Jacob turned 6 months old today. It seems he was just born yesterday & here we are already at a half point to turning 1! He is just adorable & joy of our lives. He has such a happy disposition & can't look at anyone without laughing. The minute I walk into the house & find him, he starts smiling & giggling. He is also very ticklish. He's definitely the happiest-acting baby we've had. With my Mom living with us there is never a shortage of loving arms & hugs for Jacob.
He now turns over onto his tummy & back easily. He is in the pre-crawling stage & propels himself mostly backward. He grabs everything he can get his little chubby hands on including our hair & necklaces if we happened to wear them. He started to grab the food off our plates about 2 weeks ago, which prompted us to introduce him to small amounts of solids. No, we didn't start with traditional in the US fortified rice cereal. Instead, we started Jacob on organic pastured egg yolks, squash, avocado & banana. It didn't take long for him to figure out how much he enjoyed eating. The funniest thing was hearing him protest if he wasn't also being fed while we ate, or when watching a spoon bypassing him to go into someone else's mouth.
After observing Jacob drool for the past couple of months, we were pleasantly surprised to discover his first set of teeth (bottom center) coming through about 2 weeks ago. I've experienced this phenomenon twice before, but it still felt like a little miracle. I can only imagine how much cuter he'll get with a toothy smile!
Jacob's sleep pattern is slowly improving. He now sleeps in 4-5-hour blocks allowing babushka that much needed sleep.
I've never thought I would make it this far, but I am still exclusively pumping. I pump 27-30 oz per day which seems to be perfect amount for Jacob. We used to supplement with organic formula once daily (4 oz) when my breastmilk output wasn't as high, but haven't used formula for at least a month. My goal was to pump for at least 6 months & now that I am here I just can't bring myself to give up pumping for good. He just barely eating solids & it doesn't seem fair to deprive him of my breastmilk - such perfect source of nutrition. I enjoy lactation amenorrhea (lack of menses induced by exclusive breastfeeding) while Jacob enjoys good health. He is the first of my kids to go for such long periods without getting a cold. He had only 2 colds (at 1 & 2 months of age) & they were barely noticeable (mild & lasting for 1-2 days). My husband is often grumpy about my Mom living with us (I simply would not have time or energy to pump exclusively without her help), but I keep telling him it's worth it & we'll have our lives back before we know it.
When Jacob was 6.5 months old, I took him for his first well baby check-up. Since I chose to delay his vaccines (in addition to doing only selective ones), finding a supportive provider was of paramount importance. Dr. Sears' website listing alternative vaccination schedule-friendly doctors came in handy & we found Dr. Sheila Kingsbury, a Naturopathic Physician, Lactation Consultant & Registered Herbalist, at the Cascade Natural Medicine. With Jacob's fear of strangers I was dreading the visit, anticipating lots of crying. Thankfully, Dr. Kingsbury had the magic touch. She addressed all of my questions first & by the time she started her exam, Jacob was already used to her. Unlike many conventional providers, she didn't request to have him fully undressed & did her exam while talking to me & with Jacob sitting on my lap. We've decided to start with pertussis-containing vaccine first (due to the pertussis epidemic in our state) when Jacob turns 9 months old in August (in order to be ready for the start of pertussis season in December). Jacob was in 80th percentile in weight & in 97th percentile in height. Mama's milk does the body good!
With my Mom & I taking Jacob on social outings almost every weekend, his anxiety around strangers has really decreased. My Mom usually takes Gerritt & Sophia to his Mom's house with an overnight stay every weekend, so I take my Mom shopping, Starbucks, various restaurants, street festivals & fairs. We should have a fun summer ahead of us!
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