Nathan is half a year old!

Thankfully we jotted down some notes so we could remember what our sweet third child was doing when he turned six months old back on May 16. :)

Nathan loves to grab things and put them directly into his mouth. He has an amazingly long reach. When we hold him during breakfast time, we have place our bowl of cereal nearly in the center of the table to avoid him grabbing the side and dumping everything out. :) Nathan also loves grabbing and sucking on his toes.

Though he still wobbles when sitting, he enjoys sitting up with the help of the Bumbo seat. He can roll both ways and purposely toward objects that he wants. He prefers to be held -- especially being held in a standing position on someone's lap or facing out.

We still get lots of comments about Nathan's beautiful hair. Most of the time, Nathan has a cute little patch of "alfalfa" hair on the top of his head. We had to give him his first haircut this month -- the back was getting SO long.

before haircut

As we've been spending much more time outside this month, Nathan has gotten quite a few mosquito bites, even if we use bug bands. Nathan seems to have sweeter blood than anyone in our family -- he'll end up with more bites than the rest of us combined. Poor guy!

Nathan flaps his arms like crazy when he gets excited -- especially when he sees Momma, Daddy, or his big brothers. Some of Nathan's favorites include peek-a-boo, silly noises, bath time, anything that's crinkly (especially disposable water bottles), swings, or being carried in the Baby Bjorn. He's starting to outgrow his activity gym and bouncy seat; they don't keep him entertained like they used to. Nathan loves watching what is going on (especially with his brothers)! He's mostly a quiet observer but will occasionally squeal or laugh with delight.

Nathan still wakes up to nurse a few times each night. He's starting to fight falling asleep in our arms at naptime as well. Instead of drifting off to sleep while we cradle him in our arms like he used to, we have to hold him upright with his head on our shoulder. He'd much rather be awake and part of the action. Nathan takes his longest naps if he's in a moving swing, but he is getting better at napping in his Pack and Play.

On Nathan's six month birthday, everyone here (Ian, Ryan, Daddy, Momma, Grammy, and Uncle Jason) took turns feeding him rice cereal mixed with breastmilk ...

He opened his mouth like a champ and seemed to know just what to do! He doesn't open his mouth as eagerly for the vitamin drops that we give him at bathtime, but that's understandable. :)

We are so in love with our little half-year old! God has richly blessed us with and through you!