6 Months Sunday

My baby is fixing to be 6 months old. That means 1/2 a year ago Jesus delivered my beautiful baby boy to me and fulfilled one of my biggest dreams!! 6 months ago, "Little Thomas" came to be with his daddy. 6 months ago we started on the most important journey of our marriage together. I can't believe it's already been 6 months. But, 6 months also means 6 month checkups and shots. We got those done this last Monday and it wasn't so much fun :o(

Let me back up a little. Malachi has not been doing too well digestively speaking over the last few weeks. He's been spitting up, a lot and has been constipated. So, that was part of the reason we went to the Dr. Although I explained everything, I really didn't feel like I got anywhere. Don't get me wrong. I love our pediatrician. BUT, sometimes he has a bad habit of "uh huh"ing us. So, I called the nurse Tuesday morning and demanded that she explain to me WHY he had all of the sudden started spitting up and having a difficult time...well, there's no good way to say it...pooping. She told me a few things that made sense and then suggested we get on Soy formula. So, we have. It's gone well so far...we'll see if it continues and...if he poops on his own.

Also, at the Dr., he asked if Malachi had been rolling over a lot. I had to answer honestly, no, he hasn't. He has rolled over several times, but does not do it on a regular basis. So, the Dr. said we had to be tough on him. (meaning, leave him alone and eventually he'd figure out he wanted to get somewhere) So, that's exactly what we've been doing.

Monday night, he laid on the floor for 10 minutes screaming until I picked him up and he immediately "died" in my arms. He proceeded to sleep from 5:30pm until 10:00pm, got up, ate and went right back to sleep, but never rolled over.

Tuesday night, he went to sleep early so we didn't even have a chance to do anything.

Wednesday night, at 4:30, we tried again. He screamed for 35 minutes until he fell asleep on his tummy. (It killed me, but, as my mom pointed out, this will be the first of many times it will hurt me more than it hurts him.) He slept from a little after 5:00pm until 7:00pm when I woke him up to feed him and give him a bath. (Normally I wouldn't wake him up to feed him, but we're starting solids and if we let him sleep too long and he wakes up too hungry, he's NOT interested in eating anything but a bottle) So, Thomas cleaned the kitchen, I fed Malachi prunes (poop...please...poop) and then gave him a bath. It was time for daddy to go to sleep by this point. (He had a wisdom tooth pulled and a cavity filled and his Hydrocodone had kicked in) So, Mali and Mommy laid in the floor together and I tried for an hour to teach him to roll from back to front. I taught him to reach across if he wanted his keys and then I would pull them a little bit to teach him what it would feel like. He has fun for a while, then decides he's sleepy and it's off to sweet slumberland we go!

Thursday morning, our routine changes. We've told the daycare teachers...**coughLolli and Aunt Kelly** to put him down. No more picking him up when he's happy in his bed. No more holding him just because you want to. If he's awake, he's happy, he's fed and he's changed, he's flat on his back in bed until he can figure out how to get mobile. So, instead of putting Malachi in his bouncy seat watching mommy get ready like we usually do, he's put on the floor on a blanket with some toys. Sure enough, a few minutes go by, I look in the living room and he's on his side kicking his little legs hard to get over. I yelled at Thomas and we watched for a couple minutes, but, we were running late, so we walked into the kitchen to finish getting his bottles ready for daycare. All of a sudden, we look in our living room and there's Malachi, on his tummy, looking around!!! He's been rolling over ever since!!

I'm just glad that part didn't take long. Now we've got to try to get him to figure out once he gets to his tummy that he already knows how to get back to his back. (Okay, that's poor wording, but you know what I mean)

I know, 6 months seems kinda late. But, when you're being held all of the time either in someone's arms, in a bouncy seat, in a swing or laying on your back with a mobile to keep you entertained, why would you learn how to roll over? As soon as we took those things away, he caught on pretty quickly. Truthfully, I was kind of getting nervous about it. But, I'm feeling MUCH better about it now.

I'm sure he'll be crawling around very soon, even though, I'm not sure I'm ready for that. I find myself saying I can't wait for this or I can't wait for that...then, I catch myself reminiscing about how small he used to be. Please Lord, help me to remember these precious times and not rush anything. He'll be grown and gone all too soon!!!

Malachi, one day you will read all of these posts as I am printing them out so you'll have a diary of your life and how much you've blessed mommy and daddy!! (And, because mommy hasn't kept your baby book up to date all that well!!) Just know that we love you with all our hearts and you have added more fun and love to our home and hearts than we thought was EVER possible!! You are a blessing and a joy to be around and with and we are SO blessed that God chose us for your caretakers while you're away from the One who created you! Always remember, you're the only one who knows what mommy's heart feels like from the inside!!