physical: hollis had his first ear infection this past week, so i had to bring him to the doctor on the 2nd. he had fever and was the snottiest creature of all time for several days, but amazingly he was not super fussy. he nursed well and slept enough (not great, but i don't have high expectations), so i was reluctant to bring him in, but when the fever came at the tail end of the week, i figured it was an ear infection, so we went to urgent care and got the antibiotic. the silver lining is that i learned that he weighs 17 lbs. 6 oz. on the scale in that room, which i think is probably about spot-on. so, clearly his weight gain has slowed quite a bit. but i'm ok with that, since that means he can wear his cute clothes a little longer. and he can stay my tiny baby for as long as possible. anyway...i'm listening to his heart once or twice a day and it sounds great. he's spitting a tiny bit, but getting better every day. he's still chunky, but leaning up as he gets longer and the rolls thin out. it's bittersweet.
likes: this boy likes almost everything now. he loves watching emme and pulling her hair or my hair. he loves shoving everything into his mouth and passing toys from one hand to another. he adores nursing. he likes it when we hold him up in the air like superman then pull him down and smooch his face. in general, he is a big big fan of face smooching. he loves being in the water - we took him swimming for the first time recently and he laughs and squeaks and wiggles around. he wiggles his legs like a crazy person anytime he is on his back.
dislikes: he's not a huge fan of not being held, but even that is getting better and better. his attention span isn't very long, but he is a baby, so it's ok. he doesn't like to be overly tired or too hot.
biggest achievement of the month: we had a night where hollis slept 11 hours in a row. granted, ek peed in her bed (through her pull-up) that night, and i had a wicked cough, so i was up approximately 36 times, but he did make it 11 hours. that, of course, was followed by the ear infection that got him up every 2 hours or so for the next 6 or 7 nights. sigh. other than that, he's scooting a little bit. gaining core strength as he tries to do sit-ups all the time. but no major major milestones.
biggest challenge of the month: consistently rolling over. he's perfectly capable of this, and i think he's on the verge of a lot of physical progress, but he loses interest and decides to just hang out instead.
nicknames: hb, hollissey, bittles, babbins, bits, bitsy, smalls, bg, chublet, chubbins, duder, little bear - i don't think we've added any new ones lately.
sleep: as i said above, we had a great night and then several not-great-at-all nights. but, we seem to be on a path to goodness. i am always optimistic. ha. for the past week or so - since we started the antibiotic - he's been waking up usually only once around the 2:30 mark. sometimes twice at 12:30 and 4:30, but even that is manageable. we'll get there. he seems so much younger than emme did at this age, so i am not really ready to make him fight it for a super long time.
temperament/personality: despite early warnings to the contrary, hollis is becoming laid back slowly but surely. he is still somewhat demanding and can definitely complain/make himself heard when he's grumpy, but most of the time, he is so so so sweet. especially if he's being held/looked at. he's one of the smiliest kids i've ever seen - he lights up with that big, toothless grin, mouth wide open. i love it.
eating: still just nursing. he hits six months on the fourth of july, and we will have some family in town, so i'm thinking i'll celebrate the occasion by letting him try something then. he's definitely starting to get interested - following food with his eyes and reaching to grab stuff on my plate. i love introducing solids, but for now, he and i are both super happy with our nursing relationship.
superficial: still has those big baby blues. lucky boy. his hair is getting longer and is blonde and fuzzy. he's growing in to his features more and more every day, i think, and the consensus is he looks a whole lot like his daddy (though there may be small tinges of hesterly in there).
motor development: head control is really good now. he's got a great cobra and wiggles like a wild man. i never know what position he will be in in his crib when i go get him. but, he's fairly lazy with all the rest of it and seems to be in no hurry to crawl or roll consistently (or from back to tummy). he'll get there.
pictures!
