Surviving 6 months with Teagan

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Yall-

I made it through half a year with a tiny human and I haven’t completely lost my mind! To those who follow me on Instagram stories then you see my day to day with her from our routines to our major wins and of course our challenges. Motherhood is hands down the most rewarding journey I have been on and also the absolute most tiring. But, there is nothing like it.

But since some of you are not on Instagram or do not follow me there (but you should!), here is a brief recap of what 6 months with Teagan has been like.

Surviving 6 months: Our Routine

Let me start off with this…. routines are necessary and helpful with a baby but they aren’t for every single baby. Remember that you have a unique baby and unique lifestyle that does not always fit into what google or other moms may tell you.

With that said, Teagan set her own schedule. We did and still try to stick to a sleeping schedule created for us by celebrity sleep trainer Jada. This schedule worked like a charm for a few weeks but once she hit that 4 month sleep regression period, everything went down the drain. But we did learn some amazing tips from her that still help to this day with keeping her asleep once she goes down.

The first thing I do when Teagan and I wake up is sing: “Good Morning, Bonjour” 3x in a row to her. We do this every single morning. My goal is to start her day with song and happiness with a bit of education. Also I believe manners are so important and Teagan will wake up knowing to say “good morning” first thing.

Surviving 6 months also includes me dancing to her. I turn on music and dance for her at least 4 days a week. She LOVES this!

After she is up for about 15 minutes, we do a quick wash up with her baby wipes. My favorite baby wipes can be found in the next section about our go-to baby products. Her wash up consists of wiping down her butt and private areas, feet, hands, behind her head focusing on the neck area, under her chin, and her ears. For some reason behind her ear lobes attract alot of dirt.

After the wash up, its time to eat. She is NOT a breakfast person (like her mommy) and will only eat about 1-2oz of her bottle. She plays for a bit after eating and then will start to get sleepy. I know her sleep cues well and have tried to set her down in her bassinet or pack and play to self-soothe to sleep but yeah, she is not about that life. Teagan wins everytime. So I will rock her for about 5 minutes or lay her down and place my hand on her back for her to fall asleep.

This first nap is always her best and longest. She will go 1.5-2 hours.

The rest of the day is filled with lots of play, language learning and repetition, and about 2 more naps. Teagan goes down for the night around 10:30pm. I wish we could get her to go down earlier but that is just not her current ministry.

Surviving 6 Months: Go-To Baby Products

There are baby products galore but I promise you, the first 6 months, you do not need much. We did not buy a lot or ask for much on the registry and have not really had to purchase anything new of our own. I will add though when creating your registry… THINK AHEAD! I wish we would have thought of the later parts of her infant and baby life. Right now we really want a high chair, walker, and baby corral (gates). Also-forget newborn clothes. You need like 15 onesies at most because they grow so quickly and really just sleep all day until about month 2. Here is our registry for reference.

• Formula Maker
• Baby Bottle Sterilizer and Dryer
• Car Seat
• Baby Carrier
• Baby Wipes
• Diapers
• Activity Center
• Bassinet
• Bottles
• Bottle Soap
• Bottle Brush
• Nail Trimmer
• MIKU baby monitor

Go to Baby Products- Formula Maker + Baby Bottle Sterilizer + Bottles

When Jermaine first bought the formula maker, I looked at him like he was crazy. Now, I know he is a genius. This has been a LIFESAVER and we use it daily. .Breastfeeding is not a given for all women and even though you would love to, sometimes your body disagrees. The formula maker makes the bottles in whatever quantity up to 10oz, can warm it up or offer the water room temperature, and does water only if you are on the go and will mix formula in at a later date. Teagan likes specific water so we do this instead of using whatever water is on the road or our water bottles. Surviving 6 months with Teagan would not have happened without this

The Bottle Sterilizer is also a need. We handwash our bottles but then we stick in there for extra sanitation and drying. The one we have holds 6 bottles at a time. We definitely need one with more storage though.

My mom bought Dr. Brown’s bottles for us and we have been using them since. Teagan has not had any significant gas or spit up issues and I attribute it to these bottles. There are more pieces to clean but it is worth it.

Also get a bottle brush and bottle soap for babies. We use these.

Go to Baby Products- Baby Carrier

My awesome reader turned friend bought us this baby carrier and I love it. It has been instrumental in surviving 6 months with Teagan. It allows her to be with me while allowing me to be hands free. I have eaten dinner, worked on my phone, and Jermaine has even been able to snap photos of me for a photo-shoot while using this carrier.

Go to Baby Products- Baby Wipes + Diapers

This is a DUH obviously but these are our go to baby diapers and the wipes we now use. We have been blessed and Teagan has not experienced any skin irritation from either of these products. I love that we only have to purchase these wipes maybe every 3 months or so.

Go to Baby Products- Activity Center

My friend and fellow blogger Tonya mentioned this activity center in her post and I immediately bought it for Teagan. It transitions well as she gets older and it was love at first sight for her. She started using it on her back which helped and then for tummy time and now she plays with the keyboard sitting up.

Go to Baby Products- Bassinet

The bassinet is OH SO important. From age 0-2 months, Teagan slept in a travel bassinet on the couch but she grew quickly and was too long for it. Our bedside bassinet is the best. I love that it opens up to our bedside and it is sleep looking. She sleeps in in nightly. Although she does not always spend the entire night in it. We are working on getting her to love it for naps.

Go to Baby Products- MIKU baby monitor

We are pretty obsessed with this one. There are plenty of wearable ones out there but we were terrified of some of the reviews so instead, we went with this WIFI based monitor instead. It monitors her sleep activity, when she wakes up, her movements, there is a 2-way radio so she can hear us (even if we are not in the house), the app is on the phone so we can watch her anywhere (Jermaine watches her when he’s at work sometimes), it captures videos of her movement for playback later and has white noise and lullaby playing function built-in. It also offers night settings and day settings. We typically keep it on the night settings so we can see her better. The lighting in our room is not the best. I love this and cannot rave enough about it. I highly suggest grabbing this monitor PLUS you get a discount when purchasing by using THIS LINK!

Go to Baby Products- Nail Trimmer

This is a NEED! Babies scratch themselves ALL the time so keeping their nails short is a necessity. Teagan is an aggressive eye rubber so we have to trim her nails twice a week. There was no way I was going to attempt at hurting her with nail clippers so I got this instead. Its painless, easy to use, and a great price!

Surviving 6 Months: Milestones

Teagan is extremely smart. I am not saying that because she is our baby but because of her actions and behaviors. She is curious and stubborn. She also is strong-willed. What she puts her mind to, she actually succeeds.

At 6 months- she is full out crawling and pulling herself up on her toes. She can roll from front to back but has difficulty from back to front.

She can “catch” a ball and will sometimes “throw” it back if she is feeling up to it. Her eye and hand control is pretty good. She can follow things with her eyes and pick them up. She responds to her name easily. and knows “no”. She still takes formula as her main food source but she also loves purees. We have been testing out the Yumi food delivery service and she loves Beechnut organics. Her favorite flavors: pear, sweet potato, and carrot.

Jermaine and I think she says “mama” or “mommy” when crying but it could just be the way she cries. The other day we think she said Dad but not sure.

Surviving 6 Months: Mama

Oh man oh man. 6 months went so fast and also seems like it was slow. Motherhood is full of highs and lows. For me personally it has been more highs than lows but when I feel low, I am rock bottom low. Thankfully it has not happened more than a handful of times.

I went back to work in mid-May which was 2 weeks earlier than I initially scheduled. With everyone working from home it made sense. The first few weeks were super easy and I had no problem being a full time mom and full time employee.

Now, it is a struggle. Mostly because Teagan is SUPER attached to me. She wants to be near me all day long. While that sounds so sweet and it is, it is also challenging when trying to meet deadlines and be on conference calls. She wants to be on the calls too. If she is on the ground, she will tug on my pants or leg as if to say “I want to see too”.

With her crawling and curiosity, she also wants to get into everything. The pack and play we have is not large enough for how much she wants to move and we have not purchased a corral yet. So I am constantly watching her.

As far as my health– HG symptoms left the minute she came. I was 164lbs after having her and now I am at 181lbs. I have not been eating well and have been eating alot of junk. Plus I am not active. Next week I start with a trainer and am super excited. I recognize — my eating needs to change. Remember I mentioned I am not much of a breakfast eater, well I am making myself eat oatmeal when I wake. Regular meals keeps me from snacking on oreos or chips or anything else that is nearby.

Mentally I feel great! Being able to be home all the time is huge to me. It has shown me even more that I am a homebody. I love creating at home as well. It gets my creative juices going. To see some of my at home content go ahead and see Jen Quarancreating.

Family: I miss the heck out of my mom and sister. I hate not seeing them regularly and I hate that they are missing on things with Teagan. My mom has not seen Teagan since she was 2 weeks old. But we talk all the time and use video messaging.

Marriage wise- we are and will always be great. But there are no date nights and there really arent opportunities to be just us. Teagan is really attached. That is all I can say. But we keep our lines of communication open and we spend alot of time the 3 of us. I have no fears about our marriage but I do miss getting him and me time. The other night she fell asleep early and we went for a quick walk in the neighborhood. Our baby monitor is so great that it work son our phones. We were able to see her sleeping and hear her while being outside. Oh and before yall lose it– the kids were in the house with her so its not like she was alone.

But that is all for now. I am here to answer ANY questions about the last 6 months or any baby questions.

But before then…. please do not be rude and tell my baby Happy 6 months in the comments 🙂