Half Way

I can't believe we are half way to Luke's 1st birthday!! It is going WAY too fast!! I'm not ready to lose my baby. It amazes me how much babies grow, develop, and learn in just 6 months. Luke has done so much this past month. He has sitting completely down. He can sit and play with toys with no problems. He isn't doing the official crawl, but he makes his way around...forward this month! I don't even know how to describe what Luke does, but he has a combination of a lunge crawl, army crawl, scoot, pull thing that he does to get himself where he needs to be. He gets on his hands and knees, but just doesn't quite move his arms like a typical crawl, so he lunges forward. He also digs his toes into the ground in combination with an army crawl. However he decides to move, he's determined to get to anything he has his eye on.

He has been trying different fruits and vegetables - pears, apples, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn. I stopped cereal because it constipated him. I am waiting for his 6 month check up to see what the doctor suggests. Though, after eating some fruits and vegetables, his digestive tract seems to be a lot more regular. He has pooped every day this week....he's never pooped that many days in a row! Luke likes pretty much anything I feed him. He wasn't as thrilled about green beans as the other ones, but he still ate them. He still doesn't have any teeth, despite thinking they were coming in when I posted at 5 months.

Two of my favorite things Luke did this month are giving kisses and saying "Mama". Yes, that's right "Mama" was his first word!!! He has said the "M" sound a few times in previous months while babbling, but I think this "Mama" was intentional. I put him on the bed with Matt and walked into his room to get a diaper. He started crabbing a little and then turned to look for me and said "Mama". I think I can speak for most moms when I say that there is nothing better than hearing, "Mama", especially for the first time. Luke says "Mama" while babbling, but since that first time, he has said it a few more times while wanting/looking for me. And of course he gives the sweetest kisses. If I hold him up and say, "Give Mommy kisses," he comes at me with an open mouth and gives me a kiss. Sometimes he puts his hands on my cheeks while he gives me kisses....so sweet! He will give anyone kisses, not just me, but I love that he understands what it means now. It only adds to his pure sweetness.

His stranger anxiety has gotten better. He will let family (and even sometimes people he hasn't met...I know them but he doesn't.....I don't let complete strangers hold my baby) hold him without crying....most of the time. He is still uneasy if he is in the stroller if someone talks to him and he can't see me. His "scared" cry is pretty loud and he has shared it with several cashiers and store workers. He does also quite often share his big dimply smile with people at the stores.

What else can I say....Luke is still a smiley, happy, easy going, sweet, cuddly, adorable, loveable baby. I love him so very much and he has brought so much happiness to our family the past 6 months. Here are some pictures from the past month:

Luke sporting his Cardinals shirt and hat on opening day. A side note about this picture....Luke isn't that fond of the grass. He gets a funny look on his face every time I put him in the grass and has even cried several times. This day was no different. As soon as I sat him in the grass, he cried. It took him a while to be okay with sitting there and even longer to get him to smile. Check out how tightly curled his toes are.

He can't see himself in the mirror on this toy yet, but he still loves playing with the buttons and watching the lights.

Practicing his "standing". This was actually taken a few days after he turned 6 months old. He can stand there holding onto the table by himself for about a minute.

He looks so old and big when he sits and plays. =(

All dressed up for church.

Andrew and Ella were playing Hungry Hungry Hippo. Luke really wanted to join the action, so I sat him like he was playing. We kept the little white balls on Andrew and Ella's side and Luke sat there watching and "playing". He thought he was one of the big kids and was pretty excited about it.