Happy 1/2 birthday, Nicholas!

Today, Nicholas turns 6 months! Where did the time go? My little guy is a busy little guy. He's pushing himself up really far on his hands and trying to get onto those knees. The other day he got onto his feet and did a little pushup and moved himself over a few inches. He has no problem with letting you know when he's displeased about not being held. This little guy LOVES to be held. This morning, I had to leave so I put him into his crib and said goodbye while Jon was finishing up his shower. Well, he cried out that I was going to leave him - on his 6 month birthday too! Rude!

Ella goes between calling him "baby dude" or "baby guy" (I will call him my little dude or my little guy). She loves to tickle him and most of the time he'll tolerate it. Benjamin will say "Nickas" sometimes, but will also just call him baby or mommy's baby. He isn't as affectionate toward Nicholas as Ella is, but I think Ella just wants to be the little mommy. She had a tight grip on her baby doll last night as we put her to bed.

Nicholas has said things that sound like "ma" (and once, he reached toward me as he said it) and he will imitate certain sounds too - sort of like a cooing gurgling sound. He will get very excited when he knows he's going to be picked up. He likes to kick out his legs and arms to show that excitement.

Tonight, we'll start him on solids so be sure to check my flickr page for pics of that messy fun! I'm excited for this to happen. He'll still get breast milk for as long as I can make it (I'd like to give him breast milk until he turns a year, but my supply is dwindling so we'll see if that happens - considering trying a herb to help produce more).

Tomorrow, we take him to his 6 month checkup so stats to be posted as soon as I have time to do so. :-D

Happy 1/2 birthday, my handsome little dude. Mommy loves you so very, very much. And so do your siblings (human and feline) and your papa. I look forward to our next 6 months together as you learn to crawl, walk and talk. May your teething go smoothly.

Baby Guy

Some other things going on are:

Nicholas - will grab at his car seat toy with his feet and his hands and play with it. It's quite cute. He's also saying a sound that sounds like "hi" and "ma". I'm choosing to believe he's saying those things and knows what they mean. :-D

oh, and speaking of the Heather Armstrong book - she also said that her daughter used to scratch at the sheet on the bed to let her know when she was awake - Nicholas does that too. I kinda wish he would stop - that really isn't a pleasant sound. She also talked about having to put her baby under general anesthesia for a MRI - we have to put Nicholas under general too when he has his circumcision done when he's 9 months old. We have to wait until this age due to a minor issue. Anyway, I'm not looking forward to it. I don't want to see him knocked out like that at only 9 months old (well, anytime really).

Ella - Will call Nicholas "baby guy" - I'm certain she got this from me saying "Hi my little guy!" and well, I guess she likes baby guy better than little guy. She just loves to play with Nicholas. She also likes to play with Benjamin and I will find them cracking each other up over various things. Tonight, it was walking with crouching position (Ella started this because she dumped water on herself on the way home from a party).It's cute now that Ella will say her own name and Ben's name. This morning, Benjamin was wrestling with Ella and Ella said "Ben, no. Stop Ben." Cuteness. I love hearing them say each other's names and their own!

Benjamin - tonight, while Ella was screaming because she dumped water all over herself in the car, I told her to calm down and that we'd be home soon. Well, then Benjamin decided he would also tell Ella to calm down ("Ella, calm down. Ella! Calm down!" - Ha!). Benjamin is repeating A LOT of what we say. A LOT. Jon told me last night, he said "dammit" and well, guess who repeated that? I can't remember why Jon said that, but he did.

DELICIOUS!

I'm reading "I Screamed and Then I Cried" by Heather Armstrong. In the book, she was talking about her daughter just loving her hands and sucking on them like they were the best things in the whole world and if she went to get her daughter changed, she wouldn't like that too much then she would be super excited when the hands could make a come back. Well, I bring this up, because that is Nicholas. He LOVES his hands. He can't stand to be separated from them. He will double thumb it sometimes or stuff his whole hand into his mouth. They are just that delicious.

Speaking of delicious, we went blueberry picking this morning. We told the twins to put the blueberries in the bucket and while they did that sometimes, most of the time, they just would pick them and stuff them into their mouths. Delicious! We wondered if we should have weighed Ben & Ella before and after to make sure the farm got what they deserved to be paid. Benjamin also liked picking up the sawdust or beauty bark or whatever it was and squishing it together in his hands. Super awesome! Then he would rub whatever was left on his hands onto his shirt. I believe he also shared with Ella the joy of the sawdust.

After blueberry picking, we went to lunch then off to meet my aunt before they went to a Mariner's game. My aunt drove over with her grandson (14) and her friend and her friend's granddaughter (also 14). They're from Spokane. We may or may not see them tomorrow as well before they head back. It was nice to see one of my relatives over on my side of the state!

After that, we went to a friend's surprise birthday party. We didn't stay too long though because with all of this, the kids were getting a bit cranky (and well, the parents were getting a bit tired as well).

Children & Books & Breastfeeding

Right now, I'm going through my old posts to see what Ben & Ella were doing when they were 6 months and up as I haven't filled in the baby book in quite some time. It's interesting to compare with Nicholas. He's been flipping over on his belly from his back for a while now and it seems Ben & Ella took a bit longer - maybe because they were born early.

Anyway, I noticed that I used to blog all the time with Ben & Ella and what they were up to, but lately, I've been bad about it and since I may need this information later when I'm filling out baby books for them and for Nicholas, I probably should try to write more just for that reason if no other.

So here's another update on my kids:

Nicholas - gets very excited when he sees someone he likes. He flaps his arms and kicks his legs, much like I remember Benjamin doing. He likes to say things, but he seems like he's more into moving forward on physical stuff than talking (kind of like Ella). This morning, though, it really sounded like he was saying mama. I wished Jon was around to see if it sounded like that to him.

Nicholas can flip over both ways, but does it more from back to belly and I'll find him sleeping on his belly these days. It's probably alright, but I still feel the need to flip him back over. I guess I'm paranoid after a coworker's friend lost her 3 month old most likely due to SIDS. He gets onto his knees sometimes, but not too often. He LOVES to be held and stand while someone holds him. I'm starting to work on him sitting up on his own. I put him down the other day and he just sort fell forward (not really fell, but moved, I guess).

Benjamin & Ella - picking up so many new words each day that I can't even keep track anymore. Both of them have said garage. Benjamin told us the other day what sound Jon's coffee maker makes. He can say everyone's names though he laughs when you ask him to say his own name. Ella said her own name for the first time yesterday (at least, it was the first time I heard her say it). Their bedtime is still a bit of party time, but lately, they've liked being on our bed for a while. This seems to calm them down enough to bring them to their own beds to go to bed. They also like to come on our bed and do a bit of wrestling - one will be lying down on the bed and the other one will do a body slam - they think this is hilarious - I do not since most of the time, I'm on the bed with Nicholas nursing him. Though I can't help but smile when they crack each other up so much. Last night, they were also putting their heads together and finding that fun. I wondered if they found that fun since in the womb they had their heads together?

The daycare told me the other day that Benjamin knows his colors (which I knew) and his shapes (which I didn't). I wonder what other stuff he does that I don't know about. Same with Ella and Nicholas. It's hard being a working mom sometimes...a lot, actually.

Speaking of, I'm reading this book now called "The Other Mother" by Gwendolen Gross. It's an o.k. book so far, but the author (so far) makes it seem like she agrees with the SAHM character that working moms are horrible and why would they leave their children like that? The working mom character is feeling all guilty for leaving her kid (as I do), but unlike myself, it seems she doesn't have to work, she chooses to. One of the characters said in the book, why have kids if you can't afford them or take care of them or something along those lines? All I can say to that right now is ugh! Anyway, I'll see how the rest of the book turns out. I still have another 100 pages or so to go.

And on a final topic - breastfeeding. I feel as if my supply is dwindling - it seems I'm pumping less and less these days. My goal is to give Nicholas breast milk exclusively until he's a year old - this is going to be hard, I think. I still feed him when I get home and in the middle of the night if he wants, but pumping in the morning (as he's not up usually when I leave) and twice at work. I hope that I can hold on until he's a year. I made it to 6 months with the twins, but I guess, I feel as if I should do better at it this time.

Word Fun & More

Benjamin is doing so well with picking up new words. The other night, I said "be careful" and he repeated it. When I was sorting through the 6-9 month clothes for Nicholas, he picked up a sleeper and said "Mommy, it's a towel." I told him that "actually, it's a sleeper" and he repeated the word. And it's so cute. He also told Jon the other day what sound Jon's coffeemaker makes. :-D

And he has finally said Ella and Nicholas (Nikas). :-D And he likes to say "Ella, come!" He also said our names too, but he still uses mommy and papa.

Ella also has been saying a lot more words. She was playing peek-a-boo with Nicholas and saying "dee-bo". She also talks to Nicholas in a baby talk voice. She talks a lot, but I don't understand most of what she's saying. Ella seems to be more physical - she has learned to jump and Benjamin is still working on that. Ella doesn't quite know her colors yet either - just a few of them. Benjamin seems to know them more. Both of them will repeat us when we say the alphabet. Both of them will tell us that something is "mine" or "my (insert any item you can think of), including saying "my turn" - that's more Benjamin than Ella though. Both of them like to say "Aki's baby" a lot. A friend of ours, Aki, has a baby, James, and ever since Jon took them on walks with Aki around Greenlake, they like to say "Aki's baby". We went to a BBQ yesterday at Aki's place and I told them - there's Aki's baby and they were looking like they weren't too sure about that. :-D

Nicholas has said "dadadada" and Jon had to say to him "actually, I like to be called papa". He also says "ma" but usually when he's upset about something. He's 5 months old now. I need to upload pictures of him on his 5 month birthday. I have uploaded family pics onto flickr though - www.flickr.com/photos/heathercim. These pics were taken by our friend Kelly. We were selected to be profiled in the next multiples newsletter for our city so we needed recent pics of our family!

There were a couple nights that he slept for 8 hours, but he hasn't done it since. He slept pretty good last night in comparison to other nights, but he wakes up at least once in the night (around 1), then again around 4:30-5. Since it's been so hot here, I've been feeding him to keep him hydrated instead of just offering the pacifier. However, Nicholas is a BIG thumbsucker. I foresee problems in getting him off that thumb. Actually, sometimes, it isn't just the thumb - he sticks that whole fist in his mouth!

He's gotten up onto his knees a little bit and a couple times onto his feet while on his belly so he has his butt up in the air. He really loves it when his siblings talk to him because, you know, they are just so cool!

Well, that's it for now.