6 Month Appointment

We had our 6 month appointment today and Ryan weighed in at a whopping 16 pounds and 13 ounces, and he is 26 1/2 inches tall. He's in the 45 percentile for weight, 50 percentile for height and 50 percentile for head circumference. At 4 months, he was only 12 pounds and 6 ounces, so he's gained A LOT of weight. It's no wonder that my hands and arms hurt after holding him! I think he's going through a major growth spurt, he takes in 8 ounces of formula at least once a day now and always finishes at least 6 ounces during his other four feedings. He's also eating solids 1-2 times a day. I can't believe how much he's grown. He's not my lil baby anymore. ;( He's turned into a squirmy little monster that likes to put everything in his mouth!!

Last week, Ryan got his first hair cut. We took him to a place called Cool Kuts for Kids. It's one of those kid hair cutting places. They had toys and video games everywhere. It was fun, but a bit crowded. We fed Ryan during his hair cut, so he didn't move around very much. He didn't cry or get upset at all which really surprised me! We saved all of his hair in a little plastic envelope. From what I hear, there are special scrapbooking envelopes that I can use to show off a lock of his hair...hehe...I can't wait!

I've updated Ryan's picasa site with pictures from his first haircut, our trip to the farmer's market on Saturday, and his 6 month photo shoot. I warn you, there are a ton of pictures from our little photo shoot! I almost felt like we had a pro studio going on because we used props this time. :)

A few weeks ago, Ryan started scratching things. When he's doing the baby cobra pose, he has his hands palm side down and will just start scratching. It's like he's sharpening his claws.

Ryan has also gotten really good at getting around on his play mat. He rolls himself around until he can reach whatever toy he has his eye on. It's usually his inflatable lion or his storybook rhymes toy that sings to him when he flips the pages.

Ryan also LOVES to drink water from our glass. If we're holding him and try to drink, then he'll grab for the glass. When we try to get him to drink out of the glass, he opens his mouth, but the water usually ends up all over him! He knows how to use his sippy cup, but he usually just plays with it instead of actually drinking from it. I'm thinking about getting one of those sippy cups where the baby can drink from a straw. If he can learn to drink from a straw, then he can drink our water without spilling it all over himself.

As far as sleep goes, Ryan is still sleeping through the night. He gets about 11 hours at night and he takes 2 or 3 naps during the day for at least 3 hours. All I can say is that Ferber is a genius. Ryan rarely makes a fuss when going down for the night. His naps are a bit trickier, he usually fusses more, but will fall asleep within 15 minutes or so. I think of his fussing before he naps as his way of saying I'm tired and I'm almost asleep. :)

I've been obsessed with Ryan's scrapbook lately. I've made good progress so far, so let's hope that I can stay fairly current. I went back to scrapmania at Archiver's on Friday...so fun! :) I am literally a kid in a candy store. I bought a circle cutter on Friday, so I'm super excited about getting to use it. I wish I could scan in some pages to post on here, but the pages are 12 x 12. Oh well, ya'll can just come over to visit and see it then!

Visit with Auntie Lydia

Lydia came to visit for the past few days. She had a wedding to go to on Saturday and she extended her stay to soak up the Austin sun. Visits from Lydia are always fun because they usually involve local Austin food. Yum!

On Wednesday, we went to Hyde Park Bar & Grill. We had really good tamales and their fries are always so yummy! Afterwards, we went over to Amy's, gotta love that Mexican vanilla! That evening, we went to the Triangle for the Farmer's Market and we had dinner at Mandola's. I'm seriously loving Mandola's. They have really good pizza. I think it's the freshly made mozzarella that really makes the difference. We also got Ryan a lion onesie from a local artist, Will Heron. He has super cute stuff!

On Thursday, we went to Hoover's for lunch. I don't think that I ever go to Hoover's unless Lydia is in town! We got manis and pedis done at the nail salon in Steiner. It's so close and convenient, how could we not? :) We had dinner at Trudy's. I had a few sips of her top shelf Mexican martini. I miss alcohol!!! My goal was to bf for 6 months and it's coming up. I may even go a little longer though, Ryan has been really good at eating lately. Weird, I know. Anyways, we ended up missing out on First Thursday though, which was a bummer. Maybe next time.

On Friday, we hung out on SoCo and had lunch at Homeslice. They have a really good white clam pizza.

Today, Sunday, we spent the morning getting pampered at milk + honey. Do you see a food theme here? We both got hour long massages. The last time that we went was back in December while I was still pregnant. I got a pregnancy massage and my masseuse was awesome because she was so strong. I really felt like she worked through all of the kinks in my back. I had another chick this time, but she might have even been a bit better. She was so good. She asked me about my preferences and when she massaged me, I didn't feel like she was going to push me off the table like the last chick! I am so incredibly sore, but I really really really needed a massage. Ryan is getting heavier and heavier! Thank you Mel and Al for your gift certificate! We went to brunch at Jo's afterwards and had their cracked egg sandwhich. It was so good. I can't wait to go back.

I miss you Lydia, come back soon!!!

Now for a Ryan Lion update. He was actually pretty good being out and about. There were a few times where he was super fussy, but overall, he was really good. Generally, if you feed him, he's a happy camper. He loves being in his Baby Bjorn! If I'm pushing the stroller at the same time, he likes to hold onto the handles and push too!

As of this past week, Ryan has been pushing his butt up in the air while he's tummy side down. Is butt up in the air a milestone? :) He's starting to push off of his feet a bit, so it looks like he's on his way to crawling. Yikes! I'm not looking forward to baby proofing!

He finished up eating green beans last Sunday, he started eating squash on Monday, which he really liked, and is now on applesauce. Surprisingly enough, he doesn't seem to like applesauce as much as squash. Odd, isn't it? We're going to do carrots next and probably prunes after. We also have peaches, but I don't want to give him two orange foods in a row because I'm afraid he'll turn orange!

Now that Ryan's almost six months old, getting heavier and staying awake more and more, I decided that it's time to get an umbrella stroller. We went with the Quinny Zapp in mandarin orange. Isn't it cool looking? It comes with a car seat adaptor for their car seat, the maxi-cosi infant seat. If I knew that earlier, I might have gotten this one instead of our current stroller frame and car seat. Oh well. Jessica, maybe you should look into this stroller?

Last Tuesday, we checked out The Little Gym. It was a lot of fun. It's very gymnastics oriented with some music and games. Ryan did really well. He did some tumbling, he hung out on the uneven bars and walked on the balance beam. I'm thinking about checking out the Austin Children's Museum's baby bloomers program and My-Gym. I still want to do an age appropriate class at Gymboree too. Hehe...sometimes I feel like I'm going a little overboard!

Ryan's scrapbook is coming along. I've been able to do a few pages here and there this past week. That's probably why I haven't done the laundry yet....oh well! I've been having so much fun scrapbooking, it's my latest addiction. It makes me wonder what's next!