Highlights of Month 6

Incredible that Abigail is already 6 months old! It seems like 6 months is a milestone age - the age when kids often start sitting up on their own an when they start eating solid food. But Abigail started sitting up on her own before 5 months and to be honest, I'm not in a huge hurry to really start solids. I finally feel like we've got nursing down to where I don't really have to think about how to feed the baby, and now it's time for a whole new way of thinking about feeding the baby!

Abigail started blowing raspberries this month and rolling back to front, which makes her much more mobile now that she can roll both ways!

She started out sitting in the middle of this blanket by the pink and purple bell...

We were so lucky to get to spend a couple of weeks with Grandma Rae and enjoy Grandpa Mark's visit for a few days at the end. We had fun getting portraits taken of Abigail and her grandparents! See that post here.

Uncle Matt was also able to stop by on his way back from a work conference, so he got to meet Abigail and hang out with us for a few days. He brought some fun gifts for Abigail, one of which, we now refer to as her "college monkey". When giving her this gift, Matthew thoughtfully explained to Abigail, "this monkey is small enough that you can take it to college and no one will make fun of you!"

The one and only college monkey

Gosh, it sure is hard to get the college monkey's tail AND my toes in my mouth, but that doesn't mean I'll stop trying!

Mom and Dad timed their trip perfectly to coincide with the most beautiful time of year here, and we enjoyed some nice walks in the leaves!

In early October, all the grandparents left and real life began! Which means that Abigail had to start day care and mom and dad had to start fending for themselves in the kitchen! We have settled into our new "normal" of work, school, daycare drop offs and pick ups, enjoying our evenings before Abigail goes to bed and our weekend time with her. We both look forward to our ECFE class Thursday nights and the new friends we are making there and the fun things we are learning about parenting and child development.

Enjoying some daddy-time!

Yummy caterpillar!

My favorite moment of the day is her huge smile when I come home from work or pick her up at daycare!

With the vacating of the 2nd bedroom, we have set up Abigail's crib and she has slept in it for several nights. We consistently put her to bed in there so she at least starts out there. When we met with her doctor at her 6 month visit, she said that they have done maternal infant sleep studies that show that when moms and babies sleep in the same place, their sleep cycles get in sync and babies have longer cycles and moms have shorter cycles to stay in sync with baby. Which explains why the first wake up of the night when she is in her crib makes me feel like I am having to wake up from the dead to get up and feed her. So, we still haven't figured out what is "best" at getting us all a bit more sleep, but for now we're using a combo "start in the crib and the rest of the night in bed with us" method that is manageable.

Finally, we were happy to get to see quite a few good friends throughout the month!

Happy to see Auntie Diane

Chillin' with her best bud Mino

Out to breakfast with Becky, Mino and Diane

Getting to see Auntie Helyn

And meet Auntie Thao and Aaron from Texas!

 I think this month has been the most fun yet (and I'm sure that will continue!). Abigail is such a joy and blessing to us - she brings smiles everywhere she goes!

First tooth (update: teeth!) and solid foods!

My goodness, just when you figure them out, they change on you!

We are now into Abigail's 2nd 6 months and I can tell it's going to be much different than the first 6 months! It feels like she is growing and changing at lightening speed: from a little tiny 8 lb helpless newborn to a fun, interactive 16+ lb almost-mobile baby!

Her bassinet is in the background, which she got too big for weeks ago!

She turned 6 mo last Monday and we have been waiting until then to start solids per the AAP recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months. Abigail's doctor gave us the green light at her appointment on Monday and recommended starting out with orange vegetables. A book I got recommended starting with a morning or afternoon meal instead of in the evening, so Saturday morning, I cooked up a sweet potato from our CSA, mixed it with a whole lot more milk than I expected and puréed the life out of it!

We cleared the clutter off the table, brought out the camera, put her in the highchair with her new bib, and sat down, bowl and baby spoon in hand. 

It was all quite anti-climactic, however, since Abigail was clearly not as excited as we were. Whether she truly hasn't lost her tongue-thrust reflex or just plain thought we were crazy trying to put some weird orange stuff in her mouth, all she wanted was to bite the spoon - without any sweet potato on it to get in her way! Oh well! We did try a little whole grain rice cereal tonight and she proceeded to continue to stick her tongue out and scrunch up her face with each "bite" like we were trying to poison her, so we may wait another week or so before we try again.

The other big news is that on Sunday morning, we woke up and were playing with Abigail. She grabbed my finger and stuck it in her mouth as usual, but this time there was a different texture in there than normal. Trying to get her to open her mouth and not cover her gums with her tongue was nearly impossible, but we did get a peek and yes, indeed, it's a tooth!

She has been quite a trooper, and her mood or sleep hasn't been too disrupted, though she definitely has a lower tolerance for things not going her way!

And then tonight, while giving her a bath, I noticed her moving her tongue over her bottom gums a lot and chewing hard on her bath toys, and sure enough, the bottom tooth right next to the other one is halfway erupted. Poor kiddo - it's hard work growing up!