Raising Hofmanns: Are you smarter than a 6 month old?

This boy, I tell you what, he amazes me more and more everyday. I love him! And I love that I get to be with him every day! Today he is 6 months old! That's half a year! I can't believe it. I'm already excited about planning his first birthday party! It's going to be basketball themed of course! I know everyone says it but I'm going to say it again... time goes by sooo fast! But I love it! I love how he learns so much every day. It's so fun to watch him figure things out. He'll turn toys over in his had and I can just see his little brain working hard to figure them out. He focuses so hard and works so hard. He is so determined. He knows what he wants and he goes for it!! He inspires me... I wouldn't be surprised if he grew up to be someone who worked with his hands. Like an architect or even a surgeon! He's so delicate with everything he touches. He focuses on the details. The other day he was trying to grab a tiny little charm on my mom's bracelet. He was really focusing on it for a while. I thought it was funny that he was going after that rather than all the toys that were spread around him. He's got some mighty fine motor skills already. He also likes to find the tags off anything and then rub them on his face. Especially when he's tired and he could put himself to sleep doing it. He's so precious.

He is also MY baby so I think everything he does is extraordinary and amazing! He's the smartest little 6 month old I've known! ;) This past week he has been working on crawling! It so cute to see him get up on his knees and wobble. Since he hasn't mastered crawling yet he now army crawls. Which is hilarious to watch. He's getting better at it too. I know he'll keep me on my toes once he starts to crawl! He is still working on sitting up. He can't do it by himself yet. How do they know that just laying there isn't the end?

Eating still has not been perfected. It's a hit and miss. Sometimes he'll do good and others he'll fuss through the whole thing. Before his surgery he used to try and hold his bottle himself but now he strains through the whole thing. His fists are clenched and he's always moving around. It's so frustrating! I can't even hold him when I feed him anymore. I just lay him on a pillow or the arm of the couch and hold the bottle for him. It's rough. And spoon feeding is always fun! That's also a hit and miss.

I really try hard not to blame everything on his surgery. He's been so different since he had it though. I'm sure it's just him being a baby and going through different phases... And here I thought the NAM was a pain. I'll take those days back any day! Sometimes I find I forget he even had a cleft lip and it makes me sad. I do miss it. It's funny how devastated we were when we first found out and now I would trade it back in a second! Not that I don't love his new lips any different of course. But that sweet little face was what we were given and we loved it instantly and I miss it. It's so hard to explain my feelings. As focused as the world is on looks and perfection Hudson was such a blessing to us and a reminder that looks don't mean a thing! I would have kept that little smile forever if I could... It makes me really think about all the babies in foreign countries born with cleft lips and palates who still have them when their older because their country doesn't have the means to have it repaired. It must be so scary in those 3rd world countries to have a baby with a cleft. And here we are so taken care of. We are so so blessed to live in this country and in this time to have that security that our baby is in good hands. And I'm thankful for the doctors who travel to those countries and perform cleft repairs. One day when I'm rich I'm going to donate thousands of dollars to those foundations. I wish I could talk with the mothers of cleft babies over there and tell them how beautiful their child is! It makes me want to do something big... Maybe I'll write a book. One day... For now I'll love on my little Hudson and think of how blessed he is to have been given to US.