Month Six

2.16.2016


Someone had a half-birthday recently! (And I’m not talking about mine last month). Little Miss R turned six months old on the 10th, and I can barely stand it. I mean honestly. That tongue. I die.

She weighed 14.2 pounds and was 25 inches tall at her checkup, which is right around the 20% range for both. A petite baby, we have! The doctor said she looked great, but I won't lie and say I wasn't a little worried to see her drop off the curve a bit. I'm trying not to dive into that rabbit hole and I keep telling myself that she's a happy and healthy baby and is doing just fine. She is currently wearing 3-6 clothes and it looks like she'll be holding steady there for a while longer.

Play
The big news this month is that she is officially sitting up all on her own! It happened just a few weeks ago. One day she was working on her core strength, balancing between my legs, and the next day she was like, “Don’t worry, Mom, I’ve got this."
We still put pillows behind her and to the side because she does fall over on occasion, but for the most part she just hangs out playing with her toys like it ain’t no thang. She hasn’t yet figured out how to get herself into or out of a sitting position, so when she’s done sitting up she’ll cry until we come over and lay her on her back to keep playing. 
Now that she can sit up, she’s becoming less and less of a fan of tummy time. And while she has been rolling front to back since day four, she still has yet to roll back to front. She can turn completely on her side, even cross one leg over the other, but it seems she has no desire to make the final turn. I’m pretty sure she could if she wanted to, though. She also still loves playing with her feet and toes! When we take her pants or tights off, she gets really excited and kicks her legs so hard!
Not that she lets having tights on stop her from eating her toes...

R also has become a little talker! Her favorite syllable to babble is “da da da,” so Jordan’s all, “She’s saying dada!” I’m not counting that as her first word, however, and I’m working on getting “ma ma ma” going, but so far no such luck. When she’s in a happy mood and talking it is the cutest thing ever. I almost don’t want her to ever learn to talk because the baby babbles are too much. But then again it would be weird to have a five-year-old running around saying “da da da” so I suppose it has to happen eventually.

Right at the end of her six months, she started giving "kisses." At least, that's what we think she's doing. I'll let you be the judge.
Eat

Where do I even start with eating? Okay. It’s basically this: we have no idea what we are doing.*

R ate rice cereal maybe four times total before I decided I wanted to get my puree on. So far she’s tried: bananas, avocado, peas, sweet potato, apples, and carrots. We haven’t found anything she is willing to take more than three bites of before she starts crying, so you might think well maybe she’s just not ready for food. But she totally eyes our food, tries to grab for our forks, etc., so I thought I’d give baby-led weaning a try. So far we’ve given her a cucumber wedge, yellow and green bell pepper spears, a steamed broccoli floret, and a hunk of banana.

The banana was the biggest success and was actually pretty funny. She opened her mouth wide and wanted to shove the entire banana inside and seemed to enjoy it! She was also able to suck on a bit of the cucumber. We found the bell pepper wedges worked well for distracting R enough to give Jordan and I time to eat our own dinner, but obviously she’s not going to be chomping down on a raw pepper any time soon.

The bottom line is that we seem to be unintentionally doing a hybrid of purees and baby-led weaning, and overall we haven’t found feeding R to be quite as much fun as we were expecting. She hasn’t shown a huge interest in anything in particular, and both of us feel like it’s a hassle and just ends up making her mad. I don’t know. Hopefully we can keep experimenting and find a good method that works for us and works for her! I’ll keep you posted. Other than solids, she is still breastfeeding 3-4x a day and drinking breastmilk from a bottle 2x a day, and you can read more about my experience with all of that in this post.

*I wrote this part a week ago, and since then we have had a few better days of eating just in the last two or three nights. She seems to really enjoy a puree of sweet potatoes and carrots that I mixed up and has actually sat to eat for about 5-10 minutes, which is a huge improvement, and Jordan and I are both really excited about it!

Sleep

R consistently sleeps through the night! We totally bypassed the four-month sleep regression, and to that I say hallelujah. She goes to bed around 7:30 and sleeps until 5:30 most nights. Sometimes she will wake up around 2ish crying, but we just go in there and pop the pacifier in and she’s out again. Lord help us when we have to take that thing away.

Naps are still very hit or miss. Typically her naps last only 20-30 minutes, but on occasion she has been known to pass out for a good hour or even two! That’s when I check her obsessively to make sure she’s still breathing.

I honestly think a huge factor in her sleeping through the night is daycare. I can tell that she just gets so tired from the stimulation of being somewhere new with other babies to watch, and especially because she isn’t a great napper, by 7/7:30 she is just done for the day. After feeding, we lay her in the crib and she’s out without hardly a peep most of the time.

Other Notable Events

R had her first official trip to the doctor this month. She was coughing a lot and had a super stuffy nose, and we figured it was just a cold. But then her eyes got all red and swollen and started leaking green goo, so we thought a trip to the pediatrician would be prudent. They prescribed some eye drops and amoxicillin, and within three days she was back to normal! We are thankful it was such a simple solution. We also have had a humidifier going in her room since she was four months old, and I do think that helps the stuffy nose at night.

Her umbilical hernia has improved so much! That thing was a giant, and we were getting concerned about it (it literally had a hook on it and was a bit terrifying), but about two months ago it started noticeably going in on its own, and now it almost looks like a regular belly button! That is an answer to prayer!
^^^I took her to work with me once just for a few hours when I had to take her in to her checkup, and it was so fun.

Average Schedule at Six Months Old

4:30-6:30 [she typically wakes up time between these hours and our morning routine is adjusted accordingly for eating, diaper changes, etc.]
7:15 – drop off at daycare
7:30 – arrive at work
[usually takes a 30-min nap]
9:30 – 5 oz bottle
11:30 – visit at lunch to nurse
[hopefully takes a longer nap]
2:30 – 5 oz bottle
[usually doesn't nap but sometimes does]
4:30 – leave work/pick up from daycare
5:00 – home and nurse
6:00 – eat (solid)/bath (every few days or when needed)
7:00 – nurse
7:30 – bed


Michelle said...

Starting solids had me SO STRESSED. I had no idea what I was doing either. Gracie was the same way and only wanted a few bites before crying even though she would stare down my food. It wasn't until she was 7, almost 8 months that she suddenly realized how much she loves food. She's a great eater now, and I can pretty much share whatever I'm eating with her. Have you given her puffs? I was gritting my teeth giving them to her because they aren't the healthiest, but I swear that's what made the difference for us. They seemed to teach her that food is a friend and not an enemy. We've been in the middle of a nasty growth spurt, and it's been so nice to be able to fill her full of food instead of having her nurse around the clock (though there has been some of that, too...yawn).

Emily @ Perfection Isn't Happy said...

My baby turns six months in two weeks and I'm sort of dreading the start of solids, mainly because she's such a light eater as it is, and it's hard enough to get her to try to eat from her bottle. Hopefully it won't be too bad once my husband and I figure out what we're doing :)! That's so exciting that she's sitting up so early! It must make it easier for playtime!

The Girl who Loved to Write said...

She looks so happy! I think it's hilarious that she doesn't know she can get out of the sitting position on her own, so she just cries when she's done. I always wonder what goes through their little heads when they do things like that!

Rebecca Jo said...

Yipee for a good sleeper!
She looks SO BIG sitting up!
I have to say, my eyes went to that knitted blanket she's laying on - that is gorgeous!

Ali said...

I don't think anyone knows what they're doing when baby starts solids. There's so many different ways to go, and they're all just as good! My doctor told us that it takes baby about 17-20 times of trying something before they officially get a taste for whether they like it or not. So don't give up!

Carolann said...

She is just too cute! I love reading these updates!! I really don't know the first thing about babies, so I feel like I am learning so much by reading your posts!

Beka @ Sunshine to the Square Inch said...

She is one awesome awesome sleeper! I'm glad you all get some rest.

I don't know if I agree with those percentile charts. I guess if your child goes way under them I'd be alarmed but if you have a premie they aren't even on the charts. We laugh because my nephew, who was a premie, is 20% for weight and height and then 90% for his head size. ha ha! He has issues getting shirts on because his head is so big. It's funny.

I like these monthly updates on R. It's fun!

Erin LFF said...

Praise the Lord for a good sleeper! I'm sure that is HUGE :) Hopefully the food experiments continue to get better and better for everyone. She is so beautiful, friend! You did good ;)

Caroline @ In Due Time said...

Way too cute and that is amazing that she is sleeping through the night! Go R!

Kristen Skelton said...

These are the best ever ever ever for starting fresh foods because they can gum them up all they like but they can't actually lose the food. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GK5XY2?keywords=baby%20fruit%20feeder&qid=1455678803&ref_=sr_1_2&sr=8-2

And yes- I used to love those kisses! They are super hilarious.

Courtney said...

She is just the sweetest little thing! You went and had yourself a good ol baby there, Amanda. Nice work :p

Amy @ A Desert Girl said...

Ahhhh!! Sitting up! What a big girl. She is doing so great and so are you. :) I hope baby led weaning continues to go well! I'm excited to try it in a few months.

Kristen @ See You In A Porridge said...

why is she so flipping adorable?! stop making me want to have a baby. she is so adorable, and her bows are just too much. yay for sleeping and sitting up and those kisses - hilarious!

Laura Darling said...

My niece just turned six months old and I got her that "current family favorite" onesie. Too cute to pass up! R is adorable. I'm glad her eating is improving!!

Charlotte said...

She's so cute! And six months ALREADY? That's crazy. Happy (belated) 6 months birthday!

Rach said...

Happy half birthday to both of you!! She is so cute! And such a big girl sitting up on her own! I'm glad she's sleeping well for you! It sounds like you're figuring out the whole feeding thing so that's good! :)

Miriam said...

She is precious! What a beautiful little girl.

Kari said...

Aw! She has such a sweet little face! Definitely looks like mama!

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