Update on our little Lucas!

Tomorrow, Lucas will be seven months. People weren't kidding when they said your children grow so fast. We have been enjoying all the special moments with the little guy and watching him develop over the past few months. Some new developments include smiling, laughing, babbling, teething, rolling over and sitting up (with some assistance). As of his six month check up, his head circumference is 18 inches, his body length is 29 inches and his weight is 17 lbs., 13 oz. He is around the fiftieth percentile for weight but in the ninety-fifth percentile for his head size and body length!

We have had a pretty busy summer traveling to weddings, having family in town and visiting with friends. Lucas was able to see some of the Shaffer and Markiewicz extended family in July when we went out to Pennsylvania. I was a little nervous about remembering to pack everything I needed for Lucas, as well as how he would handle the flights. He did really great on both flights as he slept almost the whole ride each time. Luckily, we didn't have any issues bringing formula through security, although they did have to open one bottle and test it for safety precautions.

We were able to spend some time with Lucas's great-grandparents and took a four generation photo of the Shaffer men! I was so happy to get a picture of them all together:

Once we returned from Pennsylvania, I started introducing solid foods to Lucas. We started with the Gerber single grain baby oatmeal and mixed it with formula. Lucas got the hang of eating from a spoon pretty quickly and now he is eating a wide range of solids. I decided to stick with the Gerber brand, but also want to make my own baby food. Right now, his favorites are sweet potatoes and pears. I started him with the food with the lowest sugar first but now we do a mix of foods with low and higher sugar contents.

One of the bigger developments is that Lucas has his two front bottom teeth in and he is getting two more on the bottom, plus four on the top! Those six are all coming in at the same time so he has been in a lot of pain! I did call the pediatrician when the bottom two first were coming in because he seemed miserable. We gave him some baby Tylenol and that seemed to help a lot, but with these other teeth I am trying to give him the teething rings, a wet washcloth to chew on or these RaZ-berry teethers that our friends Geoff and Jenni gave us! They are textured like a raspberry or blackberry and you can refrigerate them. They seem to work great for Lucas as he doesn't like to hold the teething rings yet.

I am also trying to get Lucas on more of a consistent schedule. It really has varied each day as to what time he gets up and what time we do feedings and naps. I think it would really help the whole family! We are starting Lucas's bedtime routine at the same time each night and hope that will help start us on the right track. I'm sure there will be days that we deviate from this schedule, but for the most part I'd like to stick with it.

I'm posting some more monthly photos below and will post the seven month one soon!