6 months old

Wow--Lincoln is 6 months old already! He is still generally a pretty happy baby, although evenings have become his fussy time. He is FINALLY falling into a pretty regular nap routine as long as we're home all day and don't do anything to mess it up. I can usually count on at least one 2-hour nap per day, usually in the morning. Nighttime is still precarious, though. In the last week he has been waking up wailing every 1 1/2 - 2 hours until 5:00am. The last two nights have been much better, though, so I'm holding out hope that we're past that phase. I scoff at the books/magazines/online articles that consider a 5-6 hour block "sleeping through the night." There's no convincing me that putting my baby down at 7:00pm and getting him up at 7:00am with a night waking and/or feeding at midnight and 5:00am is even remotely sleeping through the night. That milestone is achieved when I get to sleep through the night without getting up. I guess that technically happened on Tuesday night when I went to bed at 12:45am after feeding Lincoln and got up with him and Emily at 7:15am (which also happens to mark the longest block of sleep I've gotten since Lincoln was born). However, I should be going to bed closer 10:00pm. Regardless, how can you stay mad about erratic sleep patterns when you usually have this to greet you when you walk into the room?!? :o)

Lincoln still hasn't figured out how to roll tummy to back, but he can push himself all the way up on his arms and "swim" balancing just on his belly. I love this shot of his "turtle face." :o)

By the amount of drool Lincoln produces (soaking at least 3 bibs a day) and the way he chomps on everything you would think he was seriously teething. We've been wondering about that with his random night-wakings and sometimes unexplained crankiness. However, I can't feel anything on his gums yet.

Cereal feeding successes come and go by the day. Sometimes he'll gobble down a couple teaspoons twice a day and sometimes he just spits/drools most of it out. Although it's a lot more hassle and work, I'm looking forward to expanding his menu options.