Theodore Jack: Six Months Old.

Theodore Jack is SIX months old! Happy Half Birthday sweet boy!!!! Half a year?! HOW?! He is such a cutie with the fluffiest little baby duck hair (as Landon likes to call it) that sticks straight up. His hair seems to be darker than Charlie's and his eyes are still gray but we think they'll be changing to brown soon. He has the biggest smile and squinty eyes like his Mama.

He is our SUNSHINE and just brings us all so much joy and laughter. He is seriously the sweetest boy with such a happy, peaceful demeanor. It is sooooo easy to get him to giggle and smile. You can seriously just say "boo" to him and he'll giggle at you like you are the most hilarious person. If you want to get him to really giggle, dance and sing and jump around. He LOVES that!

He loves his people and he loves to be around us and we can't get enough of him either! He's just a love bug and wants to be held and cuddled. If he can't be held, he wants to be sure he can see you from where he's at.

We can also tell that he's going to be a very sensitive boy and pretty much opposite of our wild Charlie. He doesn't love to rough house and get scared pretty easily.

Teddy, we are so in love with you and can't believe how BIG you are getting!

Okay onto the update for the month. :)

-He's still a tiny little guy, but starting to get some chub. He weighs about 15 pound when I weigh him on our scale at home. We'll see what he weighs at the doctor in a few days.

-I don't handle transitions well, so each month before his "month birthday" I get a little depressed that he'll be one month older. Yesterday he was only 5 months old and I just tell him all day long that he was only 5 months old. It's just crazy how fast time flies and I wish it could slow down. I just want to soak him in as much as I can! 

-The biggest news of this month was on April 30th (the day after he turned 5 months) we found out he could graduate from his helmet! This was honestly SHOCKING for us because he had only been wearing it for 9 weeks and we were told he would need it for about 6 months. He had just received his new helmet and we were having trouble with the fit. We spent over 6 hours at the helmet clinic over 3 days in a single week and it was just getting frustrating. They measure cranio babies' progress with a thing called "cephalic ratio" which basically measures their head's width to length ratio. The ideal ratio is about .85. Before Teddy's surgery his ratio was .772, which honestly isn't too bad and a lot of babies with cranio graduate from their helmet with this number, so for Teddy to be this number prior to surgery shows that his head really didn't need that much improvement. His most recent ratio when he got his new helmet was .89, meaning his head is very round and not long anymore. They don't like the number to be above .9. Anyway, long story short, I emailed our surgeons with Teddy's most recent scans and explained the problems with the helmet and that's when I received a call from Dr. Siddiqi telling me that Teddy could be done with his helmet. I can't even remember what he said, and I didn't even ask any questions. I just hung up the phone and ran to Teddy to take his darn helmet off! (I didn't even document the moment, which is soooo unlike me! I just needed to take his helmet off right away!) I couldn't stop crying and kissing his head all day! I've really tried to have a positive attitude about his helmet, but man it has been sooooo hard for me. I just really missed cuddling his cute head, especially because he is such a cuddly baby. Teddy has been such a CHAMP with his helmet and it seriously never bothered him, which doesn't make any sense to me because it did NOT look comfortable, especially to sleep in. He's just such a brave boy and we couldn't be more proud of him!!!

Teddy and Landon playing right before we got the phone call. I had no idea this would be the last moment and picture in his helmet! 

-Right before we got the phone call about his helmet, I accidentally broke social distancing and let my mom hold Teddy. It had been MONTHS since she had held him because she was in Hawaii before all the craziness happened. Teddy was soooo excited and just couldn't stop looking at his Nana. I can't even handle how sweet the moment was and I definitely teared up.

-Teddy has eczema but we were able to get it under control on his shoulders, back, and legs with some cream from his pediatrician. He told me not to use the cream on his face because it's too strong for his face... but then Teddy got these spots on either side of his mouth that wouldn't go away. I put aquaphor on them every night but they still looked raw. My poor baby! I ended up taking him to the dermatologist who told me to switch bath soap and to use cream, not lotion multiple times a day. He also told me no more than 3 baths a week for 3 minutes at a time and that it was totally fine to use the eczema cream on his face, just to mix it with some aquaphor. I was soooo relieved and after a few days the spots cleared! Yay!

-These videos/pictures are perfect evidence of how easy it is to get Teddy to giggle. I seriously get to hear this beautiful sound EVERY day. He's just such a giggly boy and we love it!! It was really hard to get even a little chuckle from Charlie so I'm definitely not used to this. 

-Teddy and Landon have the cutest game. Since he's not into rough housing, Landon can't throw Teddy into the air like he did with Charlie. Instead he just holds him in his hands and does a little bounce. Teddy LOVES it! Teddy also loves to go upside-down, which Charlie still doesn't like to do to this day haha.

-Teddy has rolled from front to back and from back to front, but he doesn't do it consistently. It's almost like he's just not interested in moving. I haven't been able to get it on camera because it is that infrequent... Again, he's just our sweet, sensitive boy. :)


-Teddy makes funny sounds (like his fake cough and blowing raspberries) but his newest trick is clicking his tongue. I was clicking my tongue for him one day and he just thought it was hilarious and couldn't stop giggling. Then a week or so later, he finally figured out how to do it and does it all the time now. Such a smart baby boy!

-Teddy is still a great sleeper and sleeps through the night (with an occasional wake up, but goes back to sleep after I give him his binky). He's also getting better at naps and sometimes will take a 2 hour afternoon nap. These pictures were from his first bedtime without his helmet in months! He looked sooooo cozy and comfortable!

-We had a few "socially distant" birthday parties for two of Teddy's cousins that both turned two (Johnny and Elliott). The first party I wasn't great at social distancing and again, I accidentally let my sisters and brother hold Teddy.... The reason why we haven't been letting my family hold Teddy or be around us as much is because a lot of them were still going into work and we have just been super paranoid and careful about who we see. Anyway, everyone was just really happy to hold Teddy and it made my heart so happy too!

-We also celebrated Nini's birthday and Teddy was amazed by the candles! He also gave Nini some really good cuddles!

-I celebrated my first Mother's Day with Teddy and it was just the best day with my sweet boys. I'm so lucky to be Teddy and Charlie's mom. We had a little "pizza picnic" at the Point of the Mountain Flight Park and it was just a beautiful day.

-After we were initially told Teddy could be done with his helmet, I started to have some serious anxiety and doubts, especially because the surgeons hadn't even seen Teddy in person. Luckily, they were still willing to see Teddy even with the pandemic so it was really nice to go in and get that reassurance and have them see his head in person. Even though his head isn't perfect, Dr. Siddqi assured me that his head will continue to round out and that he doesn't need to be in the helmet anymore. YAY!

-Teddy went in a swing for the first time at Nini and Papa's on Memorial Day. He didn't seem to think it was that exciting, but he was still pretty darn cute swinging like a big boy!

-When Teddy is excited, he pants like a dog and it's the cutest thing. He really likes to be "panted" at as well. :)

-Teddy and Charlie are the best of friends. They are just way too cute together and Teddy is always mesmerized watching Charlie. He smiles and giggles at Charlie a ton as well!

-Teddy LOVES to give and get kisses. He will seriously smile so big when you kiss him and then he'll grab your face and bring you in for more kisses. It's way too much!! He also loves to grab faces, which is so cute!

-I couldn't decide if I wanted to blog about this because I don't want him to be embarrassed about this when he's older haha but Teddy LOVES to nurse. He will seriously claw at my shirt and just dive into me with a wide open mouth. It is SO funny!!  He will also take these little breaks when he's nursing to make the funniest sound and then dive back in. 

-Landon has the cutest picture as a baby where he's laying on his tummy with his cute nakey bum, so of course I recreated it with Charlie and then again with Teddy. Have you ever seen such cute baby bums?! 

And of course I have a million more random pictures and videos, because I just need to have a snapshot of this little baby so I can always remember him at this age! He's just the cutest, sweetest little guy!!! We love you soooo much Teddy!