6 Months!

Baby reached a very special milestone this month. It wasn't a motor skill or a first word, but a matter of age. My little one is now officially half a year old!

And my, so much has happened in this half year, both to Baby and to me! I don't need to recap all the excitement, exhaustion, and learning experiences of my first six months as a mom, but I can recap on what's been happening in the past month and at Baby's age overall.

Baby's Accomplishments

First Words
As you know, Baby said his very first word last month! On November 5 when I was taking his 5-month birthday photo, my son babbled something that almost sounded like the word "Mom." But then on November 17 as he lay on his changing table he said it again, so much more clearly and several times! Not "Mama" or "Mommy" but just "Muuhhhmm."

First Foods
Thanksgiving is a special time of year for celebrating with family and eating great food! Baby also got to eat as his 6-month birthday approached, and has now tried so many types of foods already! We started with avocado (which he ate but made confused and disgusted faces the entire time), then sweet potatoes (a winner!) and green beans (also a winner!). The rest so far seem to solicit just an "okay" reaction (not love but not hate). That would be carrots, pumpkin, prunes, and apples. Apples he seemed to like more when cold, perhaps because it made his gums feel better. We also tried to give Baby water in both a sippy cup and a bottle. His reaction: "What the heck is this?" We'll have to work on it.

First Visits
The past month marked visiting Santa for the first time (no tears!) and getting a visit from Baby's great-great aunt in town who has been sending him wonderful packages since before he was born! He has met his first cousins and attended first birthday parties for his second cousins. That's quite a lot of socializing in just the past couple of months!

First Tooth!
And, believe it or not, Baby has also now officially cut his first tooth! I didn't quite believe it at first, since his fussy symptoms and drooling on December 13 didn't seem that out of the ordinary (he'd recently gotten vaccines and he's been drooling practically since birth!). But after I felt something sharp while nursing and Hubby felt something sharp in Baby's mouth, we had to admit we'd found a reason for his recent lack of sleep. It's tiny, just barely peeking out over his lower gum. But it's definitely there. No wonder he likes chewing on his spoon even more than chewing on his solids!

We know that Baby is getting super close to crawling, and hopefully sitting without support soon! But those will be milestones for another month. And then there's me.

Mom's Accomplishments

If you've seen the recent Marvel movie Avengers: Endgame you might just be familiar with the phrase, "I love you 3,000." Well I certainly love Baby 3,000 and more. I calculated that I've officially spent over 3,000 minutes pumping milk for him since I started back to work! I've taken over 3,000 photos of him since I got a new phone...in October. And with 28 weeks since Baby was born, I can calculate 7 days a week and 24 hours in a day to equal over 4,000 hours I've known my son. So I'm quite sure at least 3,000 were spent worrying, stressing, and giving my all. Surviving that is quite an accomplishment too. Every day there's that anxiety I feel right before arriving home from work, not quite sure what I will face--will Baby be happy? Sad? Starving? Sick? Have I made enough milk to feed him one more day, 24 more hours?

So far, yes. So far, I've made it through every minute--the good and the challenging. I've even just this month made it officially back to my pre-baby weight! I've been a mom for six months now, holding my title for half a year. That's definitely something to celebrate.