6 Months! What?!?!

It can't be 6 months already! I can't believe my baby girl is 6 months-old! Wow.

Tricks: she's dragging her body all over the place these days. She's able to sit up, albeit with poor posture. When she's on her belly she will get up on all fours and rock back and forth. Dave swears he saw her take one or two movements forward (aka crawling), but we made a bet that both of us need to see it for it to count as legit. This morning she pulled herself up on her crib to a slanted standing position. Craziness! I guess I have to change my viewpoint on where the dangers lie!

Life: is surprisingly going well sleepwise. She's been sleeping much more consistently now that we've started solid foods. After months of sleeping best on her belly, our baby is now a side sleeper. She seems to sleep best on her side. She'll flip back and forth without waking up. With the megaheat that we've had recently, the window air conditioner has been on almost nonstop! I liked the energy saver. Setting, which regulated the air temperature, kicking on when it got past the temp. Here's the bummer, every time it would kick on or turn off, she'd wake up! The sudden change in noise brought her out of sleep. So. We've just kept the air conditioner on a higher setting, and we let it run.

She's probably going to need white noise once we take it out in the fall. Sigh. Can't win 'em all.

Week 23

Tricks: Finding and attempting to eat all of the things we should stay away from (see pic) - babyproofing here we come!!! Still mostly moving backwards instead of forward on crawling flat, but she's moved forward a few inches here and there.

Life: We're realizing that we need to childproof!!! Ah!

Week 22

Tricks: Oh, she's tricky alright! Ellie is now able to, I'll call it, 'fake throw'. In case it's not obvious what that means, it's when she clasps something big so firmly that she's able to show you and then pull it back. Still interested in anything that you're holding.  Maybe the start of sitting up?

Life: Generally good - she got sick and with her new love of putting her hands all over my face, it's no wonder that I came down with the cold too.

Colds are wonderful sources of parental discontentment - we're more exhausted than usual and the baby is incredibly cranky, coughing herself out of naps, trying to eat while unable to breathe, kinda miserable all around.

But despite the cold and weary weather.  We've had a good week.  

Week 21

Tricks: Personality growth week. Primarily, she's been destyructive in ways we thought were a ways away...i.e. pulling table cloths, plates, utensils, paper, pens, drinks, lamps, and any other items that are within reach. Not to be overlooked: cell phones, remotes, sunglasses, laptops, dogs ears, and the like are particular favorites.

Life: We feel as though she's learning something new every day! The same old toys are losing their spark, and new ones are being subbed out - thanks to friends and family.

In general, still sleep deprived, dealing with trying to up milk production, so almost every 2 hour feedings. We so quickly forget how exhausting those early days are/were. :)

Week 20

Tricks: She flips all around these days.  She holds the bottle on her own to feed herself (discovered during the prune fiasco).  She still moves backwards - definitely not forward.  It's still grabbing and sucking on her toes.  She's starting to recognize faces (beyond her own parents) and meet them with smiles.  If you take something from her, she'll let you know she's getting unhappy about it. 

Life: We just can't believe how much she can do.  She's getting so big! She's finally out of the newborn clothes - yes, all of them, even the ones that were huge on her.  I can no longer call her my newborn.  So sad. But such fun to watch her grow and start new things.

Week 19

Tricks: feet in the mouth, helping to open the mail by tossing everything on the floor and looking down to see where it all went. Maybe a bit of hide and seek? Pulls pacifier out to talk

Life: the trip overseas has been challenging as far as getting the babies back on schedule. The first night back was particularly rough, she was up several times and then again at 3am for good.

Day by day it's getting better. After Ellie woke herself out of a sound sleep by knocking her head against the crib rail, we bought bumpers right away! She seems to be loving them, since they block her view.

Week 18

Tricks: rolls her Rs, flips over both ways, laughs more, can hit toys to make noise

Life: we're in Italy now. So we'll have much more to add once we're back - exhausted for now!  It's amazing and the baby is spending most of her day in the baby bjorn on either Dave or me.

Week 17

Tricks: She's suddenly clutching everything and wants to get her hands and mouth on just about everything she sees. She regularly bounces on our legs, laughs at the dogs (and only sometimes at us.) She's still trucking down the crawl track. Ellie loves petting Killian, practicing sitting up, and showing off her grins.

Life: Wow, time is really starting to fly!

And we're flying to Italy this weekend, so wish us luck! I recognize that her routine will wind up slightly 'off' with the 5 hour time difference. I cannot wait for Ellie to see some of the paintings in the Vatican.

As for this week, the weather has warmed up and so we threw the windows open throughout the day and night. I think that the outdoor lullaby isn't as sweet as she's used to, so she's begin waking a bit more often at night. In contrast with my former self, I'm sure she'll work it out.

But for now, I find myself typing this on my phone as I'm sitting in the car hoping she can extend her nap and catch up on some much needed sleep!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Week 16

Tricks: Can get halfway down the crawl track; can spin on her back with some help; has brought the pacifier to her mouth twice; a few other 'getting better at doing' things

Life:  All smiles.  Such a happy happy baby. We are blessed beyond belief. She's getting into quite a nice routine.  Her night time sleep has started earlier and been lasting longer.  Given her daytime naps have gotten shorter, it's a fair trade. :) She's getting stronger and I'm realizing she's almost ready to go up another size in clothes from 3 months to the 3-6 months (which isn't so bad).  She's getting to recognize faces now and gets extra excited to see her Dad in the mornings and when he gets home.  

David got home last night after she'd bunkered down for the evening.  He seemed so sad to have missed her awake and smiling at him.  He got to hold her and cuddle for a bit before putting her into her crib and again this morning (since she nodded off MUCH earlier last night, around 7:30pm and woke up for the day around 7:30am).  Such fun to see them interact.  Love spilling over both directions.

Week 15

Tricks: we got another 2 roll overs, even better laughter, learning to have 'favorite' toys, loving tummy time, smiles at the dogs, beginning to entertain herself

Life: Yikes! 15 sounds so old!

I was filing bills yesterday during her nap when I started to hear a strange noise: turns out Ellie was sucking and slurping her hands after she woke up. No crying. :) Yay baby!

Ellie came down with her first cold. I fought taking her to the doctor's office, but after missing 2 feedings because her poor little nose was too stuffed up for her to breathe and eat at the same time. So David came home to take us to the pediatrician, after a quick visit we left with a prescription for ammoxacilin to treat her ear infection. To treat her cold, we were told to stick with the humidifier and saline spray. And apparently diarrhea for this age just means that she's pooping almost every hour. We have diarrhea.

Sweet baby still smiles through it all, except when she's hungry and can't eat until her sinuses clear up. She's a trooper!

Love you Munchkin!

Week 14

Tricks: She rolls halfway over and then back.  She's making new cooing sounds - more razzing noises.  When I pull her up by her arms to a sitting position, she goes right to standing up - forgets about the sitting part! HA. 

Life:  Baby's first cold arrived this weekend.  Surprisingly, I've been sick twice now and she'd never gotten it.  This time, she's sick and it skipped over me. Symptoms:  runny nose, fever, cough, phlem and cuddly.  I'm shocked to have found that she's not really been cranky, miserable, etc.  She's still the happy, smiley baby she always seems to be.  The coughs will interrupt her conversations with the toys, and she'll struggle to eat and breathe at the same time (obviously, this is the biggest problem). But that's it.  She's still so stinkin' sweet!

Week 13

Tricks: screaming (not my favorite new trick, but I realize she's testing how loud she can be), better laughter, better night sleeper, stronger, and can flip almost over...still needs help getting fully over from belly to back

Life: is generally great!

Doc Appt: 

-13 pounds (70th%)

-24 inches (75th%)
-41 cm head circumference (80%)

Week 12

Tricks: true laughter, animal grunts, self-propelled bouncing on legs, likes the bumbo chair, brings toys to her mouth, recognizes Dave's voice on the phone, becomes overly animated when she likes something, naturally bats at hanging toys, picks up toy rings from table.

Life: I've started believing people when they say how alert she is and how cute she is...I've stopped thinking that 'they all say that'.

Week 11

Tricks: Pushing up on elbows, better at grabbing things, now faces out when in wrap on parents, strong recognition of people

Life: God has a great way of knowing just when to throw good things your way.  She could have a horrible night and then wake up with such sweet joy.

Caption: Sunday Morning Time

Week 10

Tricks: trying to get her whole fist into her mouth, laughing out loud, screaming to see that we're watching, tracking noises, drooling, laughing to herself in the car, finding a way to slip her arms into the sleeves to help dressing her.

Life:  We're finally able to sleep longer.  She's taken to much longer alert times and shorter naps.  Which is OK as the nighttime has gotten longer.  We're working on putting her to bed closer to 8pm now, and some nights that works great, but other times, she's wired until at least 10pm.  But there's been progress for sure!

Caption: This was how I walked in on her; she was content for about 5 minutes just pushing up and looking around. :)

Week 9

New Tricks: Talking to toys

Life: So apparently bedtime for babies is closer to the 6 o'clock hour than the 11 o'clock hour that we've been practicing. Hmmm...well, I guess that's something to work on. (smile)  I've been told that might be why she's not sleeping as long at night, although this sleep thing goes against all logic learned prior to baby.  (See weeks 1-5)

Week 8

New Tricks: Hands!, Hands to mouth, hands together, hands everywhere!

Life: Rounding up to Month 2. Our little peanut is growing so fast! Scheduling has become a parent's best friend.  It's nice to be able to predict the day - her day.

She's able to sit up somewhat well - after a little bit, she starts to 't-i-m-b-e-r' (because it's that slow). But she's funny about it, smiling the whole way.

Week 7

New Tricks: LAUGHS; CHATTER. She'll say agoo, gaaa, cooo, and other vowel sounds. But she'll look at our faces and smile, smile bigger and then laugh so big her eyes close. She must've done some other things too, but all we could focus on was her new language. ;)

Life: Wow, there is absolutely nothing better than watching your baby crack up and coo

Week 6

New Tricks: she can stare at us, hold our gaze, sees dog, sees herself and us in mirror, can start clasping things when we put them in her hands

Life: Has somehow gotten easier - I'm able to shower on most days (big victory and something I couldn't begin to imagine possible in those early weeks).  I'm able to make feel like I'm pulling my weight around here again.  Feels good!

Doc Update: 10.9 pounds (85th %), 22.5 inches (95th %)

Week 5

New Tricks: I think she can smile on her own (read: on purpose) She can also kick and move her arms with serious force! She's also begun reaching for things on the bouncy chair.

Life: There might be a light at the end of the tunnel?  We finally figured out that sometimes she just needs to suck on something to calm herself down.  And after my finger was a bit pruned-out, I opted for the pacifier - seems to be working nicely. :)  Just feeling cautious to make sure we don't overuse it.