6 months old

Baby Z is 6 months old today. I can not believe he has already been part of our family for 6 months... but I'm glad to have the (very difficult) newborn stage behind us. Z is definitely a much easier baby these days. As I type this he is in my lap, staring up at me with a very sweet little expression on his face. He sure has come a long way!

Here is a day in the life of our chubby Baby Z...
* Today he woke up quite happy... ready to play and "talk" to us
* Spent some time awake and playing - now that he can sit up, he seems to be a bit happier over all. We even got some of big brother's toys out of storage for him to enjoy.
* Took a nap
* Played some more with his brother
* Went to his 6 month check-up. Weighed in at 18 lbs. 3 oz., and is  25.5" tall. Charmed everyone at the doc's office with his smiles and laughs. (He's always on his best behavior there for some reason)
* Snoozed in the car.
* Somewhat willingly participated in my little photo shoot (trying to get pics of him at 6 months old).
* Took a little nap in the swing.
* Enjoyed playing with Daddy and brother.
* Super tired, so went to bed early around 8 p.m.

What else is he up to these days?
LOVES his brother - smiles and "talks" to him a lot
Enjoys sitting up and playing with toys
Likes the jumper, exercauser, swing & bouncer now
Enjoys "talking" - lots of loud squeals and coos and is starting to make sounds like la, ba, ga and repeats/combos of those
He will nap in the swing, bouncer and even the car quite readily (marked improvement from when he was younger and would not sleep in any of those)
Is VERY ticklish
Enjoys playing with his feet
Loves to chew on anything and everything (teething)
Enjoys pulling the pacifier out of his mouth and then trying to cram it back in
Nurses about 7 times a day
Wakes every 2 to 3 hours at night (he was sleeping longer until a few weeks ago when he was was having an extra hard time with teething (?) and started waking every 2 hours again)
Takes about 3 to 5 naps a day (ranging from 20 minutes to 2 hours in length)
Still swaddled at night to sleep
Enjoys rolling from back to belly to grab things out of reach
Likes being outdoors
Has fun at bathtime with his brother

Happy half-birthday to our chubby little Baby Z...