I cannot believe you are 6 months old already, my sweet sweet baby James. You are such a sweetheart. And a great sleeper! You are sleeping now, in fact. You usually go to bed at about 7:30 or 8, and sleep until 6:30, give or take a half hour. Your dad and I know that we are so, so lucky about that. We try not to take it for granted. We are lucky in many ways. You are so mellow; so even-tempered. You are a very go with the flow baby, and it makes our lives so much easier. I wish we could take credit for that, but I’m pretty sure it’s just how you are. Whatever it is, we’ll keep it!

You haven’t started solids yet, but Grandma Mary did give you a pickle last time we were at her house, and you had a couple tiny pieces of watermelon at Daddy’s company picnic on Sunday. You weren’t so sure about either one at first, but after a moment to consider you loved it and wanted more. At least until you were actually hungry. Then all you want is Momma’s milk.

You aren’t crawling, but you can roll from your back to your stomach and then back again. You don’t do it a lot, but you definitely are able, and you seem to do it most often when we aren’t watching you. We’ll be making dinner, or in the bedroom for a moment, and we’ll come back and you’ll be on a different side than we left you. You always look at us as if to say, “Well, duh! Why shouldn’t I roll over!?” You are also sitting on your own. We still need to be nearby, because you will invariably lean too far back or to the side and tip right over. It is so cute, and so far we’ve avoided any head bonks, but I’m sure they’ll be coming.

You don’t like tummy time very much, and so any progression towards crawling is slow. But you are a lot more tolerant of it now than you used to be, and so we’ll take that as a step forward, so to speak. Your dad and I aren’t too anxious for you to start crawling, anyway. That would mean we have to pack up all the cds and movies (or at least get them off the floor). Our apartment isn’t anywhere near baby-proof.

You started saying a couple consonants the weekend before last, and it is so amazing to see that progression. You babble at Daddy and I constantly; especially in the car on the way too and from daycare. I wish we could understand what you are saying, because I’m sure it is fascinating.

Daddy and I love you, sweet pea. We are excited to watch you continue to grow and learn. If you could just slow time down a bit so we are better able to enjoy it, that would be great.

Love,

Momma

In the hospital; just a couple days old.

James 1 month

James 2 months - photo by our friend Jason

James 3 months

James 4 months

James 5 months

James 6 months

And no, we aren’t letting him drink Mountain Dew. I promise.