Practice...

A few months ago, Brian and I decided to invest in a nice DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex) Camera so that we could take some better photos of James.  While I still have pretty much no idea what I am doing as far as f-stops and shutter speeds, I do think that the photos we take with the new camera turn out far better than ones we take with our basic point-and-shoot camera.

While we usually use the camera for everyday activities, a few weekends ago I decided to try and stage a mini "photo-shoot" to get some good photos of James.  I opened up the window in the guest room to get some natural light and used the bed/comforter as my backdrop and put James in a red onesie to match.  Below are my favorite photos from our little session:

6 Months Old

Our little man is 6 months old!

James has become quite a little chunky monkey lately. At his checkup today, he weighed in at 18 pounds 14.5 ounces. This puts him in the 75th percentile - up from the 50% at his last appointment and at 10% when he was a month old!

James is currently 26 inches tall and his head circumference is 46 cm. He is still mostly wearing size 3-6 month clothes, although his shorts are size 6-12 months in order to fit around his belly! He is wearing size 3 diapers and will be in those for awhile as they go up to 28 pounds.

As far as his developmental skills - he is right on track. He can grab toys now with both hands and he actually has quite a strong grip! He LOVES to sit up. He is quite sturdy and rarely topples over. He still loves to stand. He has finally discovered that he can jump in his jumperoo. He will jump for a few minutes straight and always gets the biggest grin on his face.

James has also been much more vocal lately. He makes the "da" sound a lot and when he puts it together to say "da da" Brian gets very excited. It is pretty cute. He also squeals when he is excited and makes a noise that we think is him laughing.

And most of all - he still loves to smile. He ALWAYS smiles at the pretty ladies and at practically anyone else who gives him attention. That smile can just melt my heart.

More Changes...

In addition to starting solid foods, there have been a few more exciting changes going on around here...

First... FOOTBALL! After a long 6 months, there is finally some football back on TV. James got to watch (and sleep through) his first Sunday night football game this past weekend. Go Dallas Cowboys! Here is James practicing his quarterback moves...


Second... we have introduced James to the cup. Below he is enjoying some water from his trainer sippy cup. While he did not get the hang of it on his own, he was able to drink from it with assistance from Daddy.

And speaking of cups... James tried to drink some of Daddy's water at dinner the other night!

Last but not least... the baby bathtub has been retired! Since James can sit up on his own, we decided to blow up his duck tub at bath time. I think he enjoyed being able to sit up on his own and play with all his toys.

The Start of a New Adventure

What adventure you ask?

Well... solid foods of course! Now that James is 6 months old, we decided to start him on some rice cereal. Our doctor said we could start solids as early as 5 months old, but we decided to wait a bit longer to make sure that James would be ready.

Here is James in his high chair all decked out in his new robot bib complete with a pocket at the bottom to catch all the food that does not make it in his tummy:

OK... I am ready to eat. Where is my food??

First bite... not quite sure about this!
This tastes wierd... I don't think I like it!

OK - that was not TOO bad. I am not sure I actually got any in my mouth though!

As you may be able to tell from the last picture - James got a lot more rice cereal on his face then in his belly! We would put a little cereal on the spoon and he would open his mouth in anticipation and then after we put the food in his mouth, he would close his mouth and ALL the cereal would come dribbling out on his chin. I guess we have to work on this eating thing a little more...

And although James made quite a mess with his first meal, he definitely gave Brian and I a good laugh!