Six Month Update

Can you believe it has been six months already? Half a year has gone by but it feels like just a few short weeks ago that we were bringing home our helpless nine pound newborn. In those early days of sleepless nights it was at times challenging to see the light at the end of the sleep-eat-diaper, sleep-eat-diaper tunnel. Fortunately, it seems like we have emerged and we are really loving being parents (well maybe except for the early mornings- we are NOT morning people!).

Kate is becoming such a funny, happy wiggle worm. She seems to always be on the move and not satisfied sitting still on the couch. Whether it is lunging after Willow or bouncing in her bouncy chair, Kate is a bundle of energy. From what my mom tells me, she is already taking after me as I was always on the move when I was young.

J started a new folder of pictures from 6 months on. You can check a few new pics here. It has only been a few days, though, so check back in a few weeks for more 6 month pics.

We have been working hard on our sleeping- stayed tuned for a cute blog about napping in the next day or so. J and I are lovers of sleep, not that we expect Kate to follow suit right away. We do realize that she is a baby and thus won't sleep in until noon. So, we all have been working on altering our sleep patterns. That said, Kate has always been a great sleeper. Ever since we moved her out of our room at around 2 months, she has slept at least 6 hours a night. Fortunately for us, she has slept through the night for the last few months. I guess that is one of the great things about having a larger baby, though my back would disagree. We have had a few hiccups lately, so tried a little gentle Ferberizing the other night. Night number 2 was slightly painful, but Kate gave up and went to sleep after about 30 minutes. Ever since, she has slept all night without really crying. Let's hope it sticks because she seemed very happy this morning! Naps are a whole different story that I won't get into right now.

Kate has really made huge leaps in her motor development. She can roll over in both directions and sit unassisted for a decent amount of time. She even seems to be trying to get her crawling legs underneath her. I wouldn't be surprised if she was up and cruising in the next few weeks. We have found her in countless places in her crib, and we have no idea how she ends up in some of the positions we find her in when we go to pick her up in the morning.

One of the exciting aspects of Kate sitting up is her ability to sit in a high chair at the table with us. She seems to really love being able to look around and take in everything. She also loves throwing her toys on the floor so that mommy and daddy have to go find them. We'll be looking for a solution to that endearing yet slightly annoying game in the near future.

Kate had her six month appointment this week. She passed with flying colors. She is a gigantic 22 pounds 8 ounces and 28.5 inches long. She is significantly above the 100% line for both height and weight but technically 120% doesn't exist so she is classified in the 100th percentile. It seems like she has slowed down a bit so we hope we will be able to keep her current set of clothes for awhile.

Speaking of clothes, Kate just transitioned into her newest set of clothes. We are starting her on her set of 12 month outfits. Yes, our 6 month old wears 12 month clothes. We expected a big girl as daddy is 6'4", but we never expected her to race through her clothes as quickly as she has done to this point. Hopefully, this set will last a bit longer as she starts to be more active.

In addition to the routine check up and icky shots (don't worry, she only cried for about 5 seconds) Kate got the green light to start some real solids. Kate has been eating rice cereal once a day for two months now, but we are now ready to open her up to a whole world of food and we are pretty excited. I got a wonderful gift from my sister for Christmas and I have already put it to good use on Kate's first set of food.

J affectionately calls it the BabycookER, but it is the Babycook and it is an all-in-one steamer, blender, and defroster to make baby food. Our first trial was sweet potatoes. I made a few batches, and now we have a few days worth of fresh, organic food for our little eater. I am really hoping I have the energy to keep up making baby food at home. It was really easy and I am loving my Christmas gift (thanks Auntie L!).

We have eaten sweet potatoes for two days and Kate seems to be somewhat satisfied with them thus far. She doesn't seem to LOVE them, but she ate them nonetheless. I hate sweet potatoes - a distaste which I hope not to pass on to Kate - so I started her out with them early. I can be a picky eater at times - don't even get fish near me - and I really want to eradicate that trait in Kate. We're really looking forward to introducing her to some of our favorites over the next few months.

Finally, a funny picture for those of you who made it to the end of this long update. Kate has found her tongue, lips, and mouth recently. Her new favorite pastime is sucking on her lips. She looks like an old grandma with no teeth. We keep telling her to put her dentures in, but she doesn't seem to get the message.