Damian got me/us an iPad for Christmas and I’ve enjoyed it, but certainly not found it life changing (I’ve just treated it as a big iPhone)…until today. It paid for itself in 20 minutes and had Ellie and I in hysterics.
Ellie said this is a picture of her as a sun.
I really don’t know how long it will be before we get a family picture of all five of us looking good…or even just looking at the camera. I admittedly don’t try to get pictures of the three kids together nearly often enough, but man, it is such a whippin’ when I do try. I know, I know, I should just capture them messing about and know that I’ll love looking back on the pictures, but the photo shoot always goes something like “Okay, guys, smile? Smile! Ellie, let’s see a real smile. Come on, cheesy-weesy. Ellie, stop growling – I just want one good picture – come on, let’s see your sweet smile. Cheesy-wee- Charlie, stop poking Keanan in the ear! Okay, let’s see some smiles. Oh wait, Keanan is falling…and drooling. Okay, cheese! CHARLIE. STOP POKING KEANAN. I know you guys have great smiles – let’s see them. Ellie, please put your tongue back in your mouth. CHARLIE!!!…oh forget it.” It’s exhausting…for all of us.
This little boy has everyone in the house wrapped around his little finger…well, at least three of us…Charlie just likes poking him in the face and Gracie is really irritated that he’s not eating solids on a regular basis (more my fault than his – I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get all three of them fed at the same time – who has the time?!). Anyway, he’s just such a love – all smiles, most of the time.
I still can’t quite believe it, but at 6 months, Keanan is working on crawling. He has no problem popping up onto hands and knees, but he hasn’t quite figured out how to go forward (he can scoot backwards at lightening speed). He’s literally done one little crawl, but I suspect it won’t be long before he’s motoring around like a pro. Thank goodness Damian has built some awesome shelves in the playroom – we’ve gotta get this house back in babyproofing mode!
I know every parent has to say this, but I can’t believe my baby is 6 months old already! I can’t believe it, but I’m excited about it. I feel like the first six months are just about survival and now the real fun begins!
We haven’t taken Keanan in for a well visit since his 1-month visit (because we’re delaying his vaccines), but I did take him in today to get his measurements (the part of a well visit that I look forward to the most anyway). Looks like the little man has been focusing more on getting longer than on chunking up (but I’ll still call him a chunky monkey). He weighs 17 lbs, 7 oz, which puts him in the 50th percentile (WHAT? A Hirst baby in the 50th percentile? Perhaps, I do need to take him to the doctor to make sure he isn’t malnourished). And he’s 28.5 inches long, which puts him in the 96th percentile.
At six months Ellie weighed 20 lbs, 1 oz, and Charlie weighed 18 lbs, 2 oz. Ellie and Charlie were both 27.25 inches long. I’m sort of doubting my measurement of Keanan (I actually did the measuring myself), but I do get lots of comments about how long he is, so I guess it’s possible that he’s longer than Ellie and Charlie were, but it just seems strange that he’s the longest and the lightest.
Since losing the swaddle at night, Keanan has really honed his rolling skills. Obviously Ellie and Charlie could roll over as babies, but I don’t remember either of them rolling as a mode of transportation. Keanan, on the other hand, absolutely rolls with a purpose…and at lightening speed. I put him down on/in the gym in the foreground of this picture, walked out of the room for a couple of minutes and found him in this position (all the way back by the fireplace). I love the path of toys that he left in his wake.
In the midst of all of the craziness that seems to engulf most of our days, I’m occasionally stopped in my tracks by the incredible sweetness shared between these kids, especially Ellie and Charlie. They are truly best friends – they miss each other on the rare occasion that they’re not together, and otherwise they’re constant companions. Every day, it feels a little more like we’re raising twins. And the craziest thing is that some day, in the not too distant future, it may feel like we’re raising triplets – pretty hard to believe right now since Keanan is still such a baby, but I know that gap will close quickly.
One of the kids’ favorite things to do is to play outside…add lunch or a snack and they’re in heaven!
Pretty amazing that they were comfortably dressed like this in February!
As part of my nightly routine with Keanan, I give him a bath in the kitchen (so I can keep an eye on Ellie and Charlie). I’ve found I can also get a bunch of dishes washed.
This chunky monkey loves his bath!
Although we’ve had an amazingly mild winter, we still suffer from a bit of cabin fever from time-to-time, so I was so happy to stumble upon this little beauties…water beads! They start out tiny (maybe twice the size of a sesame seed); you soak them in water for 6-8 hours and they plump up into these fascinating little balls. We all (the bigs, Damian and me) enjoyed playing with them.
Sweet Keanan has challenged us in every imaginable way when it comes to getting him to sleep. He started as an amazing nighttime sleeper, but a terrible napper (30 minute snoozes don’t cut it when you’re a newborn), then his nighttime sleep fell apart too. We tried absolutely everything until the only remaining option was to hire a professional…either a shrink for me or a sleep coach for Keanan. We went with the latter. Her name is Angel and I don’t know that she totally lives up to the name, but she has helped a lot. The last major challenge was getting him out of the swaddle. I had been putting Keanan in two swaddles – the first was truly a baby straightjacket – there was absolutely no way he could move his arms (ask Shiny Grandpa – it took him about 20 minutes just to figure out how to Keanan out of it) – and then, just for good measure, I put another swaddle on top of that. So, needless to say, going cold turkey on the swaddle was a big deal. But Keanan is doing great. He figured out pretty quickly that being able to chew/suck on his hands and lovies, and sleep on his side or tummy was MUCH better than being in the straightjacket. He’s still not sleeping through the night and he’s usually up for at least an hour in the middle of the night, but, sadly, that’s real progress.
His last nap as a burrito:
I love comparing pictures of the kiddos…and I love that Keanan is such a blend of Ellie and Charlie.
