Looking Back: November {Eloise at 6 Months}

On November 15, five days before Eloise turned six months, she finally figured out rolling from back to tummy.  Unlike some milestones, that creep in unnoticed, this one was like a dramatic switch was flipped!  The chilled out, laid back, happy to stay in one place and play with one toy baby had turned into a little girl on the move.  Interested in everything around her, and now with the ability to go after it, she was in a whole new world.  

She continues to get stronger and stronger sitting up too, and is grabbing at toys, playing with things and gnawing on everything. While she lights up with a little extra joy and recognition at her family (and most especially Clara, of course), she doesn't seem to exhibit any fear of strangers and is still happy to be passed all around.  She's social (hard to believe in this family, huh?) and recognizes her name.

Her favorite form of communication is the squawk.  In the weeks leading up to her six month birthday, she was not sleeping especially well at night (although she's a pretty good napper!), but right at six months we cut her off from nighttime feeding and did a little mini-boot camp and her night sleeping improved.

She loves her lovies and her pacis and is becoming more and more engaged in books (she has to listen to her sister be read to a lot!).  She's snuggly and squishy and does usually does really well in the car, in the stroller, in the ergo, on the go.

Her eyes are continuing to darken; it looks like she'll definitely be our brown eyed-girl. And her hair is dark, too and starting to really come in.  No teeth yet, but surely any day now as she's really working on the bottom ones.

She loves her bath, kicking and splashing.  She's not nursing as much these days.... too distracted in all the world around her.  We waited until six months to start any solid food, but a few days after she hit six months, we finally began.

She's full of laughter, full of personality, and full of love. And our hearts are full of love for her. Can't believe we're already halfway through her first year!

Thanks be to God!

Half-Year Birthday

On Friday, Clara turned six months old.  What?!  Halfway to her first birthday?!  No!  Stop, time!  I can hardly believe how quickly she's growing up and how much she's changing constantly.  It seems like every single day she is doing something new, reaching a milestone, discovering something she's never done before.  It's really awesome and fantastic and also just totally mind-blowing.  I know, I know, all you other parents out there.  "Get used to it.  Time flies."  So it does.  So here's Clara's six month report.

In her sixth month, Clara....

- learned to roll over in both directions, tummy to back and back to tummy.
- learned to sit up all on her own.
- re-started solid foods and is actually consuming some this go 'round (so far, bananas, peaches, green beans, carrots, rice cereal and oatmeal).
- gained weight like a champ thanks to lots of bottles of breast milk + formula.
- continued to laugh out loud a lot, especially for her daddy.
- loved loved loved playing in her doorway bouncer and in her exersaucer.
- began taking prevacid for reflux and is therefore taking in bigger volumes of milk (see weight gain, above).
- played independently in her crib for 20-45 minutes at a time.
- started working on using a sippy cup.
- drooled. A lot.
- chewed on lots of toys.
- loved being read to.
- loved being sung to.
- began consistently taking three naps a day at fairly predictable times (ahhhh....).
- continued physical therapy and made great progress with her motor skills and torticollis.
- pulled out a lot of hair (from Mama and Sweet Mama's heads and Daddy's chest).
- got a huge kick out of looking at herself in the mirror.
- stayed in a hotel for the first time (twice).
- went to her first birthday party (Happy Birthday, Ava!).
- went to her first wedding.
- stayed in the church nursery for the first time.
- slept through the night (it's happened!  Although not consistently, thanks to the need for feeds...).
- enjoyed play dates with Chloe.
- took walks in the stroller.
- visited Elberton, GA for the first time.
- outgrew her three month clothes.
- discovered her puppy, Rufus, and became very interested in him.

Clara, six months old:

We love you, Clara.