Six Months

Yep, you read that title right. Today is Brennan's half-birthday! To celebrate (ha-ha), we headed to the doctor this morning to find out just how gigantic he really is...
Height: 26.5 inches (55%)
Weight: 17 pounds, 6 ounces (50%)
Come to find out, he isn't gigantic at all, just super normal. He is also still a happy and content baby. Last week was a little rough, but then (on the 4th of July) his first tooth poked through, and the mystery was solved. (UPDATE: There's another tooth! That makes two!) Thank goodness for Tylenol.

Activities
He loves to chew and suck on his fingers and toes. I forgot how much I like watching babies fold in half and latch onto their big toe. Adorable! He loves to be sung to, especially if it involves clapping or other motions. He loves to chew on paper (bring on Mail Time) and play with rattles and other toys. He loves his Jumperoo (Everyone needs one of these!) and to lay on the floor watching his big brother. He especially likes tv, and I'm pretty sure he could watch all day if I'd let him. His favorite outdoor activity is swinging in the infant swing (Thanks Charity!), and he even cries out when he needs another little push. He isn't much of a fan of rolling over, though he is capable of doing it. Most of the time he just arches his back and bends his knees to roll to his side.

He's gotten to do a lot of fun things this summer though. He went camping for the first time in June (and was amazing!), he went canoeing for the first time in May (not so amazing - got the sun in his eyes at the beginning and never really recovered), has seen a bunch of bonfires (what else are we going to do with that pile of wood?), and has even been to the beach (I use this term loosely - We went to Comlara Beach in Bloomington last weekend. Other than the super gravel-ly sand, it was awesome!). We also put water in our little pool in the backyard about once a week. Appearances
Brennan hates getting his picture taken. Therefore, I have very few pictures of him smiling, laughing or being happy in any manner. In his case, the camera really does lie. On the other hand, most of the moms I spend time with have commented on what a serious baby he is. I think rather than saying he has a serious personality, it would be more accurate to say that he has a serious-looking facial expression. I really think overall he has a happy disposition.

Eating
He was eating cereal with squash or applesauce once each day and nursing every 3-1/2 hours, but starting this past Monday, the kid has been starving! I've been nursing him every 3 hours, and give him cereal with add-ins two to three times per day. I think there's a growth spurt on its way, since he's been pretty sleepy too. His favorite foods right now are bananas and applesauce.

Sleeping
Brennan goes to bed between 6-7pm, and usually officially wakes up at 5:30am. And that brings me to the only trouble the Big B Man is causing us - swaddling issues.

In order for him to fall asleep, he must be swaddled. He doesn't particularly like it, but he doesn't like being awake and tired either, of course. I've tried rocking him to sleep and laying him down already out, but he always wakes up and really prefers not to be held at all. He also has never (at least in my remembrance) fallen asleep nursing and stayed asleep. It seems swaddling is our only option to get him to sleep.

The real problem lies in that he wakes himself up when he becomes unswaddled, and since he thinks he hates having his arms restricted so much, he wiggles those hands out and right up to his mouth. And as soon as those hands/arms are out - He cries and cries because he's tired but can't get to sleep. Yeah, it's a pretty vicious cycle.

Luckily (used with a huge roll of my eyes), since we have outgrown our home, we have the guest bed in his bedroom (nice nursery, eh?) so Ryan and I split the night sleeping in there, thus reducing the number of times we stumble down the hall and into walls. My shift starts at 3:30am. On his worst nights, about every 1-1/2 hours B has to be re-swaddled and re-binked. On his best nights, he sleeps all the way until 5-ish (my shift). The majority of the time it is somewhere in between. Ironically, his worst nights always seem to be when Ryan is away - which has been happening about once per week for about a month now.

If you were to ask me if B was sleeping through the night, I'm not really sure what I would answer. Does he think he needs to eat during the night? No. Do his wakenings keep me up for more than 10 minutes? Not usually. But, am I getting a good night's sleep? No. I can't wait until he's old/mature enough to start skipping the swaddling altogether. It should be right around the corner, right?

Conclusion And that's my little summary of Brennan. We really love having him around. It has been so much easier for us to adjust to having two than when we went from zero to one. Brennan is so peaceful, and his giggle is the absolute best. Here's to the next six months! Love you, Brennan!