6 months old!

Half of a year already? One thing is for sure - it's been the shortest and best six months of my life! I seriously couldn't love this little girl anymore if I wanted to. Although nothing could ever compare to the moment I first saw and held her, I still get that over-whelming feeling when I look at her sometimes - like my heart could just burst because I love her so much. Now, I just need time to slow down and to win the lottery so I can stay at home and really enjoy  my sweet girl.

She started out pretty happy.

I think 7:00 am was a little too early for this!

Just babbling away. Probably telling me to put her back in the floor so she can play with her toys.

Finally able to play with her toys again.

Sweet girl!

She LOVES her paci!

I couldn't resist posting this belly picture!

• She is still wearing a size 3 diaper, which I think she'll stay in for a bit longer.

• She is still wearing size 9 mo clothes, but is getting ready to be a size 12 mo in some things. She still wears a few smocked bubbles that are size 6 mo, but her size 9 mo pajamas are starting to get too short. It's just things with the feet in them. I predict that she'll still be in the 90 something percentile in height at her doctor's appointment on Wednesday.

• She has a fascination with me drying my hair and putting on my make-up. Every morning she will about break her neck trying to watch me once she hears the blow dryer turn on.

• Remember how she used to love the vacuum cleaner? Well, I haven't needed it in months to get her to sleep, but I have discovered that as long as it is on, she will sit in her exersaucer and not make a peep. Normally, after bout 15-20 minutes in there, she is over it and is ready to get out. For whatever reason though, if the vacuum clearer is on, she will let me clean the whole house without making a single sound. The only thing I can figure is the sound is still calming to her.

• She now reaches out really well. She kind of seemed like she was a month or so ago, but the past couple of weeks it has been blatantly obvious. When Tra or someone else is holding her and she starts fussing because she wants me, she reaches out, gets all excited, and grabs on for dear life as soon as I get close to her. It's so sweet. At one point, I was worried that since I am away from her for 9-10 hours every week day that she would lose her bond with me, but boy was I wrong. She is definitely a mams girl. She's fine when I leave her somewhere, but if I'm there, she would prefer to be with me. I can't say that I hate it either. Tra and I laugh and joke that she would rather sit in the floor next to me then have someone else hold her. Obviously, that's not true, but sometimes she just wants her mama and no one else will do.  

• She is no where near ready to crawl but will lunge forward from a sitting position to get in my lap if I place her in the floor in front of me. Poor girl lunges out like she's going to get in a crawling position somtimes, but I don't think she knows what to do with her arms and legs. She winds up just laying on her stomach.

• She seems to like all of the food she has tried. We are taking it kind of slow, but so far she has tried butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, pears, peaches, avocado, bananas, and obviously rice cereal. We are getting ready to try apples for the first time. 

• She sits up like a champ these days. I still get nervous and put the boppy around her when she's on the hardwood floor, because sometimes she falls over when she's reaching for something.

• She said "mama" and "dada" this past weekend for the first time, but I don't think she knew what she was saying either time and wouldn't say it again. I practice it with her all the time though.

Her feeding schedule goes a little something like this:

6:30am - 6 oz bottle

9:30am - 2 ice cubes of pureed fruit and rice cereal mixed (bananas and avocado mixed is her favorite) and a 5 oz bottle

1:30pm - 6 oz bottle

5:00pm - 6 oz bottle

7:00pm - 2 cubes of pureed food (usually a vegetable)

8:00pm - 5-6 oz bottle

She could be eating three times a day now, but I just want to take it slow. Some things you read say not to give them solids before six months, so I just figured I would wait until her six month check-up and then start feeding her three times a day. She is still getting breastmilk in most of those bottles. I am really ready to quit, but think I am going to continue on for another couple of months. I think that is about all I can handle. My plan is to be done before or by labor day weekend so I can enjoy our time at the beach without having to pump. Even though I am ready to quit, I am going to try and push through these last couple of months because I feel like my breastmilk is the only reason she hasn't gotten sick yet (knock on wood). I am just wrestling with a lot of guilt when thinking about quitting right now, which tells me that it's not the right thing to do for me right now.

• She has seemed a bit too long for her carseat/carrier for about two months now, but I was waiting to get a new one because the gudeline for Peg Perego says that they can stay in it up to 30 inches. I ended up getting her a Britax Marathon 70 last week though. I can't believe she's already big enough for a big girl car seat. :(