Happy 6 months Alex!

As of today, Alex is officially six months old! I have to echo Colleen's sentiment that time has gone really fast, and it seems like just yesterday I was finding out I was pregnant (even though this time last year I was 14 weeks pregnant). Alex is currently 18 lbs, 1 oz, 27 1/2 inches long, in the 50the percentile for weight, and the 75th percentile for height. I have no idea where he gets his height from....Most people in our families are short! Alex also has a vertical hernia on his stomach that goes from his belly button to his sternum..Apparently it's totally normal, will resolve on its own, and isn't bad enough that we have to worry about things like bowel obstruction or strangulation (thank god!), and he won't need surgery.

Alex has blossomed in the last two months in terms of his development, and it was progressive but happened very fast! At 4 months old, he learned he had feet, and once he was able to grab them regularly, he then used his legs as leverage to roll from side to side. Once he could do that, he learned to roll from back to front, and for 2 weeks around his 5 month birthday we had to get up every 2 or 3 hours to roll him back over! At the same time, he was gaining balance and by 5 months old was able to sit on his own. Dan went away for 5 days to a conference at the beginning of November; when he left Alex couldn't hold himself up, and when he got home, Alex was sitting on his own for long periods of time.

In terms of food, Alex has now started fruits, eating Bananas, Pears, Applesauce, Peaches and Blueberries. He has had Peas, Carrots, Green beans, Wax beans, Sweet potato and Squash in terms of veggies. I retried the squash just this last week, and he didn't have a reaction, so I think I just jumped the gun on giving it to him. Alex has also started feeding himself crackers, and as soon as I buy some, I will start giving him cheerios as well.

Alex has also completely poo-poo'd the use of soothers in our house. About 3 weeks ago he decided he didn't want a soother anymore, and I haven't given one to him yet. My thoughts---BONUS!!! I don't have to deal with trying to take it away from him!

Alex continues to babble up a storm, and his current favorite sound is the 'th' sound and the 's' sound...A lot of times it sounds like he's saying "this" over and over. We are confident that his first word will come soon, but we have also felt that way about his first tooth, and so far, nothing yet.


This is just a nice pic of Alex...I took this one 2 days ago, so it is more indicative of what Alex looks like now...






This is Alex's favorite thing to do...He takes his Linkadoos rings and puts them in his mouth then lets go, leaving it in his mouth. I know the picture has him holding on to the ring, but when he does just keep it in his mouth, he looks like one of the door knockers in The Labyrinth. You know, one door knocker has the ring thru his ears, the other in his mouth, and Sara takes the ring out of the one who has it in his mouth etc....If you know the movie, you know what I'm talking about.





This is Alex's favorite face for the camera...He's always like "oh! you're taking a picture of me!"







Alex's favorite time of the night--Bath time! It's also Mommy's since it means it is also bedtime :)









This is Alex splashing in the tub..You can see how the water is VERY rippled from him..He was going nuts and getting water everywhere!!









This video is a great example of why you should NEVER leave your baby unattended in the bath...Alex was fine because we were right there, but I can't even imagine what COULD have happened if we weren't...






This is a video of Alex having a great time in the bath..Sorry ladies, you won't get to see the goods!