6 months old

I'm constantly amazed at how fast time is flying by this year. Our little baby is 6 months old! Here's a few of the highlights so far:

He is so mellow and sweet. He will sit and watch the world go by just as quiet as a mouse, and patiently endures being carted around to his older siblings activities, even if it interferes with naps and feeding times.

Sometimes he's so mellow that you can't get him to smile or make a peep at you, no matter how hard you try.

When he's ready to play, he'll coax you over to him -- he grunts at you until you do what he wants -- and then he'll light up like a Christmas tree, laughing and talking at every move you make. His favorite thing is to be tickled, and he loves being bounced around and thrown in the air.

He sleeps great, although he still needs to wake up and eat during the night. But when it's time to sleep I just have to lay him down and walk away (still a gift after certain older siblings, who weren't so cooperative).

He looks just like Andrew, except for the times when he looks just like Willa.

He doesn't sit up or roll over yet, and won't put his legs down to stand up, but loves sitting on my lap or propped up on the couch or in the bouncer.

His brother and sister love him to death (literally in Willa's case, she loves to squeeze him around the neck), and Andrew will stop at nothing to make him smile. Whenever Christian is awake, the kids are vying for his attention (especially Andrew).

I don't have stats on his size, because everyone is out of town at our peds office and I can't get an appointment until the end of the month, but we know he's big. He's breaking my back in his car seat, and he's nearly grown out of all of Andrew's old summer clothes (he's in 9-12 mo clothes now).

The Shark

Christian has hit the big 6 month mark, and is teething like crazy. He is also Mr. Curious, and tries to grab everything and put it in his mouth. And I mean everything. Tables, mirrors on the wall, and of course, all the books and toys that Willa and Andrew leave laying around. By far his favorite is The Shark.



He loves to just gnaw on it, and gets so excited when he sees it.



The Shark is actually Willa's. She got it for her birthday. Shockingly, she's pretty willing to share with Christian. That's a big step for a girl who learned how to say "mine" before she learned to say "mama."



I probably would've had a heart attack if Andrew had gotten ahold of something so hard and sharp. Now I just take pictures of how cute he looks playing with a non-age appropriate toy while sitting unattended on the couch.

July 4th

We went to the Potomac Nationals game on Saturday and watched their fireworks display.



Willa was so terrified at the prospect of fireworks after the game that it took us about 3 innings to convince her to enter the stands and sit down with us. And then we had to put cotton balls in her ears and wrap a bandana around her head. She warmed up eventually, but still had to go out to the car before the fireworks display.





On the 4th we stayed home and did our own fireworks.



Andrew was sooo excited.




Notice how he and our neighbor reacted as the fireworks went off. Then notice Willa waaaay off in the distance, hiding as far away as she could get. Actually, the fact that she was outside at all was pretty impressive.



Christian was fascinated by the fireworks, and didn't get even the slightest bit nervous by the loud noises. In fact, he fell asleep halfway through.




Willa pretty quickly locked herself in the house, and didn't make it to the end of the show.



And Randles: notice my shirt? Yes, that was from 2001. Remember the cooler in the Capitol? Remember the extreme heat? And the torrential downpour? Good times.