Baby Joaquin: 6 and 7 Month Update

My little Joaquinnie pants is now 7 months old.  These past two months have been so much fun for our little family because Joaquin has developed his little personality and has hit so many milestones. Right now, he is an adventurous baby boy. His favorite thing to do is crawl around the house following Sonic around. As you can imagine, Sonic does not approve of this, but he's a good sport about it and doesn't get mad but instead he rather calmly, yet irritatedly walks away. I'm always in close quarters just in case he decides to get crazy....and when I say he I mean both Joaquin and Sonic.

He also loves to navigate his way under, over, and through different things. Hence, this adorable picture with his playmat on his back. I don't know HOW he did this.

Other milestones include celebrating his first Mother's and Father's day,

riding on his first train,

going to the beach and the pool, lookin' all cool,

and being a big boy and feeding himself.

I'm just so proud of my smart baby boy. I can't get enough of him. I'm sure you can tell from the millions of pictures.

Here's a few other stats.

Size: He weighed in at 17 pounds during his 6 month check up. He has to be 18-19 now. He is wearing 9-12 month clothes now, mainly because he is in the 90th percentile in height.

Tall like Daddy!

Eating: I have been pureeing food like a maniac mom...a momiac. He's been eating sweet potato, zucchini squash, sweet peas, and bananas. We are limiting his fruits to one type a month  so he doesn't develop a sweet tooth and ditch his veggies. He still eats his brown rice cereal and I've put him back on baby oatmeal for breakfast. He is no longer allergic to the wheat. Yay!

Sleeping: UGH! The thorn in my sleepy paw. He is now back to waking up two times a night to eat. I've tried everything from giving him a pacifier to letting him cry (my heart can only take so much crying, you know.) and nothing but a bottle seems to work. I've done a bit of reading and all signs point to nighttime hunger. It stays consistent with his daytime feeding time frames, every  4 hours. He wakes up at midnight, then again at 4 am, then he wakes up for good at 6, but isn't hungry until 7. It's draining but Thank God I'm on summer vaction. Once, I brought him into bed with me at 6 in the morning and magically he fell back asleep. He has yet to do this again.

Next up: Summertime fun with Mommy! This might be the best summer yet.

Feeding Your Baby for the First Time

Joaquin started his Baby Foodie Adventures, starting with baby cereal.

When we started: Hubby and I spent month 4 arguing about whether or not we should start Joaquin on cereal. It was a big debate because some people think 4 months is just too early. I disagree, especially when you have a chunky monkey baby on your hands who is obviously getting tired of his milk.The LA Times came out with an article, conveniently during our argument, which talks about mothers giving food too soon. They say 6 months is the earliest you should give your baby food, including cereal. We compromised and waited until 5 months. I feel confident about our decision.

Choosing the goods: After surveying all of my mommy friends and co-workers, I took the advice of a co-worker who brought up the idea of probiotics. I take probiotics myself, so I know the benefits it can have.There are so many great benefits to probiotics and I feel great knowing he can partake in the probiotic party! Before this, he was so constipated from the soy formula we had switched to. I did some research and found Happy Bellies Brown Rice Cereal. I was so happy that it was at my local Target, too! Joaquin LOVES it and he is pooping to his stomach's content.

Target.com

Feeding Fun: We started off feeding him in the Bumbo and soon learned that it was too messy. We received this First Years Portable High Chair from our Baby Shower so I was excited to finally put it to good use. You can recline the seat just a smidge which is extra supportive for baby's back. It's a nice pick for someone who doesn't want a full on high chair.

Apparently it's a good idea to have the right type of spoon. I did not know this until I went to the feeding products section and saw a crap load of spoons. I was just going to pick the cutest of the bunch but I picked these Evenflo Zoo Friends Soft Tip Spoons because they are soft for baby's little teeth. This is important when they are learning to chew. These spoons are also nice because they change color when the food is too hot.

To limit messes, I also picked up these Neat Solutions Easywipe bibs. They are large enough to shield baby from disasterous spills and easy for me to wipe down afterwards. They have ubercute patterns, too.

While I was having fun purchasing all this junk, Joaquin was clueless and probably could care less about the excitement of trying something new. I'd like to think he appreciates his fancy spoons but who knows if he even noticed. But I do know this, he loved his cereal. He loved it in the cutest way possible. I loved watching him take his first bite and making a crazy crazy mess. THAT, is priceless.