Malachi - 6 Months

Malachi - 6 months old, June 2013

So Malachi is actually getting close to 7 months now, but this is an update on where he is at around 6 months. He has had so many changes lately and I don't want to forget any of them! I really love this age, but I have pretty much been saying that since he was born :) I have loved this stage for all of my babies and I think it is really important to find things that you love about every stage that your kids are in so you don't miss any of it. It all goes way too fast!

A cheeky little grin

Around 6 months, Malachi started turning around in circles. He has been good about rolling everywhere since around 4 months, which is also when he got his first two teeth. The first week we arrived in Australia (6 months 1 week), Mali started pushing himself backwards and then a day or two later was rocking on his hands and knees. He is now doing a bit of an army crawl, but it started out more of a "throw yourself forward" kind of crawl. I used to be able to lay him on the bed next to me and he would sit quietly and play, but that doesn't happen anymore. He is all over the bed, throwing himself everywhere, and trying to put everything in sight into his mouth. We are all really excited to see his developments of late.

Last week Malachi's third tooth popped through, the right one up top. I suspect the one next to it will come in any day now. He is a pretty content teether, although I did give him a bit of ibuprofen for a couple of days last week (but I'm not sure if it helped him at all). Actually in general Malachi is still a very happy baby. He is smiling 95% of the time when he is awake and he is very generous with his smiles. Adelaide and Ben still garner the biggest smiles from him at will, and when Charlie pays much attention to Malachi he is also blessed with big grins. Malachi loves to give me 'open-mouth kisses,' on my chin and face or shoulder and I absolutely love it. He has done this to me for as long as I can remember and I get them the most when he hasn't seen me for a while (after nap time or if I run out for a bit, etc.).

Little sweetie sleeping in the stroller

Mal's schedule since we have arrived in Australia is a bit of a mystery, except for bedtime which still happens around 6:30pm, an average of one middle of the night 4-min. feed, and then wake up time around 7:30/8am. I have been trying to figure out a daytime routine for him but we have been so busy and on the go he usually ends up with at least one mini-nap (30-45min) in the Ergo (with Ben or myself wearing him) and sometimes another mini-nap in the stroller, and/or 1-2 hour or more naps in the pack n play. He will fall asleep in the car still if we are in there long enough and he is tired enough and Adelaide isn't talking to him too much.

Malachi and big sis

He has only partially started solids. I have been trying to give him bites of food in a Baby Led Weaning style for a few weeks now but he is hardly interested. Del suggested buying some rice cereal for him (which his ped. also recommended at his 6-mo check up) and we fed him a bit of that yesterday, first mixed with only breast milk but then added some mashed banana. He gave a horrible look of "what did you put in my mouth, mum?" but didn't spit it out and ate a few bites more. Then, possibly coincidentally, he slept better last night. We will give him a little more today and see how tonight goes :)

Nanna and Malachi, June 2013

Trying out rice cereal, 6.5 months

He also does love to 'talk', but no real words yet. His voice is very quiet and a bit raspy. I really love it and he will often talk to Ben to get his attention when I am holding him. We love our Malachi!

Malachi with dad