They really do love each other

Genuine love. It's pretty amazing to see.

Stronger!

Look who is swinging :) As Porter gets closer to sitting on his own and starts to tolerate more weight on his legs, he's able to do more. We just brought out the exer-saucer and he loves it! We're working hard so we can play harder!

Loving life

We're loving life right now :)

Brave

Penny is usually full steam ahead and not scared of many things. But she tends to be a little unsure and afraid around animals. When we visit our local zoo, she jumps into my arms as we near the animal barn and has never wanted to get close to the horses. We went for a visit with one of her friends from school yesterday and she asked to ride the pony with her friend :) I wasn't sure if she would really do it, but she jumped right on and wore a huge smile during her ride! Yay Penny!

One of the great ironies of motherhood

Isn't it ironic? I spend half my time trying to teach one kid to say mama and the other half trying to get the other to stop saying it...

You don't even know the half of it

But I do know the alphabet, responds Penny.

6 Months

6 Months and 26 Weeks fell on the same day.  We took two pictures to document twice the fun :)

 We had our six month pictures taken and we got some great shots!

At six months, Porter is 17 pounds, 4 ounces and 27.75 inches long. He's got two bottom teeth. He's sitting in a "tripod" sit position for more than 15 seconds at a time. He rolls over in both directions and is working on crawling readiness in PT & OT. He's really starting to pick his feet up off the ground and touch his toes while playing on his back. And, he loves to sleep on his belly. Try as we may to sleep him on his back, he rolls over to his belly and sucks his thumb in his sleep. 

He LOVES bath time now that he's getting in the big tub with sister. And, she LOVES to help give him a bath- she scrubs and rinses his toes and it's the sweetest thing ever.  He also loves bed time stories with sister. I love that I can hold both of them and read a story at the same time- a few months ago, it seemed so far away. But as he gets stronger, we can do more together, which is so cool!

 His favorite toys are the new sit/crawl/walk toy (we're in the sit phase), his link ball and his Dr. Brown's teether.  He still loves his owl and adores the sun symphony toy that Grammy sent him. He's starting to pay more attention to books. His favorite books are the ones with finger puppets inside- little duck and little fish. He loves to watch the finger puppet move with the story.

 

Don't let the pouty face fool you, he is the happiest guy I know. There are only two things that make him sad- when he bites his finger or tongue and when someone messes with sister.  He is incredibly easy going!

He's been "talking" up a storm. He wakes up happy and chatty first thing in the morning and tells me all about his dreams. He's making quite a few consonant sounds and is just starting to try to mimic certain sounds- I noticed it the other day when I tried to make a B noise and raspberries with my lips. He tried so hard to do it right back at me :) So cool!

Six months have gone by so quickly and Porter has come so far. Most noticeably, he's now taking 7 ounces in a bottle in less than 25 minutes. That is amazing! I think we can say that we're meeting his major goal to eat more efficiently.

Porter Charles- We love you so much! We're so thankful that we've been able to spend these past six months watching you grow and learn. You're pretty amazing Bubby!

We may not know what the future holds. But, we do know that it's going to be an adventure. And we're happy to be sharing it with you.  The world is your oyster Bubby...you're a hard worker and we really believe that you can do anything you set your mind to. Keep it up! You're making us proud.

Porter's Peeps

Want to join us on our first Buddy Walk? We're walking with our friends on October 7th to raise Down Syndrome awareness. If you want to join us for a day of family fun, sign up here: Porter's Peeps