I'm Six Months Old Today (2/13/08)

I can't believe it's been six months since our little cheekaboo was born. Despite those sleepless nights that seemed to go on forEVER, the time has just flown by. Has it already been six months since I kissed my newborn baby girl's cheek in the operating room? Since the first time I stroked her hairy ears? Since I got two painful (but so definitely worth it) sets of stitches?

And now look at her. She's sitting up, smiling, laughing, interacting, learning and growing so fast I wish I could hit the pause button every now and then to slow her down.

Teething...but no teeth yet
There are good nights...and then there are the up 'til 1 am crying, drooling, trying to stuff her whole hand into her mouth while she looks up at me with her sad eyes and there's really nothing we can do about except give her some baby tylenol nights. I can see two tiny little bumps on her lower gums trying to push their way out. For now everything goes straight to her mouth: fingers, toes (her own, not mine), books...sometimes I just hold a bent finger to her mouth and let her have at it until my hand is covered with drool.

Still nursing...still pumping

I told myself I would try to breastfeed for at least six months...and now that I've reached that goal, I've found that it's not too difficult to keep up even while working so I'm going to go for the whole year. Even though I could use a couple of uninterrupted nights of sleep a week, I love that early a.m. feeding when she reaches for me, eyes closed, mouth open and she cranes her neck towards me like a little blind kitten. So sweet. We introduced solids into her diet last week but hopefully she won't reject me (I've heard it can happen) and stop breastfeeding. So far she's only eating single grain cereal so it'll be fun introducing fruits and veggies (Not the prunes! Step..away.. from the prunes!).

Sleeping like a baby...

Which doesn't necessarily mean sleep through the night. Who are these babies that sleep for 8 to 10 hours straight? I think they're a myth. Her normal pattern is about 5 hours before a quick feeding and then another 2 to 3 hours before waking again. I've read all the books and tried all the tricks...what I'm just going to do is let it be and not force the issue. I've heard of babies that can't sleep more than 2 hours in a row before waking so I'm pretty lucky, I guess.

So much FUN!

She really is very entertaining. I can hardly remember what our days and evenings were like before she came. We can spend all night listening to her babble (eeeeeaaaabbthAAAAaaaoooooo..sigh...thhhhaAAAyayaabbbbllttthhh)

Tummy time!

She's got the cutest little potbelly. She outgrew most of her 3-6 month size bottoms by the time she was 5 months old because the waists were too tight and I sometimes had to keep the top button undone like her Uncle Clyde after Thanksgiving dinner. Her legs are deliciously plump and sometimes I can't help but bite them and make cookie monster sounds (aaahm...nyom nyom nyom nyom!) Peter loves to squeeze them and call her his delicious bird.

A whole new view...
She's almost a pro at sitting up unsupported...every now and then she takes a slow motion dive and falls sideways (TIMBER!) As long as we surround her with pillows we can leave her like that and she just reaches around for her toys and of course, they go straight into her mouth.

Moving...um..backwards.

She hasn't quite got it right yet. She can scoot in a complete circle, like a little baby compass and she can sometimes pull herself up in crawling position on her hands and knees (sometimes while she's sleeping..weird) but when she tries to scoot towards a toy sometimes she ends up pushing herself backwards and this frustrates her so much she pretty much gives up and lies there on her tummy crying and waving her fists in the air.

Six months down...and looking forward to more!!