Essential Wellness Ottawa: May 2015

So Cooper is 6 months old. We had his 6 month check-up and he is growing so fast. He is 17 lbs 6 ounces and 27 inches long which puts him in the 50th percentile for weight and 65th percentile for height. He is also in the 70th percentile for head circumference.

He has officially outgrown his 3-6 month sleepers but he still fits into a lot of his 3-6 month T-shirts and onsies. However, for the most part, he is wearing 6-9 month clothing.

This month he had so many "firsts". It was the first time he ate solids. He was exclusively breastfed until he was 6 months old. We skipped giving him any cereals and we started with Baby Led Weaning (BLW) when he turned 6 months old. I may do a separate post and go into more detail about BLW, but to summarize it for those of you who are not familiar with BLW, it basically means that you don't spoon feed your child purees. Instead, you let your baby lead the way and feed itself finger foods from the start. It is going so well for us and Cooper loves dinner time. The motto we follow is "Food For Fun until 1". This means Cooper is still being predominantly breastfed. We usually only feed him solids once per day and I nurse him before we feed him solids so he is still getting most of his nutrients from breastmilk. I plan to continue in this manner until he is 1. So far, he is still nursing the same amount.

The first food we gave him was avocado and we just cut it in slices and he fed himself. Since then we have given him bananas, strawberries, oranges, cucumber, broccoli, chicken, pasta noodles, carrots, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe, pizza (just the veggies off it and some crust and sauce), and tomatos. He LOVES grape tomatos. He tends to suck out the juicy part and then spits out the skin.

This month was also the first time he went on vacation and flew on a plane. We took our first family vacation to Florida in April. We had a direct flight from Ottawa to Fort Lauderdale and it was about a 3 1/2 hour flight. On the way there he got his own seat (only because the plane wasn't full). He only slept for about 45 minutes but he was still well behaved. He slept most of the flight on the way back but it seemed like his ears were hurting during the decent. He cried for about 5 minutes during the decent and he kept holding/rubbing his ears. However, he was fine after we landed.

Along with flying on a plane, it was also his first time swimming in the ocean and playing in the sand. He was a bit afraid of the ocean when the waves were rolloing in but we went to a calm, secluded beach in Key Largo and he really liked that beach since there were no waves. He also enjoyed the sand...so much so that he decided to eat a bunch of sand! LOL! It was funny because I was trying so hard not to let him put anything dirty in his mouth and then he goes and eats a fistful of sand! Oh well...he survived!

Overall travelling with Cooper was pretty easy. However, I think if you plan to travel with a young baby, you really have to try and be easy going. Typically, I am NOT that easy going but I tried to let loose a bit and I think that made things go a bit smoother.

This month was also Cooper's first time at the park. I put him in the baby swing which he liked. I am looking forward to checking out all the parks in my neighbourhood this summer. We both really like being outdoors!

Other Milestones: Cooper now sits up really well. He can sit for several minutes by himself but I still usually sit right by him or put a pillow behind him. He has fallen back while sitting on the carpet. It scared us both but he only whimpered a bit and was fine.

He finally rolled from his back to his stomach. I didn't see it but I always lie him on his back for naps and when I went to go and get him after his nap, he was on his stomach.

We have stopped swaddling him now. We actually swaddled him until he was 6 months since he wasn't rolling over and it helped him sleep so much better.

We also had a 6 month photoshoot. I won a photoshoot a couple months ago from a Facebook Giveaway so I got some pictures done of him at 6 months. They turned out really well and I was happy that I got a couple shots of him sitting up.

He absolutely loves his jumperoo and he can jump so well in it now. We also added a couple of extra toys that we bought separately which he seems to enjoy.

I had my first Mother's Day which turned out to be a great day. Cooper actually slept in an extra hour so that was nice and Mitch looked after him a bit in the morning so I can relax with my coffee. Then Mitch took me out for lunch. In the afternoon my mom came over for a visit and she took me out for dinner and ice cream. We wanted to take Cooper to the park but unfortunately it was raining so we skipped it.

I am seriously so blessed to have this boy and be able to be his mommy! It is so much fun watching him grow up. Can't wait to see what he learns next month!

Here are some pictures from this past month...