Noah James is 6 months old now! He’s far from a newborn and is getting more and more independent all the time. Today, he occupied himself for 40 minutes in his bouncer while I vacuumed all around him. He gets super focused on solving the intricacies of a toy and he can focus on that for large chunks of time.
He is also always on the move now! His favorite thing to do is to squirm all the way down on his swing so that his butt is on the floor. He’s so proud of himself when he does this!
He is a little wobbly, but he can sit up on his own for the most part now.
And his feet! Oh how he loves feet! His socks are always wet because he has to have a foot in his mouth at all times!
It doesn’t even need to be his foot! A friend’s foot works just as well!
It is just amazing how much he is learning, growing, and changing. Reflux is still an issue, but he just started solid foods this week, so we are hoping that solids will help with the reflux and help put weight on him. He loves to eat and to nurse, but he loses a lot of his milk from spitting up which has slowed his weight gain. In case the solid food doesn’t help, we’ve scheduled an appointment with a GI doctor for later this month.
Here’s Noah James showing off his love for avacado!
This was his initial reaction…
But he decided that he loves it! Today I had to mash up some more because he cried when it was gone!
Mr. Independent has also spent some time away from mommy this past week. Dave and I left on Saturday morning for Key Largo, Florida, and returned on Tuesday morning. Noah had a great time with his grandma. (I think my mom is still having withdrawls since she left him!) Noah did great without me… but I was a mess! I cried all the way to the airport! We were only gone for 3 days, but I missed him more than I can explain.
The trip was great! But it was tough… I had to pump for the month leading up to the trip so that Noah would have enough expressed milk for my mom to give him. But I also had to pump the whole time we were gone so that my supply wouldn’t drop. It was tough! Much tougher than I thought. Aside from the fact that the last thing you want to do while on a romantic, sunny getaway is to spend time inside attached to a breast pump… it is also just really hard to pump while traveling! Airports are not made for pumping moms! I pumped once on the floor of baggage claim and once at an empty gate. I tried to be discreet, but it was really embarrassing! And then storing and keeping all that milk cold… it took a lot of planning. But I arrived home with a cooler full of 90+ ounces of breast milk, so I can tell you that it can indeed be done!
It was such a short trip, that we spent much of the time traveling. But it was worth it (even with the pumping frustrations). We had a chance to reconnect, enjoy the sun, and spend some uninterrupted time together. We snorkeled.
We read.
We had a picnic and watched the sunset.
We went to the beach.
We ran. I did 10 miles both days.
It was glorious to run outside again! And since we have snow on the ground in Boston today, it might be a while until I get off the treadmill again.
It was just a lot of fun and I am very thankful to my wonderful husband for planning this trip for us. We needed it! And after a relaxing weekend together, I was more than ready to see this precious face again!
Speaking of that precious face… I hear him waking from his nap. Time to go! 
Lessons To Learn 