I can’t believe we are already halfway through Berend’s first year! The days (and nights) can be long, but I’m still a little in shock that our little bear is half a year old already.

Age: 6 months on 15 November 2018
Weight: about 18.5 lbs (18 lb 13 oz on 26Nov)
Height: about 27.5″ (27.52″ on 26Nov)
Teeth: none
Clothing Size: 9 months, 9-12 months, and a few 12 months
Diaper Size: size 3 in disposable and one size in cloth
Milestones: making the “buh” sound, grabbing everything in sight (faces and hair included), recognizes and responds to his name, blowing raspberries/spitting, scooting/spinning on tummy, first solid foods, turning items in hands to inspect them, moving from sink to big tub for baths

Likes: chewing on everything, standing, watching and playing with Gerrit, laughing at Mama, holding Mama’s hand while nursing, bouncing when standing and supported

You wouldn’t believe how many photos of Berend have something in his mouth: a toy, his hands, his foot…

Berend wants to be standing all the time! 

These two! They love each other so much!

Dislikes: going to sleep, car rides, Mama walking away, getting stuck on his belly, having gas at night

Sleeping: In terms of naps, Berend officially transitioned to 3 naps a day this month. He typically takes such short naps (30-45 minutes), that it seemed like he was taking 4 naps a day for a long time. But between his wake time moving to 2 hours and his naps occasionally being a decent length, he finally dropped that 4th one. Once in awhile (like I can count on one hand), he refuses that morning nap and we end up napping together:

Berend continued to spend a few hours each night in bed with me this month. He doesn’t seem as restless in bed with me for the most part, although he still has nights that he screams for no apparent reason. Then I need to get up, bounce him around a bit, and try to crawl back into bed holding him without waking him. Sometimes it takes a few attempts.

In general, Berend goes to bed between 7 & 8 at night, wakes up every 1-2 hours (or as often as every 30-45 minutes) all night, comes to bed with me around 2 or 3 in the morning, then wake up for the day between 6:30 & 7:30 in the morning. He nurses during the night every 1-2 hours as well, so I have to change his diaper around 1am every night (the kid pees so much!). In a 24 hour period, he averages about 12.5 hours of sleep.

Eating: Berend is still nursing every 2 hours all day and night for the most part. He nurses more during the first half of his night than the last half, so I still wonder if he’s not nursing enough during the day. Unfortunately, he just doesn’t want to nurse for long during the day. Even if I’m trying to nurse him before a nap, it seems like he unlatches as soon as he feels like he might be falling asleep, because heaven forbid he not fight his naps with every ounce of his being. I feel like now that he’s upright more often (sitting on his own), he spits up a lot less, although I can always count on him to spit up on himself or myself when we’re running late and heading out the door.

Shortly before Berend turned 6 months, we started giving him solid food! We are planning to do baby-led weaning (BLW) again, since we liked that method when introducing solids to Gerrit. His first taste of food was applesauce while Andrew’s parents were still here, because I wanted them to be able to witness that. About a week later we introduced other solids: banana, roasted sweet potato, and avocado.

He hasn’t actually consumed much yet: he’s still working on taking nibbles and trying to work it around his mouth without gagging (which happens a fair amount right now). I can say that he has eaten some solids though, since I’ve witnessed them on the other end haha.

So far it seems like he really enjoys trying solid food! I’m hoping the whole process is a lot less stressful this time around. I honestly don’t know if I even have the time or energy to worry as much about it this time around.

Mommy Update: I feel like having 2 kids has mellowed me out so much. Well, as much as I can mellow out, haha. I have few to no expectations when it comes to sleep for Berend, so I can’t get very upset about bad nights or crappy naps. I still definitely get frustrated here and there, but I guess I just don’t worry as much as I did with Gerrit.

Physically I feel tired but like my body may be getting itself back to normal. I’m not losing heaps of hair anymore which is nice. I finally got a hair cut too, so maybe that helped! I’m definitely not worried about my weight right now. Loving the cooler weather so I can live in leggings and sweaters. I really don’t love bringing Berend to bed with me in the early morning, but I think I definitely get more sleep going that route. I’m tired, but I don’t feel exhausted every day. Andrew is great about letting me sleep late into the morning on weekends too and that helps so much.

I’d love to get back into my hobbies, but with the holiday season upon us, I feel like I’m always working on other things when I get the chance. I did order a bunch of photos to hopefully get family photos on the wall, finish the pregnancy book I started for Berend, and finish up Berend’s bedroom (which I’m super excited to share soon). I’d love to get back into crocheting soon… I miss it.

Memorable Events: After a quiet 5th month, I feel like Berend’s 6th month was pretty exciting for him! Shortly after turning 5 months, we went to the local pumpkin patch to get pumpkins for Halloween:

Andrew’s parents came to visit for Gerrit’s 4th birthday, and they also got to meet Berend for the first time! Here’s Berend with his big brother and Gram on Gerrit’s birthday:

Right after Gerrit turned 4, we got ready for Halloween! Obviously, the boys didn’t help with pumpkin carving, but we did get a family picture out of it:

Gerrit chose the designs for our pumpkin this year. He wanted a scary face and a dinosaur, of course. Andrew took on the dinosaur, and he did an awesome job!

Even though it was pretty cold, I took Berend around our loop when I took Gerrit trick-or-treating (for the first time!). Mostly because I had put a bit of effort into our costume of a koala in a eucalyptus tree (right down to leave in my hair haha):

He seriously was such a cute koala! And it was a super easy costume: he already had a gray hoodie and gray pants, and I had the koala hat from when Gerrit’s 2nd Halloween. I just added the fur to the ears for Berend.

Berend also sat in the shopping cart for the first time this month. Normally, I leave him home with Andrew, and Gerrit and I go shopping together. But Gerrit wanted to stay home that afternoon, so I took Berend instead, and I thought I’d try him in the cart. He did pretty well, but he wanted to be carried in the ring sling after only a few aisles.

After his first go with solids, Berend also had his first bath in the big tub this month! He doesn’t really play much yet, but I think he loved all the extra space.

And literally a day or two before he turned 6 months, I got my projects done for Berend’s bedroom! I got his mobile finished over Veteran’s Day weekend (Andrew insisted I finish it haha), and then I felt motivated enough to tackle the painting for his room. I’m really happy with how this part of the room looks:

Andrew was great about hanging everything for me too. Consider this your sneak peek! I’m hoping to have a post about Berend’s nursery ready to go very soon.

Here’s Berend’s November photo:

Oh Berend, you are such an adorable handful! I feel like you don’t make things any easier for us, but we just adore you anyway. When you are super demanding, you still just flash us the cutest smiles, so we really can’t be irritated for long. You want to be a part of everything our family is doing all the time, and we love that about you. We’re just all really anxious for you to really be involved! You want to be on the move so badly, but you really don’t want to put any effort into learning to crawl, haha. We’re excited to see what milestones you hit next, but don’t grow too fast… We love you, sweet Berend!