Happy Half Birthday

Today is Miles’s (still not sure where that pesky apostrophe should go) first half birthday, not something I will celebrate in the coming years, but I figured the first one is kind of a milestone. In all honesty, all I can think about is being half way done with breastfeeding. Selfish, I know.

I know that I said the big milestone at 5 months was that he was eating solids, but that may have only been a half truth. I started rice cereal when he was about 4 1/2 months, but it didn’t go so well. He started waking up every few hours all night long. Not fun. So we suspended cereals for a while longer. The second time around went much smoother, and now he is officially eating his veggies (carrots and sweet potatoes so far). Carrots were not a big hit the first two days, but I think it had more to do with time of day than with taste, texture, or temperature. I was trying to feed him at the same time that Chris and I ate dinner, you know, so we could enjoy a family meal together. But that is the witching hour for Miles, so he was not totally into something orange being shoveled into his mouth. And I’m just going to say it: I do not like the smell of poop from a solids-eating-baby. I thought I didn’t like the smell of newborn poop, the poop that everyone else kept calling “sweet,” but I totally get it now. Anything is better than what we have now.

This past month has been a real challenge for my confidence in mothering. Just when I thought I had the whole thing figured out, he totally changed the norm. Where he used to be able to fall asleep without a fuss, he started crying and fussing. Where he used to sleep through the entire night, he started waking once or twice. Where he used to go right back to sleep after being nursed at night, he would cry or coo or whatever, just not sleep. Where he used to wake up after 7 am, he would wake up at 6 or so. Not cool. He could be teething, he could be growing, he could be testing my fortitude, I don’t know. We’re working through it.

He is still a very happy baby, though. He loves to be held and snuggled, but also loves to wiggle on the floor, jump in his jumper, or play with toys (kind of).

And in honor of his half birthday, we gave him sweet potato. We were going to put a candle in it, but didn’t have any.

This is the face I get if I don’t put enough oatmeal in the spoonful. It also comes with a nice gagging noise.

We also gave him a cupcake. And by that I mean that we put it in front of him, took a picture, and then Chris ate it.