Half a Year

How can my sweet baby boy be 6 months already?  I know time always flies with babies, but I think due to the fact that Alexander is the first baby I am away from full-time, he seems to be growing up even faster.  Sad.  He is the happiest, most content baby we've ever had.  And he has changed my mind that I'm not a "baby person".  He is that lovable :)

(ready to go to the nanny's house)

This little guy is definitely our biggest baby, weighing in at 21 pounds 12 ounces.  He is wearing 12 month old clothes, and size 5 diapers.  He was born the biggest of all my babies (8 lbs 14 oz.) but I think he's a little bigger than he would be if I were at home with him, since his loving nanny likes to feed him.  It's a cultural thing.  She takes such wonderful care of him, so I can't really complain.  But he's going to outgrow his car seat already!

Xander can sit and play with toys, and is this.close to crawling.  He can roll and squirm himself to where he wants to go on the floor.  He loves being on his belly since that's how he prefers to sleep.  Speaking of sleep, he is still such a great sleeper, going to bed at 7 pm and waking up around 6 am.   Even when he wakes up in his crib, he just blows raspberries or coos until we pick him up.  I seem to remember my other babies crying to get picked up. 

Since he has 4 siblings who go to school, Xander gets sick a lot.  He has already had a few colds, a double ear infection, a stomach virus, another ear infection, croup, and bronchialitis in his short life time.  I hope he just spends his first year of life sick and then develops antibodies to get him through the rest of his toddler years.  My doctor says kids either tend to get sick during their first year of life (due to daycare and siblings) or in their first year at school.  We are hoping she's right!  We are also keeping an eye on his ears and will request tubes if he gets another infection anytime soon.  I can't stand seeing him on stronger and stronger antibiotics while he's this young.

(John-Paul giving him a nebulizer treatment)

Alexander still has his hematoma on his forehead.  I think it has faded since birth (hard to tell because his skin has gotten more pale once the jaundice went away), but it's still pretty noticeable.  We will have it removed if it doesn't go away on it's own, but it seems like it's heading in the right direction.

Oh, look at that drool hanging off his chin.  This kid has been teething since he was born ;)  He has two bottom teeth, and is working on those top ones.  I always think that when babies get their top teeth they look so grown up, so hopefully he'll spare me for a while.  Because he won't be a baby for too much longer, and I want to enjoy the moments while I can.