Dear Alex,

Happy HALF BIRTHDAY! You are 6 months old today! Where the heck has the time gone?! I know I sound like a broken record when I say this, but how quickly you’re growing, learning & maturing never ceases to amaze me. Every day with you is a new adventure. 🙂 To follow up on my last letter, you have been an eating machine! You’ve delved into the world of fruit, and moved past purees into some “finger” foods…

Mashed potatoes!

Watermelon! This mesh feeder is a great way to let you try foods while making it easy for you to hold & less likely that you’ll choke on something.

Applesauce!

I love watching your reactions to new foods! You get a really confused, almost upset look on your face while you thoughtfully roll the food around in your mouth & smack your lips. But so far you’re a great little eater, and after that first confusing taste you generally enjoy new foods.

The big story this month, though, is that you’ve gone mobile!  When you’re hanging out on the floor and you see a toy or something else you want, you GO for it! Considering you’re not full-on crawling yet (it’s mostly a series of rolls, scoots & shoves at this point), it’s amazing how quickly you can get from point A to point B when you really want to. In less than three weeks you went from this:

To this:

And since those first few face plants, you’ve gotten better & better this pre-crawling stuff. It’s so neat to watch your progress. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re 100% crawling in another month or so. 🙂 Go Alex Go!

You’ve also been on the move in the water this month… for 4th of July, we went to visit Kay & Bill and took a dip in their pool. You kicked around in your float and practiced swimming with me and Dad. I was worried you wouldn’t like it after our earlier beach experience, but you had a blast!

The other fun thing we’ve been up to is going out with a local working mom’s group I started a few weeks ago! Already the group is up to over 50 moms & their babies. We had a big play date at our house, & met up for a stroller walk in the park. There are several more events planned for the rest of the summer that I’m looking forward to!

That’s about it for this month. Here are some of my favorite random photos & videos we’ve taken recently. Of course, you can always find more photos at http://s1169.photobucket.com/user/laurapachec0/library/Alex%20Month%206. 🙂

A boy & his dog… Cody & Annie are a LOT more interested in you now that you generally have remnants of food on your face & hands!

All smiles while hanging with Grandma.

Some art you & I made together. 🙂

Riding in the shopping cart like a big boy! You can’t quite sit up on your own yet, so those little pillow things help keep you upright. Gotta say this is MUCH easier than lugging your heavy self around in that big old carseat. 😉

We also upgraded you to the big boy car seat!

Smiles at 6am. 🙂

We went to visit our family in Hampton recently! Here you are playing with Papa on a Saturday morning.

Hanging out with Uncle Jeff during our visit!

In your face!

Experimenting with the sippy cup. I think the idea is to have you drinking out of this by the time you’re 1 year old. So far, though, you think it’s a big slosh-ey toy. Haha. You did manage to get a TINY bit of water out last night… progress!

Chillaxin’ on the couch

Playing “blast off” with Daddy!

Hanging around outside on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The three of us laid there, read books & played with toys together.

The first time I caught you up on your hands & knees!

6 months old TODAY! Yay! 😀

Okay, I absolutely adore this video. I took it just before I put you in the bath one night. When I’m missing you during the day at work, watching this always makes me smile. At the time I posted this letter, the video had 127 views on YouTube… gotta admit that about 100 of those views are probably me. :-X LOL 

This one is fun too… you have been really enjoying your swing outside on nice days!

Can’t wait to see what next month’s adventures bring! I have to say, I’ve never loved doing anything as much as I love being your mom. And not just being a mom in general, but being YOUR mom, Alex. You are a great kid, truly a joy to be with and we are so blessed to have you. I thank God for it everyday.

All my love,
Mom