Holy crap.
It has been half a year since Lil’ Ziggy came into our lives! Six whole months ago, I gave birth to a squealing, flailing, teeny tiny baby, and I had no idea then just how much life would change.
Six months ago, I laid in my hospital bed and stared at a sweet, swaddled, sleeping burrito baby in a plastic bassinet. I just watched him breathe, in and out. He was so quiet as he slept, I kept reaching over and touching his face, holding my fingers in front of his nose, just to be sure. I still do it every once in a while.
Six months ago, I became his mother.
Last night, Chris played some videos that he took of Ziggy in the first days and weeks of his life. I sat there, tears in my eyes, and I couldn’t believe how different he is now compared to then. I had almost forgotten the tiny, jerky movements, or the funny little snort/snarf noises he made. I’m so glad Chris took those videos, so I’ll never forget how small he was compared to my husband’s hand.
It’s amazing to see Lil’ Ziggy grow up before my eyes, and a little sad, too. I know that in a matter of weeks he’ll be scooting around, getting into anything and everything he can. I can just tell that he’s going to be the type of kid that never stops, always on the move. I have a feeling he’s going to skip crawling and go straight to standing up. He’s so strong already!
In the past month, he’s started teething. I can see the bump and a tiny white spot emerging on his upper gumline, but it hasn’t quite come through yet. I guess a lot of babies get their two bottom middle teeth first, but Ziggy’s likely going to pop a top tooth before the bottom ones. It’s been causing a little bit of restlessness, irritability and super rosy cheeks, but for the most part he’s still my happy-go-lucky Ziggy. I’ll cherish the photos I have of him with his wide, gummy smile and pray that he doesn’t start biting me!
Lil’ Ziggy has also started sleeping on his stomach. As I reported in his Four Month Baby Update, he’s rolling from back to front pretty consistently now. At night we’ll usually nurse lying down, then he’ll roll over and fall asleep. For the first couple of nights, I barely slept myself. I just kept putting my hand in front of his face to make sure he was still breathing properly. But my strong Ziggy has enough head and body strength to fix his position if something isn’t working for him, so I’ve chilled out a bit.
Lastly, in the past month we’ve (sorta) started giving Lil’ Ziggy solid food. I say sorta, because it’s not like I’ve been sitting him in the high chair and spooning baby food into his mouth. We’ve really only tried it a couple of times, and it consisted of me mashing up something on my dinner plate and placing it on his tongue. The first thing we tried was a small piece of broccoli and a bit of mashed potato. I couldn’t really tell if he liked it, but he didn’t spit it out and grimace, so it couldn’t have been that bad. He definitely wasn’t a fan of cooked carrot, however. He didn’t spit it out, but he made a very dramatic “yucky!” face, complete with head-turning from side to side. I laughed at his misfortune.
To be honest, I’ve been nervous about giving him solid food “for real”. I don’t even know why, but I think it may be a fear that my milk will dry up. I don’t know how based in fact that fear really is, but it’s given me some anxiety regardless. I’m working on a post reflecting on six months of exclusive breastfeeding where I’ll go into more detail. Maybe it’s just the thought that if I start solid foods, there’s “no going back”. Maybe it’s the fear that if he’s eating solid food, he’s no longer a tiny baby and he’s grown into a little boy. I know it’s a good thing, but it’s a little hard to swallow right now (pun intended).
In other updatey news, we are settling into Calgary just fine, and we’re moving into a rental house next week. It’s a lovely little house, with a finished basement and a backyard for Lil’ Ziggy to run around in next summer. As grateful as I am to have our friends put us up for over a month, I’m looking forward to being in our own space. It’s meant many trips to IKEA but hey, we’re in Calgary. We can do that!
I’ve also been welcomed into a great group of moms who have babies around the same age as Ziggy. We go on walking adventures on Wednesdays, and last weekend we had an awesome pot-luck picnic to celebrate the collective 6-month birthdays of our children. I’m so thankful to have friends in this new city to help me get settled in. When you move somewhere new, if you just keep to yourself instead of getting out there and meeting people, you’ll find it difficult to ever call that place home. A former coworker of mine once told me, “home is what you make it”. And it’s so very true.
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AHHH! 6 months! I seriously can’t believe it either. Claire will be there in 2 weeks and I’m just like WHAT?!
I LOVE the pictures you took of him. So sweet! He is SUPER cute!
We started solids early because Claire has been slow to gain weight so our pedi recommended it starting at 4 months. I waited until about 5 months though. Some days I sit her down and she eats two “meals” with us (lunch/dinner as first thing in the AM always ends in tears). I have tried both solid foods & purees. She is not terribly interested in anything but some days she’s eating a lot! I haven’t noticed any decrease in my supply and I have always had a pretty low supply too. I’m really hoping to breastfeed a year+ and would not mind doing extended breastfeeding if that works out, so I am terrified too of when that may end! I hope more solids go well for you guys.
Thanks Melissa! Ziggy’s just started solids last week, and he hasn’t been incredibly pumped about it either. Hoping it becomes more enjoyable for him as he discovers more food!