van goes mobile

{6 months}



I'm behind, so Van actually hit 6 months 2 weeks ago, but I realized I haven't given an update an him for some time, so here's the rundown.

Our son, it turns out, is a very very active boy. He has more energy than we can sometimes understand or know what to do with! He never stopped moving in my belly, and he hasn't stopped moving since! (we can all guess which one of his parents he gets the wiggles from....)

This kid is nonstop going going going, and he gets bored with any activity within 3 minutes. He's got a chronic case of the jitters, comparable to a constant caffeine rush, without the caffeine. Changing his diaper has become nearly impossible as we find ourselves in a constant wrestling match with a little rolling, twisting, turning body. Although, he has started holding his toes up for us when we change him as soon as we say "hold your toes!," and I have to say, it's the cutest thing ever.



Bathtime, which used to be calming, is now his time to splash, squeal, and grab for everything in sight, and wiggle like maniac. Mealtime can often involve one of us being a one-man circus while the other double crosses the baby by sneaking bites into his mouth while he's distracted. (His weight had dropped from the 50th to 25th percentile at his 6 months appointment, so we have him on the new 'shove-as-much-food-in-your-baby's-head-as-possible' diet.' So far so good.) The good news is Van will eat pretty much whatever we give him, and he is getting better about not having to be quite so entertained while he eats. I've started making some of my own baby food, and he loves that too. It's super easy, and a lot cheaper, so I'm excited to do more (thanks for the inspiration Jami!).

Van's most hated moment in the day when we get him dressed and have to put his hands through his sleeves, I think it's kind of funny but I think he would get even more mad if I laughed. The most commonly used words we use to describe him in our house (besides cute of course, which is our #1 adjective for him, so don't worry, we give him positive reinforcement too) are crazy and insane. The only things that seem to put this boy in a trance are the outdoors, and watching me straighten my hair (so weird, and so funny to watch him stare like that). If we go outside, he can be quiet and good and happy for hours on end.

Oh, and sleep. SLEEP. If there were one unspoken rule of thumb in our house, it would be "play hard, sleep hard", and this kid ROCKS that rule out of the ballpark. After bathtime and storytime, we drop him in the crib at about 8 pm, and don't see his cute little bleary-eyed bed-head face again for 12 hours. It's a beautiful thing. Jon and I have a new wallchatter quote above our bed that says "a day well spent brings happy sleep", and we're ecastatic that Van agrees. He's down to 2 regular naps during the day, with the occasional power nap in the early evening, but he still plays hard enough to tucker himself right out. I tell Jon that all Van does is work out all day long since he just moves nonstop. No wonder he sleeps so well!



When he's asleep, he's the complete opposite of himself at any other time during the day. We swear he looks like a totally different baby...he's so...calm. :) I could stare at my sleeping baby all day long.


And then when he wakes up, his knees are all red from sleeping on them all night long—with his little bum straight in the air. He automatically sleeps that way, no matter what position we lay him down in. It's so dang cute and baffling all at the same time.


He's also been owning the remote control (one of his favorite 'toys that's not a toy', unfortunately one of many, including plugs, cords, electric sockets, flat irons, flashlights, and pretty much anything that's shiny, metal, or glass. Really, how does he know what he's not supposed to touch and go straight for it??) and yes, giving his mother hickies. No joke. I had to explain it to almost everyone who saw me because they all thought it was from Jon. haha


He makes the cutest faces.


Even if sometimes it looks more like he's grimacing. :)


I love these litte pj's, so even though this is like the 5th photo of him in them this post, here is yet another, this one's for my mom so she can see the whole little bodysuit. And check out that bottom lip!


Van's been getting much better at sitting up. He can't get there on his own, but if I put him there, he stay there really well without leaning on anything now. It's so cute and makes him look so much older! And despite the lack of photos showing us outdoors, we have in fact been going out more, thanks to the beautiful weather, and Van has loved being in his baby carrier. He's so good when we put him in that thing.


And now for the most the exciting news....he's crawling!! Well, army crawling. He's got some quick killer moves on his tummy as he yanks himself forward with his elbows and kicks off the ground with his little toes. The video below was taken on the very first night was actually saw him crawling from point A to point B to get something, which was 3 weeks ago today. I thought it was real fun until I put him on the floor between pews at church, looked at him, and 10 seconds later when I looked back he was gone...and already on the laps of the people behind us. Oh boy.

Since then he's sped up and taken over our house, making me much more self conscious about sweeping and vacuuming after I see the things he drags around with his hands and stomach like our own personal mop. He's been getting up on his hands and knees on his own and rocking back and forth, so he might just surprise us and take off for real one day soon.

Wild energy and all, we couldn't love Van more! We love him just the way he is, craziness included. :) He's the funnest little person that we just get to take around with us, and it's so fun to see him growing up, learning, moving, and bursting with curiosity about everything around him. I especially love when he looks up at us with his big blue eyes like he knows that his whole life depends on us right now, followed by a big crazy grin and a squeal like he knows life is supposed to be fun.

The video is mostly for our parents to get to watch his latest moves, it would probably be boring to a general audience. (I made sure to include the last clip so you guys could see what he sounds like when he crawls around in church, oh so reverently.)