My dear sweetcheeks, you are 6 months old today.
{Did I really just type that??? 6 months already?? GEEZ!}
That’s half of a year! It’s your half-birthday!
You’ve gone from being rollie pollie (Rollie Pollie Ollie, anyone?) to sitting up almost on your own, and you’re loving it. You don’t want to lay on the floor, you like the new angle of seeing things sitting up.  Not to mention, you can survey all of your toys and decide which one you want to pick up and chomp on next. That is, if you don’t decide you’d rather chomp on your toes which sends you rolling to the side  again.
Playing with my blocks!
And sitting in our laps? Who is patient enough for that?! You absolutely love to be held standing in my lap so you can look around and bounce. So much so that just this week, you’re starting to turn around and grab my shoulder and pull up, letting me know you want to stand up – no more of this sitting calmly in our laps business. {Not to mention, you have figured out that sitting in our laps usually means nap time, which you know how to fight tooth-and-nail to the end.}
You’re learning not only that you have hands, but that you can do stuff with them…. like reach for toys, grab them, shake them and throw them down.  But what you’ve learned and that I absolutely love is that you now reach out to feel my face and you smile when you touch it. Of course, this quickly leads to you grabbing my nose or my top lip and squeezing and pulling them as if you’re trying to remove them. And that’s okay… I’ll endure all the grabbing and pulling and pinching and squeezing just to see your toothy grin as you look at me and I feel your soft, buttery skin of your palm on my cheek, because it makes my heart swell to unimaginable proportions.
You had your first big cold last week too. It absolutely broke my heart. I know all kids have to be sick some time or another – but you had it all this time. A cold, ear infection, and tummy virus. I hated it for you, baby. And I know you felt simply awful with all that mess going on. You couldn’t drink but 2-3oz per bottle, and when you did, you threw it right back up for 3 or 4 days of the mess. By Thursday, I felt like I couldn’t take much more of all of it, seeing you feel so terrible and not being able to do a thing about it except to wait it out. But, as the old saying goes, it gets worse before it gets better, and true to form, by the next day, you were getting better. Slowly, you started to drink more and more, and even wanted a some cereal. You still have a runny nose and baby-hacking cough, but it is getting better. And your face is almost completely broken out from nose-down thanks to the runny nose, drooling, and being allergic to the antibiotic – but you’re finishing that up today, so we’re working on getting that cleared up and gone too. Â The good news is you’re back to finishing full bottles and trying to eat your cereal again, and you are back to your all-smiley self.
Oh hai!
 You’re growing oh-so-fast. I want to speed the hours that go by when we’re apart and slow down the ones when we’re together.
I love you so, so, so very much, munchkin.
Always know that, no matter how many “half-birthdays” you have.
~Love, Momma
{P.S. -Â As much as I didn’t want ‘sweetcheeks’ to be a nickname, I can’t help but call you that – they’re so squishy sweet to kiss!}
