6 Months!

I would say I'm shocked that half a year has passed but I'm not. I realized in her first two weeks of life that the days are long and the months are short. We have been blessed with a happy, healthy, easygoing baby. Everything I could have wished for.  I am very thankful for this and I do not take it for granted. I am constantly pushing worries to the back of my mind because if I let them go they will consume me.  I think I can generalize that every mother does this. I worry about things in the future, too, like finger feeding, real solid foods, crawling, walking, etc but I have to remind myself that we have somehow figured out the first 6 months and we will continue to do so and learn as we go.  I knew that babies are a joy but I never understood why until I had one of my own.  She is the light of my life.  I can't wait to see what the next 6 months will bring! Cheers!

How many? Half of a year! (...plus a week....super late this month but hey, that's because we were at DISNEY!)

What happened this month? Really started solid foods, Came down with her first cold, traveled to PA to visit family twice, Started rolling around and hanging out on her tummy more often (I thought it would never happen!), Starting to get super comfy with the dogs, Working really hard on sitting up and not falling over, traveled to DISNEY WORLD!

Recent Stats Her 6 month well baby appointment is on Monday and I will update with those stats afterwards. She had to go to the Dr. to get her cough checked on a few weeks ago and at that time she weighed 15 lbs 9 oz and was 25.75 in long. I suspect that she has gained a bit of weight since then. She feels so heavy!!  Update: We're back from our 6 month appointment! Big girl weighs 17 pounds and is now 26.5 inches long! The Dr. is OK with her weight gain (60th percentile) and said that she will naturally start drinking less formula as she eats more solid food. Overall she had a great visit and the Dr. is happy with her growth and development. Next appointment is at 9 months! OMG.

Clothes size Comfortably in 6 month onesies and most pants although I pulled out the 6-9 month pants because her legs are long (same problem as always).  She does fit in some 9 month size stuff too.  The white onesie in the pics is a 9 month size!

Diaper size Still in size 2 but her chunky legs are making me think it's time to move up a size.  While we were in Disney, we were using Pampers Baby Dry instead of  Pampers Swaddlers, and I don't like the way the Baby Dry diapers fit her.  But it was all the Grocery delivery service offered and I didn't want to have to pack diapers!

Feeding Our daycare told us she still seemed hungry at the end of her 4oz bottles so we bumped them up to 6 oz. No biggie since we give her 6oz bottles at night time.  I feel like this has made her gain a bunch of weight so I'm not so sure about it. I'm looking forward to discussing this with her Doctor. She is still doing sold food 2x per day and 3x per day on the weekends.  Oatmeal mixed with some fruit in the morning and the rest of the fruit for lunch and/or a veggie at dinnertime.  We are having fun expanding her palate and watching her funny reactions every time she tries something new. Foods we have tried so far: Rice cereal, Oatmeal, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Bananas, Prunes, Peas, Peaches, Pears, and Green Beans. I also handed her a sippy cup to see what she would do with it.  I was surprised!

Sleeping I mentioned in my post about routine that Abby is sleeping from about 8pm until 5am with minimal interruptions.  Teething has introduced some fun into this routine as well as a little 6 month growth spurt and vacation changing things up. Luckily I had prepared myself for lack of sleep from the beginning because her sleep schedule is always changing and evolving.  A couple weeks ago I went in to check on her one night and for the first time ever, found her asleep on her stomach! I let her sleep like that for a while but my craziness got the better of me and I had to flip her over before I could fall asleep myself. Since then, I have found her on her stomach multiple times.

Personality Still very easy going and happy. It's much easier to get her to laugh now. She hasn't become too clingy or lovey yet- I'm honestly looking forward to it.  At Disney she started laying her head on my chest or nuzzling my neck when she got tired.  Swoon! No separation anxiety yet, although she totally watches me leave every day and I know one of these days it's going to click.

Milestones
-Bottom two teeth are there under the gums and waiting to pop through! (But taking forever.)
-Can sit unsupported for longer periods of time but still topples over if she leans back too far
-Is a rolling MACHINE. Back to front to back. All over the place. She will roll toward a toy she wants that is out of her reach. Funny to watch her mind work this out.
-Strings consonants together, babbles softly and most often when she has her fingers or a toy in her mouth.
-She still doesn't really "get" Peekaboo. Once I disappear, she just finds something else to look at. Although she does sort of play peekaboo with her bottles when they are finished. I have to hide it so she will stop staring at it.  Lately she has started to look for it.
-She seems to have figured out the mirror.  She has a princess mirror and yesterday I walked up behind her, she saw me in the mirror, and then turned around to look at me.  I guess she's officially smarter than the dogs since Chloe will stare at herself all day in that thing...

Mom's Corner
I don't really have anything to add to Mom's Corner this time.  I'm excited that NASCAR is beginning, mostly because it means Spring is coming and that makes me happy since we are currently buried under almost a foot of snow.  Disney with Abby was amazing and I'll probably write a separate post about it but I believe she was at the perfect age to take a baby to Disney. So don't hesitate to DO IT!! Next time she'll be ~14 months and it will be a whole different ballgame... OK I'm off to do something productive while she naps. I'll be back after her appointment tomorrow to update the stats section.

~SG