Parker Week 25 – It’s Been Six Months!!
June 30, 2009
It’s hard for me to believe that Parker is 6 months old today. I can still remember him kicking around in my belly, still remember the excitement I felt the night before he was born, that morning that Zach and I got up before the sun and drove to the hospital. I remember how nervous I felt, how the epidural gave me the shakes, and then holding my breath while the doctors gave Parker his first APGAR score. I can remember holding him for the first time, and snuggling with that little baby burrito for hours and hours. I remember a million more moments after that, but those moments don’t seem so long ago.
Parker is growing so fast. He is already asserting his personality, and he is quite capable of telling us the things that he likes and the things that he doesn’t. At six months, Parker likes the following: Bouncing or jumping, waking up in the morning (always with smiles), cloth or soft toys to chew on, being tickled, bananas, apples, pears, peaches, carrots, squash and sweet potatoes, biter biscuits, his brother, his father, his mother, Mac screensavers, his hands and feet, rolling over, and standing or sitting in the grass.
Parker does not like the following: Being ignored, being alone, green beans, peas, loud noises, falling asleep, teething and getting buckled into his car seat.
Every new milestone is bittersweet for me. I’m so excited to see what Parker will do next, and I can’t wait to meet the little boy he is turning into. On the other hand, every day he grows farther and farther away from that curled up little burrito that I fell in love with six months ago. I know that I’m not going to have any more children, so that was my last chance to enjoy all those infant moments. As happy as I am to know that there will be a day that my whole family will sleep through the night, and that someday we will be done changing diapers, a part of me will always miss those moments with the baby versions of my children.
So, happy six-month birthday little man – you make me happy every day and continually surprise me with your antics. And even though you are growing faster than I am ready for, know that you will always be my baby.
Parker’s neck control is improving every day – so much so that we’ve started putting him in a 
I have no doubt about baby movement anymore. I have noticed that in the mornings and evenings my kids likes to get some exercises by doing some jumping jacks around my stomach. When I can feel kicks/punches in two or three locations at once, I know that kid is busy in there. I’m not sure if the baby is saying “hey Mom, what’s up?” or “geeze it’s tight in here!” Either way, if I get up to use the bathroom at 4am, I can be almost certain that a few minutes later my kid will be busy with the workout routine. I did finally get Zach to feel the movement. The baby was kicking hard one night, and Zach was able to feel the hard kicks, which quite entertained him, though I didn’t find the discomfort all that funny… The literature I’ve read says that I’ll be able to notice a routine in the baby’s movements after a while. The movements aren’t always a guarantee in the mornings or evenings, but the baby seems to prefer those times over the middle of the day, which is a plus, since they can be somewhat distracting in the middle of meetings, etc. I wouldn’t say that baby movement is exactly comfortable or fun, but I do find it reassuring when the baby kicks, it reminds me that things are still going along as they should in there.