Nathan: Six Months

My sweet little Bubba,

It is here, you are now half a year old! I have no idea where time went, but I am not ready. You are growing up right before our eyes, and I still picture you as a small newborn baby. While time moved quickly when Kaitlyn was small, time seems to be moving at lighting pace nowadays, and I struggle to remember and absorb everything. This month in particular has been especially challenging with my work schedule and having fewer days off, so bare with me for this monthly update.

Handsome Boy!, May



Playing with Katie at Aunt NoNee's, May

Your personality continues to bloom this month; you are interacting so much more with not only daddy and me but with Uncle Jon, Grandma, Grandpa and your other loved ones. You are such a happy and laid back baby… for the most part. I think I have it easier than everyone else because I am your food source and able to calm you down quickly in ways that others are not able to. When you are hungry, over stimulated/tired, or too hot you get so upset and worked up. You thrash your feet and arch your back and scream bloody murder. You have such a loud cry! I am blaming these fits on your father, who also becomes unpleasant when he is hot, tired or hungry. Ha-ha! But for the most part, you are very happy and pleasant. You smile at everyone and have the most beautiful eyes. You wake up in such a good mood every morning, albeit at 5 or 6am. You will still go with other people easily, even strangers, but this month you started reaching for me when I stand next to you. The first time you did that at Aunt Tara’s shower scared her as we were not expecting you to do that.

New Shades Daddy and Grandma found, May

First Time in a High Chair, May 12th

I have a feeling you are going to be on the go here very, very shortly! You learned to sit in the tripod position (a seven month skill) as of May 24th. You even tried to get your knees up underneath you to scoot in the last few days, and daddy says that you have been scooting backwards today! You are also becoming quite the problem solver. When we were at Aunt Tara and Uncle Kevin’s house, you tried to reach for your toy but couldn’t quite reach it. Instead of giving up or crying, you were able to pull the blanket you were lying on towards you to get the toy (also a 7 month skill)! It is so neat to see you learning new things!

First Bath with Katie Bug, May 16th

Having lunch with Mommy and Uncle Jon at Jim's, May 22nd

You said your first word on May 1st (8 month skill). Uncle Jon was having lunch with Katie and I at Jim’s and you were hungry and wanted to be held. He was trying to get you out of your car seat and his coffee spilled. He grabbed you quickly to rescue you from the coffee and while he was holding you, you said “Ma Ma!” You are a little bit of a mamma’s boy, if you haven’t deducted that, and it makes me so happy!

Nathan at HEB, May 23rd

Katie and Nathan grocery shopping

I started to work out at Gold’s this month, and you and Katie have been going to the daycare there for an hour at a time when I work out. While Katie has had a difficult time adjusting to having new care givers, you have done just fine. Most of the time, you sleep happily in the bouncer the entire time I am gone!

Katie pushing Nathan in the swing, May 23rd

Hanging out at Aunt NoNee's, May 24th

We went to SeaWorld this past weekend to see the fireworks for Memorial Day. I was so proud of you! Even though it was your first time seeing them, you were not scared of the fireworks at all! You just stared at the sky in amazement and played with Katie's light up dolphin necklace.

Watching the fireworks at Sea World, May 26th

Places we have visited/things we have done this month:
Duck Pond, May 2nd
Gold’s Gym, Bandera Pointe Daycare, May 7th
Portland, Texas for Aunt Tara’s Shower to Reveal Baby Lepler’s sex, May 12th
Raymon Rimkus Park, May 23rd
Uncle Jason and Aunt Melissa’s House for Charlie’s First Birthday Party, May 26th
Mamaw and Papaw's house
Aunt NoNee's House
Swim Classes for Katie
Mommy's work
SeaWorld
Restaurants
Shopping

Shoulder Ride from Pawpaw, May 26th

Your Clothing/Eating and Sleeping Habits:
Clothing: 3-6 months, just barely!
Diapers: size 2 disposables and "small" cloth diapers
Sleeping: from 9:30-10pm to 4:30-5:30am. You nurse back to sleep and wake back up shortly before 7am to play for the day. You usually take three naps a day of various lengths, usually an hour or two.
Eating: 6-8 times/day. You are still indecisive about bottles. I think you hold out for nursing some days! I have started making your bottles 5 oz, and you have two bottles when I work an 8 hour day and three when I work a 12 hour day. Very rarely will you take another 4 oz bottle in addition to the others. When I am home, you nurse 6 or 7 times a day. This past week, you have been nursing sometimes 9-10 times a day! I think you may be having another growth spurt.

Celebrating Charlize's First Birthday, May 26th

Weight: TBD at your appointment this week
Height: TBD at your appointment this week

We love you so much, Nathan! It is hard to remember life without you here; you make our family complete! You are such a blessing, and I am so grateful that Jesus gave you to us. Please know that no matter how crazy life gets or how busy we may seem, I will always love you to the moon and back and I am constantly thinking of you and wondering what you are doing.

Love,
Mommy

Kaitlyn Can Stand!!!

Eating Solids, It's been an adventure

I am sure most of you will have a hard time believing this, but our daughter is pretty stubborn. Feeding her has become quite the challenge and usually involves lots of silly faces and entertaining her enough until she opens her mouth and we can get some food in.

Happy Fourth of July

I am late in posting this, so I am just going to show you our weekend in pictures. We celebrated at the Hyatt Hill Country with my family and had such a great time!

Katie is ready to celebrate!

Daddy and Katie ready to hit the pool

Katie and Daddy getting in the water

Floating the river with Mommy

Hi Mom and Dad!!!

Paul and I

Napping by the pool with Grandma!

Mom and Papa

Paul, Katie and Me

Paul and our godson, Andrew

Grandpa and Katie waiting on the Fireworks

All tuckered out!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Fourth of July!

Kaitlyn's First Haircut

Today, my mom needed to get her hair cut, and we thought we would ask Miss Janet if she would be able to trim Katie's hair while we were there. It's about four inches long already and her "bangs" are in her eyes. She doesn't really have a "hairstyle" at this point as her hair is long in patches and growing back in others. She has very long bangs though, and a couple of "wisps" of long hair in the back.

Janet was able to trim up her bangs and "soften" the wisps in the back. Katie did fairly well. She didn't quite know what Janet was up to, but she enjoyed playing with Janet's necklace and she certainly liked all the attention! :o) She looks so cute!!!

Before

Playing with a comb

Playing with the sparkly necklace

Katie with Miss Janet!

Pretty Half Birthday Girl!

Kaitlyn: Month Six

My Precious Baby Girl,

I didn't know that it was possible to love you anymore than I already do, but each morning when you wake up and I look into your pretty brown eyes, I fall more and more in love with you. I can't believe that you have already been with us for half a year. It seemed like it took forever for you to finally make your appearance, and these last six months have just flown by. We are so amazed and captivated by you and all the things that you are learning to do.

You are bursting at the seams with personality. You are learning new things all the time, and you love to repeat your new tricks over and over. :o) This month, you have learned the fine art of "shrieking" your happiness. You have learned how to stick your tongue way out and spit everywhere. You now know that you can change the octave of your voice in a variety of ways and you know that you make a "uh uh uh uh uh" noise when moaning/crying/"talking" while someone pats your back. Sometimes you like to "help" make the pitch change in your voice. You are too cute!

You are definitely recognizing the people in your life, and it is so rewarding to come home from a long day at work and see your beautiful face light up with a smile for mommy. (or daddy, grandma, grandpa, uncle Jon, etc.)

You are so mobile these days. I thought for sure you would be crawling by six months, but you are almost there. You can get yourself on all fours and you rock back and forth, but you have yet to start moving your knees forward. You are getting really good at pushing yourself backwards though. :o) You love to roll, and no one can trust you to stay put anywhere these days. In fact, it is incredible difficult to change you as you try to roll off the changing table as soon as we put you down. You roll from your back to your stomach, push yourself up on all fours, sit down in the tripod sit and topple onto you back. Wash, rinse, repeat. You are very happy doing this for 15-30 minutes at a time!

You are still a fabulous sleeper and snuggler. We are definitely blessed in this department. You sleep about 12 hours at night now. You go to bed around 9:30 to 10:30 and sleep anywhere from 7:00 to 08:30. Usually you wake up, eat some more and then sleep for another 2-3 hours. Naps are another story....sometimes you take 2-3 2 hour naps, and sometimes you hardly nap at all. Those latter days are a lot harder for everyone because you are sooo tired!

You are meeting your milestones very well, too. You roll in both directions, turn towards sounds and voices, you try to imitate our sounds (and faces), you sit without support momentarily, you mouth objects (and hands, clothes, chins, noses, etc), you try to lunge forward but no "official" crawling yet, and you drag objects towards yourself.

You are drinking anywhere from 20 to 27 oz this month, with an average of 24 oz a day. You usually eat 6 bottles of 4 oz, but occasionally, you will take more at a time. Mommy finally started packing up your 3-6 month clothes today. I think that you are going to need to start wearing your 6-12 month clothes more. Your dresses are looking like shirts with bloomers and your pants are getting tighter on the waist and looking like capri's or daisy dukes for your shorts. Daddy says those are a "no-no."

You are definitely becoming quite the big girl, Katie Bug! We are so blessed that we have you in our lives. I cannot image my life without you in it. You are our sunshine, baby girl, and we love you so very, very much.

Happy Half Year Birthday, Lovebug!

Love,

Mommy