5 1/2 months old

We had a visit from Jonathan's mom and siblings a few weekends ago, to celebrate the March birthdays. It was great to have everyone here.
Quinnie loves his Nonna, aunts, and uncle. Happy birthday, Ricky, Lydia, Mom, Kaylen, and Els!
 

The weekend before last we went to a conference not far from home that Jonathan was presenting at. He did an amazing job and had a lot of positive feedback from the audience. Quinn and I had fun at the resort - Quinn went swimming for the first time. He was hilarious! He stared wide-eyed at the other kids splashing and screaming. He never made a sound - just stared. My mom was sweet and watched J.J. while we were gone, even though it was her birthday! It was so nice to get out of the house - something I seldom do these days. I'm glad I love our home because I hardly ever leave it. Though I have wanted to stay at home with my baby more than anything and dreamed about it for a long time, it's been a harder adjustment than I imagined. I absolutely love being home with Quinn and wouldn't have it any other way, but it's a bit isolating to have my social life go from seeing dozens of different people every day to...well, Quinn, Jonathan, and my mom. I seldom see anyone else - occasionally some family and one of my friends from grad school come to visit. Sometimes I feel like I'm under house arrest! I'm grateful that Quinn gets more exciting and fun to be with every day.

What is that?!

Quinn sat up all by himself last week! He's already able to sit up with less wobbling. He is also able to roll over from back to belly to back, and is trying hard to tuck his legs under his body in order to crawl. He can inch himself toward an object when he is lying on his belly. He is now drinking from a sippy cup. He can almost tip it up and drink out of it himself. We've also been slowly introducing solids. We are giving "baby-led weaning" a try, so no purees or spoon feeding. He's tried lots of different foods so far - sweet potatoes, avocados, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, mango, green beans, chickpeas, sugar snap peas, zucchini, broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrots, tomatoes, oranges, apples... He loves all of it except bananas so far. I think the bitterness from the peel takes him by surprise. He also made some funny faces trying chickpeas at dinner tonight. It's a lot of fun to have all of us eating at the table and watching Quinn try something new.

Almost got it!

There's something on my face? I know...I'm saving it for later.

Check out these guns, baby!

Happy boy in the sun

Yesterday the weather was gorgeous, so Quinn donned some shorts, a t-shirt, and a sun hat, and we all went outside to play. Quinn loves to watch J.J. run around and fetch sticks in the yard.

Quinn is squealing and giggling all the time now. He is also talking a lot - he's added "b" to his repertoire of sounds. He's grown a lot recently, but lengthwise instead of out. :) We can see his neck (at least from the sides)! He is 28" long and 20 pounds. He's wearing mostly 12 month clothes, but some 12-18 and 18-24 month things too.

Ready for a walk in the park! We're going to go down the slide for the first time, too!

I had mastitis again this past week. It keeps coming back in the same spot, so I talked to a lactation consultant who recommended that I see a doctor. He thought it could be something more than mastitis (like a galactocele or an abcess), so he referred me to a radiologist to have an ultrasound and possibly have it aspirated (drained with a long needle). Jonathan and I were both a bit nervous when we went to the appointment - at the cancer center. A bit freaky to walk down to the breast cancer screening ward and have the nurse ask, "So the lump is in the right breast"? Lump?! What?! Though there was a pocket of fluid, it wasn't big enough to drain. If it comes back, they want me to have another ultrasound, have it biopsed, and they will make a custom antibiotic. I am so grateful that it wasn't anything more serious. Though some think I'm crazy (and others have told me I'm brave), we are still nursing. I have absolutely no intention to stop nursing. In addition to the unparalleled benefit for Quinn's health, I adore our nursing relationship. There are few things I treasure more than seeing those big blue eyes looking up at me adoringly while I feed him. And he is too cute when it's time to nurse. He gets excited, rolls to his side, and reaches his arms out to grab me. He curls up on his side and I spoon him while he eats. Too wonderful! I wouldn't trade these moments for the world.