How is he 6 months old already?

I cannot believe we have had our precious baby for 6 months now; it does not feel like 6 months has passed!  He is such an incredible blessing!

Sizes?  We have our six month appointment tomorrow to find out an updated weight/length, but right now sizes are kind of hard to determine -- one brand's 3-6 months is another brand's 6 months which is another brand's 6-9 months.  Who knows?  He wears what fits.  I can definitely tell he's grown!

Eating?  Gideon is 75% formula fed and 25% breast fed.  He nurses once per day, then receives 3 other formula bottles throughout the day (6-8 oz a bottle).  He also eats two solid meals per day, with oatmeal or rice cereal mixed with some fruit around lunch time, and a veggie around dinner time.  He likes to play with baby "snacks" like Gerber puffs and yogurt drops, and we even tried out a mesh feeder today with some cut up strawberry dropped in.  He LOVED it!  Gideon is definitely an eater, and will try to eat anything that he sees you eating.  He's gone after my hot tea recently, and tried very hard to steal some Fritos off my plate at a church social today.

Favorite foods?  Banana-blueberry puree and banana-mango puree are favorites right now.

Least favorite foods?  He doesn't like green vegetables right now.  I think it's a texture issue more than a taste issue- a small downside of homemade baby food making.

Favorite toys?  Gideon still loves his crinkly giraffe; he snuggles with it at bedtime.  He also loves his activity gyms that have items hanging down, and works very hard to try to pull the items off of the gyms.  His train from grandma is always a favorite, especially once he realized that it makes noise if he pushes it off of his high chair.  He'll play with pretty much anything these days- a recent favorite is a wooden spoon.

Other favorite things?  Our labrador, Benelli.  Gideon smiles his biggest smile for Nelli dog.  He likes to put his hands on her cheeks, and Nelli responds with lots and lots of kisses.  They are so sweet together!  I'm hoping Nelli will be good crawling/walking incentive in a little while.  (Gideon also likes our other dog, Lucy, but since Lucy is not quite a year old, she's still a puppy and very clumsy.  We don't trust her as easily with Gideon, yet).

Developmental milestones?
-Learning to use a sippy cup.  He can get it to his mouth without help, but since we usually just have a small amount of water in the bottom, he needs help to get the cup angled to where he can drink.
-Some self-feeding.  He can get a "wagon wheel" snack in his mouth and feed it to himself.  He also held his mesh feeder without help.
-Sitting in a bumbo seat for extended periods
-ALMOST sitting without support.  There have been a few times recently where he's been sitting with me just using a finger or two to keep him balanced.
-Lots of different noises!  I love to hear him "talk" to his mobile/toys/dogs.
-Distance vision- I noticed today at church that while we were a half a room's length apart from each other, he found me in a group of ladies and was focused on me.

He is such a precious little boy!  I just love being a mommy!

Gideon's Baby Dedication

Gideon was dedicated to the Lord this morning at church- something I'd been looking forward to for a long time.

However, I was a little sad this morning coming to church.  Since one grandfather is a pastor and another grandfather is a nurse practitioner who was scheduled at the hospital, we knew that extended family would not be able to make it up for the service, and I was thinking today how I wished his family could be here with us.  Then we walked into the church building.  Immediately, we were greeted by various "aunts" and "uncles" who approached Gideon, and I realized what a blessing we have here- an incredible church family who loves Gideon almost as much as we do.  How wonderful to be surrounded by people who care so deeply for your family!

For those unfamiliar with a baby dedication service, a baby dedication is designed to give parents the opportunity to publicly commit to raising their child in a Godly home, and to give the church body the opportunity to stand behind the family and hold them accountable for raising their child to fear and love the Lord.  Having Gideon dedicated does not ensure that I will get to see him again in heaven one day; that decision will be up to him when he's older.  I pray daily that he will chose to follow the Lord, as his parents have.

After we were called on stage, Gideon was presented to the church and we received a small gift to share with him- a storybook Bible (he's got quite a collection of those, now!), a small New Testament with his name engraved on it, and a letter for him to open the day he decides to follow Jesus.  I cannot wait for that day!  The pastor prayed over us, and then we took Gideon to the nursery.

(Burp cloths- Spring 2013's hottest accessory) 

We understand that it is not the church's responsibility to fully shape Gideon's spiritual growth- that responsibility ultimately lies with us, his parents- but we are so blessed to have a church family walking with us.  Even now, we're trying to teach Gideon about how much Jesus loves him.  We pray with him and over him, we read to him from his storybook Bible, and we sing songs about how much Jesus loves him.  I pray that the simple truths we're repeating day after day will be truths he'll grow to understand.

"God loves Gideon.  God loves Gideon.  In your Bible book it says that God loves Gideon."

What a blessing he is.  The time we have with him is moving so quickly.