Similarities and Differences (birth - 6 months)

I thought it would be nice to post a reflection every 6 months of some of the ways Ian and Nadia were the same and different during that age span. This will help me record some things I might otherwise forget to mention, and it's fun to reminisce back to when Nadia was this age.

1. Ian smiles more easily and laughs far more easily than Nadia did. It is sooooo easy to get Ian to laugh. For example, yesterday I was rubbing his bottom gum (it looks like his first 2 teeth will break through in the near future) and that got him laughing heartily!

2. Ian's diaper needs to be changed more often than Nadia's did or it will leak. He also poops way more than she did. Sometimes it seems like he's still in the newborn stage where every diaper is a wet and poopy diaper.

3. Ian likes sitting in the bouncer or high chair a lot more than Nadia did. Nadia liked the gym a lot more than Ian and by 6 months she was sitting independently on her gym. Nadia didn't have a bumbo or swing so I can't compare them in that regard. Ian hasn't been too crazy about the bumbo.

4. Nadia loved looking at the Take Along books while listening to the cd's. Ian enjoys it when I sing, but isn't as interested in the books or cd's.

5. Both were playing with toys and putting them in their mouths. Nadia had better skills with her hands such as taking the rings off the rock a stack toy.

6. Nadia rarely spit up. Ian spits up in large quantities All Day Long.

7. Both had brown hair at birth that fell out by about 4 months, and the new hair was blonde.

8. Neither like to eat solid foods at first. Nadia stopped making faces once I switched to fruits. Ian makes faces even with unsweetened applesauce. Nadia was faster at learning to eat solids. I need to buy some fruit baby food for Ian and hopefully find one that will get him interested.

9. Nadia learned to nurse without a shield before she turned 1 month old. Ian was on the shield until he turned 4 months old. In the beginning I had to wake Ian to feed him during the night. I never had to do that with Nadia. Nadia started to show a preference for the bottle over nursing by 5 1/2 months and weaned herself off me about a month later. Ian still loves to nurse, and he also drinks a fair amount by bottle. Nadia's weight gain was fairly steady from 2 weeks to 6 months old whereas Ian's was very slow the first 4 months and then very rapid the next 2 months. They both weighed 16lbs at 6 months.

10. Ian is a grabber. Nadia didn't grab my hair constantly like Ian does. He takes my earrings out, grabs my bracelet, and even holds the sheet with his right hand when he's sleeping in his crib.

11. Nadia was sleeping better at night at 6 months than Ian, but I also had been doing sleep training earlier with her. I would have thought it would be harder to do CIO with your firstborn, but for whatever reason it's harder for me this time. The good news is that CIO usually only equates to 5-15 minutes with Ian whereas it lasted MUCH longer with Nadia.

12. Nadia was taking 3 naps a day whereas Ian has been taking 4 naps a day. Ian has started to transition to 3 naps. For a long time Nadia's naps were 45 minutes long although they were longer than that by 6 months. Ian's naps were 30 minutes long for a long time, and they are just now getting longer.

13. Ian sweats far more easily than Nadia (or Paul or I).

14. Ian is more active than Nadia was in terms of his arms and legs being in constant motion. Nadia was more "talkative" than Ian has been thus far.

15. Nadia started sucking her thumb right before she turned 4 months old. She never liked a pacifier. Ian liked the pacifier for the first 4 months. He occasionally sucks his hand, but thus far he's not a thumb sucker (which is fine by me as I am not looking forward to breaking Nadia of that habit).

NOTE: The first 2 pics are of Nadia and Ian at birth, and the second 2 are of Nadia and Ian at 6 months.

P.S. I never said thank you to those who responded to my hpt post. I really appreciated knowing I am not alone albeit none of you said you saved 7 hpts from one pregnancy, lol. A couple of days ago I went through the 7 hpts from 2009 and threw away 3 of them. I kept 12dpo, 14dpo, 16dpo, and 18dpo. My first Beta was 19dpo, and so 18dpo was the last day I tested (even though I still had 3 more hpts as I had purchased a lot of 10 hpts on eBay). I plan to put these 4 away in my box of keepsakes (which is where I think I put the ones I saved from prior years).