Well, here we are at the half-way mark of Eli's first year. I cannot believe how fast it goes. People aren't exaggerating about kids growing up too fast. They are FOR REAL.
Eli had his 6 month check up yesterday morning at 8:50 and we found out he weighs 19 pounds 2 ounces and is 28 inches long. His head circumference is 42.5 centimeters, if you possibly care about that.
Anyway.
This past month has been BRUTAL.
Eli caught a cold at the end of December/beginning of January and it completely destroyed any hope that his 5 hour sleep stretches at night were giving me. Now I was lucky if he slept 2 hours straight during the night (it was usually about 45 minutes). I took him to the doctor on January 2 just to make sure he didn't have anything more serious and the doctor did confirm it was just a cold, and recommended saline drops to help break up his congestion. They helped slightly. We put a humidifier in his room at that point, too. And eventually added Vick's baby rub into the mix.
Well, come February, ALL of his cold symptoms were still in play and he was still barely sleeping, so I called the doctor again. He had an appointment for February 6th and we found out he had an ear infection and were prescribed amoxicillin for 10 days.
After one week of antibiotics Eli didn't seem to be doing much better. In fact, now he was pulling on his OTHER ear and I was freaking out, so I called the doctor again. We went in that day (February 12) and while Eli was free and clear of ear infections, we found out he had a VIRAL INFECTION in his throat. It was mild, thankfully, but the blister was on his right side which was why he was pulling on his right ear, most likely, Dr. Herman told us.
Unfortunately there is nothing you can really do about a virus but he told me I could give him infant's motrin, which I picked up on the way home. When we got home, Eli was fussing around and I decided to peek into his mouth and found he had finally cut his first lower incisor. We had suspected him teething for months and so I had kinda thought his cold symptoms were being exacerbated by teething symptoms.
Here we are a week later and he received a clean bill of health at his check up so now I'm going to be trying to enforce sleep a little more. I've completely backed off the last month and a half since crying it out was impossible (drainage and gagging and that whole bit) and I felt so guilty if I didn't immediately respond to his cries. He has been spending the first part of the night in his crib and then somewhere along the line I bring him in and he sleeps the rest of the night on me.
NOW, moving on.
At 6 months old Eli's favorite things are...
+ his exersaucer! he can spend a lot of time in there entertaining himself
+ baths/water! he is really into splashing and trying to grab the water as it comes out of the faucet.
+ reaching/grabbing! this baby is going after EVERYTHING.
+ rolling! last week he did a fully successful roll from back to tummy and he has been going crazy with it ever since. sadly, this means i can't just lay him on the floor anymore while i try and get things done. he has also been preferring to sleep on his stomach since he learned this new trick.
+ simon! sometimes i think simon is eli's favorite person in our family.
+ the vacuum cleaner! he delights in my efforts to keep our floors swept.
Things Eli may or may not enjoy...
+ reading! he likes to eat the book, not look at it.
+ sesame street! he seems to enjoy it when there are kids talking/kids singing but otherwise he ignores the tv.
Here's hoping the next month is at least a little easier than the last, at least as far as sleep goes. It's kind of amazing how *little* you can handle when you haven't slept properly in half a year.
Still worth it.
