6 Months Old

My sweet Orin Dale, today you are six months old!


Here is what you have been up to:

• You weigh around 17.5 lbs
• You wear size 2 diapers. Although, you could fit into size 3.
• You wear size 6-9 month clothes. But you need 12 month pajamas because you are so long.
• You still love your pacifier. You usually only have it when you are sleeping, but lately you have had a hard time making it all the way to naptime without being cranky. So I end up giving it to you earlier.
• One of your new favorite activities is to cuddle up with mama while sucking on your pacifier. You are not usually a cuddle bug, unless you have your pacifier. That is the only time you will sit still and let mama rock you and hold you. This has been especially true now that you are sick!
• You smile a lot and your little grin is the best thing in the whole world!
• You have started baby food. You have only had squash, but you really like it! You started yesterday with one cube for lunch and one cube for supper. Today you went up to two cubes. However, you didn't get to eat any for supper, because right when I tried to feed you, you threw up everything! You may have more than just a head cold.
• You are sitting more and more every day with assistance.
• Your hair is light brown and very feathery. It sticks up all over the place.
• You grab and hold your toes a lot.
• This past Sunday, August 16, is when you started really rolling over. Before then, you would roll over occasionally, but you never quite figured it out until this week. Now you roll over every time you get the chance.
• When you roll to your tummy in bed, you scream and scream. You like to roll over, but not if it means you are stuck on your belly!
• You continue to drool and gum like crazy. Maybe we will see some teeth soon?
• Your jumperoo is your favorite place to be. We even toted it clear to Minnesota on vacation. We think you could jump all day long and never wear out.
• You reach out for your toys and your bottle. In fact, when we sit down to feed you, you can hardly stand to see the bottle without reaching for it to pull it into your mouth.
• Your little hands grab onto our faces and you like to pull mama’s hair.
• You are big on giving kisses. We will kiss your little lips and you will open your mouth wide and stick out your little tongue.
• You still fight your bottle something fierce. It is a huge battle to give you your 24 ounces of milk a day. You will drink the first bottle of the day perfectly. For the last three bottles, you will take 1-3 oz. well (hence the pulling the bottle into your mouth). But after that, we have to lay you on the floor and use a rattle, toy, or singing to distract you while we feed you the rest of the bottle.
• You sleep like a champ. Great naps and all through the night.
• You are very ticklish. You laugh and laugh and it is infectious!
• Nicknames- Buckaroo, Mister, Little Man

You have grown and changed so much in six months. On the one hand, it seems like just yesterday you were born. And on the other, it seems like we have had you in our lives forever. You, baby boy, have completely changed our world for the good. Getting to call you ours is the greatest blessing we've ever received. We love you all the way to the moon and back. Times a million.

Vacation Boat Ride- Orin's Version

Mom and Dad bought me my very own lifejacket so that I could take my first boat ride.


I even got to help Grandpa drive. See??



I closed my eyes through most of the ride because of the wind.



I enjoyed my first time out on the lake. Thanks, Grandpa, for the ride!

Vacation Cuddling- Orin's Version

I spent quality time with lots of people on vacation. In fact, I got so much of it, that I wasn't too happy when I got home and they weren't here to play with me!

I got plenty of loving from my grandpa. Grandpa loved to cuddle, kiss, and tickle me! He makes me laugh.



Mommy’s cousin, Chris, got to hold me even though I think he was a little hesitant. He did a great job of entertaining me though!


Mama always gets to love on me, but this was a cute picture of us cuddling.

Vacation Swimming- Orin's Version

On Saturday, once Daddy had arrived, we made sure to go swimming in the indoor pool. I wasn’t extremely excited, and I didn’t know quite what to think about it. But I liked to kick my feet and splash a little bit. I just was really glad to see Daddy again after being away from him for a week!












Of course, I had to have someone help me dry off to stay warm!

Vacation Part 1- Camping

Welcome to Vacation post #1.

First of all, Ryan took Orin and I down to my parent’s house so that we could go on vacation with my mom, brother, and grandparents. Ryan and my dad had to finish up work projects and my sister had volleyball camp.

Tuesday night, the night we left, everyone was at our house packing the truck and trailer for vacation. While everyone was outside, I had come inside to feed Orin. I laid him down on the couch and walked 10 feet to the kitchen counter to get the bottle I had already prepared for his 8:30pm feeding. All of a sudden I heard a loud thud (which I thought was the trailer door shutting after it had been packed of vacation stuff) and then a wailing cry. Needless to say, it wasn’t the trailer door, but instead my poor child face first into the carpet. I felt terrible, everyone made me feel even worse, but he was fine after lots of cuddling. He took his bottle fine and went straight to bed. Every child has some kind of traumatic experience, so I guess I’m just glad we made it to almost 6 months before Orin’s happened!

We left early Wednesday morning at 1:00am and arrived at 8:30am for breakfast at Jimmy’s. They get our business one day a year. Orin did great traveling! He slept most of the way. He was awake from 1:00-1:30am after we woke him up to put him in his carseat, but he never made a peep. Then we stopped at 5:00am for gas and a stretching break, and he thought it was time to wake up and talk. At 6:00am, he was out like a light until we stopped for breakfast at 8:30 and he was able to have his morning bottle.

We had all three tents up and ready by 11:00. Baby boy and I had our own tent where I had a single air mattress and he had his pack n’ play.

We were packed in like sardines. At the head of his bed was his small suitcase and at the food of his bed was the garbage bag for dirty clothes. I kept the rest of our stuff confined to the back of Grandpa’s truck so that I could keep track of it. I’m a bit anal about staying organized and knowing where everything is. Maybe a little too much for the camping life!

The mister had a terrible time drinking his bottles! He’s been fighting all of his bottles again. I think he only drank around 15 ounces on Thursday. Thursday night, he refused to even look at the bottle. He wouldn’t even let it get close to his mouth. He got so mad that he was kicking his feet and bucking his back. I ended up giving him 2 ounces in some oatmeal cereal just so he wouldn’t go to bed on an empty stomach. I was so frustrated and not sure what to do. I was eventually persuaded to try Similac to see if the formula was the problem. So Friday and Saturday was spent trying the Similac and that didn’t make a difference. We found that he refused both kinds of formula equally, and that the only way for him to drink milk was to mix it in his oatmeal. So he ended up getting oatmeal cereal three times a day: after his 8:30am bottle, 4:30pm bottle, and 8:30pm bottle.

Weather was kind of cruddy for most of our camping time. It was very cloudy, windy, and chilly. On Friday afternoon and evening, it down poured rain. Our tents were flooded and most of our stuff was too wet to use that night. One of our cabins we rented for the next week was available, so we were able to sleep there Friday night. It seemed like the Marriot. We had a clean bathroom, shower and two double beds.

During our camping adventure, Orin spent most of his time jumping in his jumperoo, being held, or strolling around the resort and lodge. I’m so glad we had room to bring that jumperoo.




I think he could stay in that thing all day and never wear out. He loves to jump!! It was too cold to get him out in the boat or to take him swimming in the pool or lake during our camping days. Instead, we kept him around the campground bundled up in all his layers.

He did remarkably well sleeping in the tent. I could hardly believe how well he adjusted to camping life. I put him in his sleep sack and laid him in his bed. He went to sleep within 5 minutes and slept the full two hours for all his naps. We didn’t hear a peep out of him. Same thing happened for his night sleep. He slept through all kinds of noise around him. I was so thankful that he slept so well since he wasn’t eating like he should have been.

Overall, we had a great time camping. It went extremely well considering I was single parenting it with a 5 month old baby. I did have lots of help from my mom and grandma. They did many bottle feedings, cereal feedings, diaper changes, and cuddling sessions. All the extra help made Orin’s first camping trip quite the fun experience. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!

Home Again, Home Again Jiggety Jig

We are home!! After leaving the resort at 7:00pm, we walked in our door at 2:30am. It was a very long night of driving!

We weren’t planning to leave until early Saturday morning (which would have put us home by 2:00pm), but everyone was anxious to get home a little earlier. I was thankful to have all of Saturday at home to get things done. When Orin and I left for vacation, the house was tidy and everything was in its place, but I definitely had not “deep cleaned” the house. So I spent much of the day cleaning the floors, scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom, and doing laundry. Tons of laundry! My count so far is 6 loads. It is never ending!

Anyways, we said our good-byes to all my cousins and aunts and uncles, and headed out. We stopped to get gas and didn’t stop again until 9:00 to feed Orin. My family and grandparents were caravanning with us, so it was fun to have a late supper with them before parting ways. Orin put on a show for two girls and their mother in the McDonalds. He was laughing and smiling at them, and they couldn’t stop oohing and aahing over him. He’s such a happy baby, and I couldn’t help but be a little proud of my little man.

My family went their separate way after many kisses on their baby. They got to spend two weeks with Orin so it was very hard for them to leave him! And I know he is missing them and wondering where everyone is. He had 15 people doting on him all day long for the past two weeks, so he doesn’t quite know what to think about the lack of attention and entertainment.

The little man did excellent on the way home. One bonus to driving through the night I guess. Baby sleeps while the parents pry their eyes open to stay awake. He did wake up twice crying, but I gave him a pillowcase to use as a blanket and his pacifier and he was out like a light. When we got home, we unpacked the bare minimums, transferred Orin to his bed, and then we crashed.

Today, I woke up at 8:30 to wake and feed Orin, and I let Ryan sleep in. Then I got to take a two hour nap midday while he took care of the babe. It worked out well, and we got a ton of stuff done.

It’s always hard leaving our family vacation, but it feels good to be back home again. I have a few posts coming up about our camping adventure and our week in the cabin. And I have many, many, many pictures to share!

Outta Here!

We are outta here!! We will be gone on vacation for the rest of this week and all of next week. I'll be sure to blog and post pictures when we get back.