pears and raspberries

Pierce had pears and raspberries for the 1st time today.

lil' frog

Pierce is now moving forward in a sort of frog move.

apples and clapping

Pierce had applesauce today for the 1st time. He's also learned how to clap.

tongue clicking

Pierce can click his tongue.

Prune Juice

Prune juice for Pierce today for the 1st time--stupid constipating cereal.

1st fruit

Pierce had his 1st fruit today--pears.

oatmeal

Pierce had oatmeal today for the 1st time.

avocados

for dinner tonight for Pierce.

green beans

Pierce is having green beans tonight for the 1st time.

crawling

Pierce took his 1st crawls forward today at Great Aunt Neva's. He can scoot backwards very well now.

more firsts

Pierce can shake his head back and forth to “no, no, no” and can give high 5s. We are introducing peas tonight for the 1st time.

bear crawling

Pierce can get up on all fours by himself and “bear” crawl.

push ups and corn

Pierce can get into the push up position by himself. He also had butternut squash and corn today for the 1st time.

all fours

Pierce can get up on all fours with assistance.

carrots and private parts

Pierce had carrots tonight for the 1st time. He also "found" his penis. Mark just came downstairs from bathing P and said, "I forgot to tell you, but last night P found his "guy" in the bath and he touched it again tonight." I think Mark's proud!!

6 month well baby

Pierce’s 6 month well-baby yesterday was wonderful!! His pediatrician said he is absolutely perfect!! He received 5 shots and cried very loud until I nursed him. Mark was there and so was my mom for support (we weren't sure if Mark was going to make it out of work in time) but it still breaks my heart. Once I nursed him, he was just fine. He has been fussy this morning and actually threw up in the middle of the night. I am currently waiting for his pediatrician to call back to make sure it is a normal reaction to the vaccines. We opted against the flu shot because our pediatrician actually talked us out of it. She said she personally didn't get the flu vaccine for her children when they were this age (but did once they were older and around other children more). Since P isn't in daycare his exposure is limited. We are all praying we made the right decision!!
Here are his stats:
Length: 27 inches (75%)
Weight: 15 pounds 5 ounces (10-25%)
Head: 17 1/2 inches (75%)

His pediatrician isn't concerned at all about his weight because his height and head are growing beautifully. She said that most babies' weight gain drops a bit between 6-9 months. She said P is going to be just like his daddy--long and lean. I asked her about weaning from night time feeds. She said that she usually advises parents to drop all night time feeds at this age. However, considering his weight dropping slightly below his curve (he was at 14 pounds 8 ounces 25-50% at his 4 month well-baby), to keep night time feedings until his 9 month well-baby.

He is developmentally on target and actually ahead of schedule. She asked if he was sitting while propped up--to which I told her he has been sitting unassisted since he was 5 months old. She was quite impressed which made me proud!! I told her he is rolling back to front wonderfully but has still only rolled front to back a handful of times. She said this is interesting considering back to front is more difficult. She said (like I figured) he is happy on his tummy and doesn't really try to roll to his back because he is too busy trying to crawl. He is physically capable of it and strong enough too. She said that sitting is far more of a development predictor (which he has been doing since 5 months) than rolling anyway--in fact, some babies never have an interest in rolling.

On a side note, a lady in the waiting room made me soooooo mad!! She was holding her daughters hands and walking with her. I was holding Sweet P and she said, "Awww how cute, how old is he?" I replied 6 1/2 months and asked her how old her daughter was. She said 8 1/2 months. I said, they are sooo close in age, but not developmentally, he isn't walking like that yet (meaning, they learn soooooo much in just a short amount of time). She said, Oh well, she has never been slow. I wasn't suggesting P was slow at all (again--pediatrician confirming he is ahead for his age)!! I told her that he likes to jump; he just isn't into walking forward yet. She said, "Oh in one of those little bouncy/rocker things." And I was like, "No lady, he likes to jump when I hold his hands just like you are holding your daughters, he just hasn't started stepping forward yet." I was so ticked off at her!! I was just trying to say how different babies are (even those who are close in age) b/c they learn sooooo much in such a short time. Grrrrrr to her!!

Pierce has been wearing size 3 diapers and 6 -12 month clothes for several weeks now. We introduced breakfast this morning, almost 2 weeks (1 day shy) since 1st introducing solids. Pierce has solids for breakfast and dinner now.

winter squash

for Pierce today.

sweet potatoes

Pierce had his 1st veggie today on Thanksgiving--sweet potatoes.

Happy 1/2 Birthday Pierce

Pierce turned 6 months old today. I can’t believe it!! We introduced him to solids for the 1st time this evening and He loves it!! We have been practicing with a spoon for about a week. First we started with just letting P play with the spoon. The last few days we have been giving him expressed breast milk on a spoon. So last night when the rice cereal was all ready, as soon as P saw the spoon he got really excited and started leaning forward in anticipation. He was definitely ready for solids. My mom was over and she took still pictures while Mark captured the moment on video. Pierce wore one of the bibs I gave Mark to tell him we were pregnant. He took right to it. He didn't even make a funny face towards the texture or anything (probably from all of our practice with the spoon). Momma and Daddy have a thing or two to learn about the appropriate bite size. Hence the huge mess. P didn't mind though. He sucked the cereal off his fingers. He even ate the entire bowl. Solids introduction was a HUGE success. I still can't believe my lil' man is eating food!! I am sooooo glad we made our goal of exclusively nursing for 6 months--I am extremely proud of us both!! Our next nursing goal is to continue nursing until at least his 1st birthday!!

ticklish

My sweet P is soooooo super ticklish!! His giggles light up my life!!

22 week appt

Our latest prenatal appointment was today at 22 weeks and 2 days. The doctor said that she heard our sonogram went very well and was excited we had the willpower to avoid finding out the sex. I have gained a whopping 16 pounds (yikes) according to the doc's scale and 17.5 according to my own. I questioned her about this and she claimed that since I started out slightly underweight, she would be very happy to see me gain 35 pounds even though I might not be happy about it. The baby's heart rate was 160 beats per minute. She had to chase it around a bit with the Doppler because it was moving a lot. At one point it made the sound of a record scratching. She said it was caused from all of the movement. I asked her about having an anterior placenta. She said that there is nothing to worry about and that it is extremely common. She said it is just where it chose to implant (on the front side of the uterus) and is like me having brown hair versus blonde. She said the only difference is that the placenta will act like a cushion to some of the baby's movements. She asked if I have felt the baby move yet to which I replied, "Yes!" She said that Mark might not feel it for a while due to the cushion. I told her he has already had this privilege on several occasions. She explained it is because I am thin. The baby is extremely active which makes me wonder what it would feel like if I did not have the cushion of an anterior placenta. The doctor will begin measuring me at my next appointment, and I will be sent for a routine gestational diabetes test. I see her again February 9th.

Ultrasound

We had our ultrasound yesterday at 21 weeks and 2 days. It was the most amazing experience of my life. The baby is absolutely perfect!!!! All four chambers of the heart are present, the brain and spinal chord look great, the nose and lips look great, 2 legs, 2 feet, 2 arms, 2 hands--a clean bill of health!!!! Words cannot express how excited Mark and I are!! The baby is 15 ounces and the heart rate was 140 beats per minute. The baby slept through most of the ultrasound so the tech was easily able to get all of the measurements. At the end, she poked and prodded it a bit to wake it up so we could see it move. She did say that I have an anterior placenta, but that there is nothing wrong with that and everything is okay. We held firm to our plan to not find out the sex. Surprisingly it was not all that difficult. We told the technician as soon as we entered the room so we would not be tempted by her asking. She did look for herself to make sure everything is okay (we were too preoccupied by our wonderfully, fascinating baby to notice!) but does not document it in my chart. She claims that my doctor has a hard time keeping a secret!