Philip - 6 months old

My little baby Philip turned 6 months old this week. His half birthday as some call it. Philip is a joy. He's such an easygoing baby. I got really lucky with two great babies. Philip is my ticklish one and his laugh will just warm your heart...as well as his smile. I love to hug and cuddle with him because he's so cushy. I think I am enjoying Philip more as a baby than I did with Charlie. I think it's just he second baby thing and I'm not so nervous about everything...I don't really have time to be paranoid!

Philip has gotten really active in the last month. He rolls and rolls and rolls. He is never still and will not stay in one spot if you lay him down. He has begun to spend a little more time on his belly since he will now play with toys around him. I think he still prefers to be on his back though. Philip reaches out and can grasp things quite well. Everything goes to the mouth though which is a change from Charlie. Charlie was very picky about what went in his mouth. Philip prefers fabric...your shirt, his burp cloths, blankets, etc. If he's near one, he's pulling it towards the mouth to suck on it. He has recently found his feet. They've become great entertainment for him. He has yet to get them to his mouth but he keeps trying. :)

I have determined the little piggy will eat whatever you give him. There's no turning food away. He is doing great with solids. We've gone through many veggies and have moved on to some fruits. He has yet to turn his nose up at anything. Up until a couple of days ago, it hadn't affected the time between feedings off mama but recently I have noticed he's holding out a little longer. Not by much but some. He has really just begun to not nurse as long since we started solids. It's still about every 2.5 hours between feedings.

He continues to sleep well. I've begun to notice a little bit of a routine in naps during the day and have been trying to get some kind of schedule with him. Most days his nightly routine consists of eating dinner, nursing around 7:30 or so and then to bed by 8:30. He will sleep for around 11 to 12 hours.

Philip has found his voice. It is so sweet to listen to him. I really don't know how he's going to get a word in with his older brother, Mr. Chatterbox, living here but we'll see! I've heard/seen him blow raspberries so he this is beginning to become fun for him. His laughs and squeals are even sweet and nobody can bring those out like Charlie. Philip loves to watch Charlie...and Charlie eats it up! Philip is already showing signs of wanting to be down on the floor after his big brother so I have a feeling he might be on the move sooner than we want him too!

Philip is gaining strength to sit up on his own. He does fairly well if supported but just folds double if you try and get him to do it on his own. That's mainly due to the fact that he's found his feet so he's usually after them.

Philip's 6 month well check-up is on Tuesday so I'll post his stats then...hopefully. :) This two kids thing makes it harder to find time to get frivilous things done and nighttime is becoming sacred since Charlie rarely naps during the day. Blogging gets pushed to the backburner as evidenced that I haven't blogged in almost 2 weeks. So, anyway...enjoy some pics...

snow days...

Well, I think the correct saying would be "snow daze". Man, what a week it was last week. Sunday night brought about 3 inches of snow here in Kennesaw, GA. By morning, it was at about 4.5 inches. The metro ATL area was at a standstill. The roads were awful with no relief in sight since most counties are quite limited on equipment for this type of thing. It didn't get above freezing for a couple of days. Therefore...ice...everywhere. Daniel didn't go into work Monday or Tuesday since he wasn't sure that he would make it there. He did manage to get there on Wednesday but he said the parking lot at work was just ice. I managed to get out and about on Thursday. The roads were pretty well cleared but there were still some patches of ice that you had to look out for. The schools here in Cobb County were out all week due to the road conditions. As of today, 7 days later, there is still snow on the ground. Weird, I know.

Charlie had a ball getting outside and playing in the snow. The issue we had with him at Christmas was that his hands got wet through his gloves and got cold so we found a way to remedy that for this snow adventure...ziploc bags. :) We put on his usual gloves, ziploc bags and then a pair of mittens. (Daniel and I did the same thing with our feet, just with Walmart bags.) We didn't figure Charlie would stay out there that long so I didn't layer him up as I should. That wasn't the smartest move but knew better for the second day out. He was out there a while both days...and had so much fun! The snow was really dry on Monday but by Tuesday, Daniel and Charlie were out there rolling the snow to make snowmen...4 to be exact. One for Daddy, one for Mommy, one for Charlie and one for Philip.

I did get Philip out there for a few pics but by the time I did, Charlie was ready to come in (as you'll see in one of the pics), so I didn't really get any good ones of the two boys. Our next door neighbors got out and played with us in the snow as well.

Tonight was the first time this has ever happened...

Ever been so tired that you couldn't even make it through dinner? I guess it's been too many late nights playing the Wii with Daddy...

Since we haven't been able to get out of the house because of the snow and ice this week, I haven't been too strict on bedtime because it just makes it so we can all sleep in.

The Wii

As I mentioned in a previous post, we got a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. Charlie had played on one at Daniel's parents house and we have all come to love it. So, taking our own home was a treat.

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I also got the Wii Fit to go with it. Daniel has used it as much, if not more, than I have and Charlie loves to watch him play. My parents also gave Charlie his on mini remote that is just his size. This has allowed him to play without any help and he has gotten quite good! His game pattern of choice is boxing, then baseball, then bowling and he recently added tennis. He is undefeated in boxing! Charlie has already gone pro in the game! Those gut shots and hits to the knees are hard to block! :)

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Charlie keeps getting better and better at bowling. Daniel's been working on his game as well. Charlie got a new record the other night...see pic below. Daniel had a bad game as you can see in the pic as well!

Christmas in AL

We spent a few days between Christmas and New Year's in AL visiting family. We were all excited about Christmas this year because Charlie is of an age where he is all into presents and because it was Philip's first Christmas.

The first night we were there, we celebrated Christmas at my parents' house.Aunt Laura and Uncle Jimmy came by for the festivities. Charlie was, as always, the center of attention. He helped everyone open their presents and we enjoyed as he opened each of his. He took time to play with each one. Some of the highlights for Charlie were Follow Me Thomas, Stinky the garbage truck, and a big wheel. Philip's big gift was a Sesame Street walker and he got many other toys including cars, teethers, and rattles. The favorite gift was a Nintendo Wii! Here are some pics...

Later in the week, we celebrated Christmas with the Ward side of the family. Daniel's sister and her family came to Elba. After a yummy dinner, we got to the gifts. Branson, my nephew, and Charlie just went ahead and opened all their gifts and then the rest of us took the time to enjoy each other's gifts. Some of the highlights for Charlie were a Batman car, a bulldozer, and a Thomas toboggan. Philip got many toys including a CD player and a Peek A Boo blocks wagon. Here are some pics...

Both boys were spoiled...I mean, blessed...by all our family. Thanks. We wouldn't want it any other way! :)

our white Christmas

We had a white Christmas in 2010. It was just a couple of inches but white nonetheless. We had fun getting Charlie out in it to play some and got a few pictures of Philip's first snow...

Philip - 5 months old

Well, before Philip turns 6 months old, I guess I should post about him being 5 months old. :) He's still my little chunky monkey...weighing in at almost 20 pounds. And, I just can't get enough of those sweet chubby cheeks. Best sugar around! Philip has begun to make more sounds and loves talking to you and to any of his toys. He loves his big brother as well and nobody can make him giggle like Charlie can. Philip is grasping things with both hands and, of course, they go immediately to the mouth. He prefers soft fabrics to chew/suck on. We've been known to give him a burp cloth to soothe him. Philip can roll from front to back and back to front. He is a rolly polly and it's hard to keep him on his mat...he just keeps rolling off it into the floor. Philip is eating and sleeping good. I'm hoping you can't feed a baby too much because he eats whatever I give him. He's tried green beans and carrots. I've begun to make food for Philip just as I did with Charlie. Doing that just makes me feel so great...not only that I can save the money but that I can do something so good for him. It also gives him more variety. I have finally gotten Philip to take a bottle again (please don't let this have jinxed it!). However, I have never been able to get him to take a paci. He still prefers his thumb and has taken to it even more the past couple of weeks. Well, I think that's about it so here are some pics for you and a video I took last night of him just "talking"...

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