Happy 6 Months Anniston

Baby girl,

You are half a year old!  I cannot believe it- time really does fly by.  You have learned so many new things this past month and are starting to be able to express your wants, needs, and emotions.  I think you become more beautiful with each passing month and I love you more and more each day- if that's even possible!

You reach for everything in sight- and it goes straight to your mouth.  You even try to put things that are way to big for your mouth in there!  You drool constantly and it gets all over everything- your toys, your clothes, and even me!  I think you started teething a bit during the last week before your 6 month birthday.  You really started to gnaw on everything you put in your mouth and love your teething rings- especially when they are cold!  You are rolling over like a lightening bolt!  You have been rolling over before now but sometimes you would get your arm stuck underneath you and it would make you mad.  Now you have got it down and you do it so quickly! You can sit up better too- you topple over after a few minutes if you don't have any help or support.  You lose your balance if you try to reach for a toy or look up at something.  You sit up so well in mine or Daddy's lap though!

Your favorite toy is your keyboard that Kay Kay bought you.  You love to hear us play music and you always try to put it in your mouth- but it's way too big!  I try to give you smaller toys made for going in your mouth but sometimes you don't want anything but your keyboard!

You still love your jumparoo and your Baby Genius DVDs.  Your favorite songs are "I'm A Little Teapot", "Itsy Bitsy Spider", and (crazy enough) "We Are Young" by Fun.  I don't know why you like that song so much, but every time I put it on and sing you laugh and smile and kick your legs.

You had a rough week during this past month.  You got sick with your first stomach bug and also had tubes put in your ears.  More on that here. You were brave though!  You are in a few 3-6 month clothes still but mostly have moved up to 6-9 months.  You are still in size 2 diapers but we have moved up to a size 4 in your overnight diapers.  I think you weighed about 17.5 lbs when you had your tubes put in.

Mommy and Daddy had their first night away from you (and it was overnight) since I started back to work.  Kay Kay and Poppy kept you at our house while we went on a little trip to Tunica.  We had a lot of fun, but you had just started getting sick that morning and I was sad to be away from you when you didn't feel well.

You were eating 6 bottles of 4 oz each with a morning and evening meal for the first couple of weeks. We had cut out the overnight bottle and you were doing so well.  Then you got sick, had tubes put in, and we took a couple of steps backwards.  That's ok though- I wanted you to be comfortable when you didn't feel so well. The last week and a half or so of the month you decided that you wanted to wake up (for good) at 4 am most mornings.  One morning you woke up at 3:30 am and didn't want to go back to sleep!  We've had a hard time getting you to sleep past 5 am the past couple of weeks. This means Mommy and Daddy have been going to bed earlier!

You eat your baby food so well!  You like everything I have fed you except green beans.  We have tried them several times and you make faces and it mostly just comes right back out of your mouth.  Bananas are your favorite fruit and carrots are your favorite vegetable.  We started giving you a little bit  of apple juice (watered down, of course) to help with your bowel movements every now and then.  You love it!  We have tried a sippy cup several times too- sometimes you do really well and other times not so much.

I can't wait to see what next month brings us.  You are so much fun and I feel so lucky to be your Mommy.  I love you Anniston!