months

Size of Baby:

• Weight: 14 lbs 13 oz (down to the 8th percentile), +10 oz from last month
• Length: 26.75 inches (up to the 63rd percentile), +1.25 inches from last month
• Head circumference: 17 inches (down to the 34th percentile), +0.5 inches from his 4-month appt
• Height-to-Weight ratio: down to the 3rd percentile

Amos fits pretty well in a size 2 diaper and is still currently wearing 3-6 month clothes. With the big jump in length this past month, it's easy to see why none of his 0-3 month clothes fit anymore! He is starting to wear some 6-9 month clothes, and he wears a size 2 shoe.

Vaccinations:

• DTaP (diptheria, tetanus, pertussis)
• Hib
• Hepatitis B
• PCV13
• Polio
• Rotavirus
• Influenza

Doctor's Visit Summary:

Amos's visit went very well today. He is still right on par developmentally. His weight is still going down a bit on the curve, but his doctor wasn't concerned. He still looks very healthy visually. He has continued to take his Nexium once a day, but we're going to try to wean off of it now to see if he does ok without it. We'll go back in a month for an influenza booster shot, then again another two months after that for his 9-month check-up.

Picture of Baby:

Here is Amos's 6-month picture in the 12-month onesie. You can't tell in this picture, but his eyes are starting to turn brown! His hair is starting to come in, though he still looks pretty much like a baldy, like his Daddy. ;) But, the hair that is coming in is much darker than what Ethan's and Noah's was at this age. They both had white blond hair, and Amos's is either very dark blonde, or light brown!

Here is a comparison of all three of the boys at six months, just for fun. Ethan and Noah were still significantly bigger at this point (Ethan was 27.75 inches long and weighed 16 lbs 6 oz and Noah was 27 inches long and weighed a whopping 17 lbs 1 oz). I see both boys in him now. He's so expressive like his biggest brother Ethan, but a lot of his facial features still resemble Noah's pretty closely. He is always smiling, and we've decided is probably the happiest baby of the three!

Ethan, Noah, and Amos (each at 6 months)

Accomplishments this Month:

• Rolling over from back to tummy all the time
• Pushing himself up on his hands, tummy off the ground
• Recognizes and responds to his name
• Big, hearty laughs
• Took his first antibiotic :(

Shortly after passing the 5-month mark, Amos really figured out the rolling thing and you can't stop him now! You can actually see his little eyes spot something across the room, and he'll just start rolling over and over to get to it - all the way across the room in a matter of seconds!! Haha! So, I really need to be careful where I lay him down now!

He loves music like his big brother, Noah!

He has also started pushing his upper body up off the ground, on his hands. He has started to kind of scoot his body forward a little bit, so it probably won't be long before he can do that pretty quickly, then on to crawling! Yikes! He doesn't quite have the balance to sit up yet, but I don't think it will be long. He will sit up pretty well (in a bit of a reclined position) in both his highchair and in his stroller now, too! :)

He now recognizes his name and will acknowledge me if I call him by it while he is playing on the floor. He still really loves attention, especially if it's from his big brothers. He could (and normally does) watch them all day long and just laughs and laughs at them!

Sadly, Amos has had his first antibiotic now (amoxicillin). He had been really stuffy for a several weeks and really sounded like he was having trouble breathing. When he woke up one morning and his one eye was crusty and he started in with a runny nose, too, I decided to take him to the doctor to see what could be up. He thought that he probably managed to get a sinus infection from the cold hanging around so long, so he thought a round of antibiotics would help get him cleared up. He just finished it up and he does appear to sound much better than he did, but not completely 100% yet. Hopefully it'll work itself out soon!

New Foods tried this Month:

Getting his first taste of rice cereal!

• Rice cereal (February 5th)
• Sweet peas (February 17th)
• Squash (March 4th)

On the day he turned 5 months old, we let him try rice cereal (his first solid food) for the first time. He loved it! It probably helped that it was mixed with a large proportion of breastmilk. ;) We ended up giving him 2 bowls the 2nd night because he wanted more! Unfortunately, the following week, we noticed a large dry patch of skin on his forehead. Aquaphor helped some, but wasn't completely getting rid of it. My chiropractor thinks it was a reaction to the cereal. So, we decided to stop the cereal and try sweet peas instead. The patch went away, and he loved the peas, too! At this point, we're opting to skip the cereal for now, and just try veggies, then fruits. Noah never really ate cereal either, so I figure it isn't a big deal at this point. For his next food, we tried squash last week. This one was also a hit! I made the sweet peas in my Baby Brezza machine, but roasted the squash (we had it for dinner, and he got the rest!) and put it through the food mill to be sure it was nice and smooth for him. I love the Brezza because I can just throw the peas in, set the timer and that's it! It steams the veggies first, then blends/purées them when it's done. So easy! I would do the same for the squash, but I think the flavor of the squash is better when roasted instead of steamed, so that's why I did it differently. I'm going to continue with carrots, then green beans, then probably move to some fruits. Right now, he's eating his veggies at dinner, but when I add fruit, I'll probably give those at breakfast, and continue a veggie for dinner. I loved making Noah's baby food for him, and so far, I'm loving making Amos's, too! :) I've also continued to nurse him every 2-4 hours during the day for 10-20 minutes.

Beautiful boy catching a cat nap while we're out!

Amos has had a much better month for sleeping. He is averaging around 13-14 hours of sleep a day (10-11 hours at night, including a record 11.5-hr stretch!, and 3 hours during the day). He normally goes to bed around 9:30 or 10 pm, then sleeps straight through until around 8 am. Oddly, he has given up a normal morning nap now, but is still taking a nice long afternoon nap. He usually ends up falling asleep in the car when we're out shuttling the big boys to and fro, or running errands, so then he doesn't want to sleep when we get home. But, I'm normally able to get him down around 3 or 3:30 pm, then he usually sleeps for 3 hours. So, it gives me a nice break in the afternoons, especially if both Ethan and Noah are still sleeping, too! :)

It's been a good month and we're excited to see what he'll be up to this next month!