Baby H: Six Months of Patrick

He...

[+] weighs 18#3.5oz (56%) and is 26.25in long (20%) with a head of 43cm (29%). Apparently we make short babies which is still so strange to us but this guy is for sure much chunkier than his big brother was at this stage and I LOVE it!

[+] is moving towards size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes and it makes this momma sad to pack away items that I know will never get used again. I am looking forward to bundling him up as the weather cools down because nothing is sweeter than a snuggly baby dressed in flannel.

[+] officially has two teeth! The first popped through on big brother's birthday after having a tough day that we attributed to being out and about messing with his schedule celebrating Mark. I ended up putting my finger in his mouth and low and behold, there it was! The second came through exactly a week later. 

[+] still isn't sleeping through the night but for different reasons than last month. Sometimes its legitimately that he's hungry as I've been battling some supply issues recently and we can't exactly sleep train him when we know his belly needs some milk. He's also had quite a bit of congestion/cold stuff going on both from big brother passing along his cold as well as from his moving teeth and it's so sad to hear him struggling because of his stuffy nose. We're finally back to the stage of typically only waking once, quickly eating and then going back down easily so here's hoping it doesn't get worse again. 

[+] is seriously the sweetest, most laid-back, easy baby there is. He is content just sitting and watching. He puts up with toys being taken from him, being set in the bouncer while Mark needs something and all the bumps and bangs having a big brother entails. He snuggles on a regular basis, just laying in my arms wide-awake looking at me which is something Mark literally never did. It takes basically nothing to make him smile and he giggles and laughs all day long. He's the type of baby that would make you have another, he's literally that perfect. 

[+] started into the realm of solid foods this month. He's doing great with it and while he definitely has his preferences (bananas, sweet potatoes and squash) and his dislikes (looking at you peas!) overall he's a huge fan of eating. Most of the time we can't feed him fast enough before he's crying for more. He's had a pretty decent rash going on that we think is related to foods with more sugar (applesauce and blueberries) and has been getting a bit constipated sometimes but we're working through it and having lots of fun with it. 

[+] sits perfectly on his own playing with toys as content as can be. Only within the last few days has he shown any interest/progress towards crawling and I can't decide if I want him to learn or not. I want time to slow down and for him to stay little longer but also know it's going to be so much fun seeing him chase Mark around and gain his independence. 

[+] nicknames: Pat Pat, Fat Pat, snuggle-bug, buddy

[+] likes: hitting surfaces with his hands, Mark, wiggling in the air

[+] dislikes: peas, being constipated, cleaning his face after he eats

 I...

[+] have been dealing with decreased milk supply the last few weeks and while I always knew there was no way I'd get to a full year, it was still a hard pill to swallow. Between Pat sleeping longer stretches at night and then not getting as many opportunities to pump on my most recent rotations, I was barely keeping up with what he was eating from a bottle and also not giving him enough when he nursed either. There was one day where I weighed all his nursing feeds and he got significantly less than what he should have. I've really been pulling out all the stops to get my supply back up but we also picked up a container of formula to start introducing too. While I know that I've done so much better with Pat than I ever could with Mark, it's still so hard and so sad to be going through this stage again.

[+] am so anxious for the next few weeks because I have 6 interviews scheduled in the span of three weeks! I'll be doing a bunch of traveling with nights away from home and while I absolutely hate the thought of leaving my boys, I'm also looking forward to getting to know these programs and starting to piece together my game plan for Match in the spring. I can't believe we're already to this point!

[+] am also anxious for the holiday season this year as I have an audition rotation (aka the more demanding type of rotation) scheduled from mid-December to mid-January and I have no idea what that means for Christmas. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's an extra blessing that Christmas falls on the weekend and that I'll get those days off but also realize that might not actually happen. Not to mention being extra busy the weeks leading up to it will make Santa visits, shopping, cookie backing, etc more complicated and I want to make sure for my boys' sake, that this Christmas is one to remember. I've always known that a career in medicine would mean holidays change I just wasn't anticipating that happening yet.