My 6 Month Old... (Updated)

Is a busy little girl.

(and I have a lot to say about what's going on and my thoughts about it)

In the past month she's figured out how to roll first from tummy to back and then, more recently, from back to tummy. Unfortunately in the interim she forgot the first! We're working on that but there's a lot more screaming involved than I would like. Vocalizations have gotten louder and more conversational and our animals are much more interesting, much to their dismay.

She's also had an ongoing case of congestion, without an externally running nose but with an occasional cough. Saline drops have become a consistent part of pre-feeding diaper changes. Size 3 diaper changes! (We found out recently that Amazon has a diaper subscription service which takes a % off the price, and they send them to you automatically with email confirmation before each shipment. Add that to the Amazon mom discount and we're talking significant savings over buying them at the big box stores.)

Between Christmas and New Years she exhibited some unusual behavior, earning her a "sick" trip to the pediatrician. While waiting, DH expressed his opinion that we would walk out of there without an official diagnosis. And that's what we did. Along with a couple of glycerin suppositories, which luckily were not needed as she managed to finally work out the issue on her own. I don't know how a baby can get constipated within the course of a few hours, but somehow she managed to do it. But it was also that evening that she rolled from back to stomach for the first time, so maybe it was related to that. Or....

It could be that her schedule was off thanks to the holidays and visiting family and such, or it could be that she was having a subsequent effect of starting real food beyond the blah and boring realm of rice cereal. She really likes the solids once she figured out the swallow thing - so far squash and carrots are favorites while peas are tolerated. I tried bananas but they were much less of a hit - and when I tasted them I could understand why! We'll be trying them again, but only after I get some fresh. Processed bananas are YUCKY! The next new food is green beans.

So far, I've made pureed carrots with success, and have sweet potatoes, avocado, and green beans on standby. I'd heard baby food was easy to make, and it is, though I did ask for and receive a baby food cook book for Christmas - it has lots of great combination suggestions for level 2+ foods plus other basics like baby cheese sauce... Since we already have a blender and food processor and steamer basket, the only investment I had to make besides the fresh veggies was new ice cube trays. Cost savings - win!

She had her first sip of water from my Waterford water glass during Christmas dinner. Only the finest for my little diva. (hah.)

On Christmas Eve Eve she and I had lunch with my Grandmother, parents, Aunt & Uncle, their two sons, and their respective wife and girlfriend. Little One was a perfect angel at lunch happily eating her bottle and then settling easily into a nap (after a nice big poo - and of course the restaurant where we were having lunch does not have a changing station in the ladies room, forcing me to improvise), frustrating my younger cousin by stubbornly sleeping when he wanted to play with her. Hopefully now that he's outside of DC in MD (closer than NYC) he'll get another chance soon. The lunch was also eventful as the older cousin and his wife announced their pregnancy - TWINS! Of course I offered any advice but will only offer if she asks. It was really nice to hear a pregnancy announcement and not have jealousy and rage fighting with being happy for them. I haven't felt like that for a few years.

Little One continues to grow, and is comfortably wearing a couple of Carter's 9 month sleepers along with her remaining longer 6 month sleepers. Buying ahead based on her size in-utero, I didn't think she'd be in 9 month clothing this early, so most of what she has in 9 month clothing apart from sleepers are short-sleeved and short legged. Ooops. Guess I'll be making a trip to the local Carter's and Oshkosh outlets soon.

Christmas brought Little One a happy but small amount of new toys - including a soft dolly and refurbished 150+ year old family cradle, wooden stack rings, a community play things kiddie car - books (including copy #3 of "Guess How Much I Love You" which I can't get through without crying), and a couple items of purple clothing. (Purple isn't my favorite color. Ah well.) This was also the Christmas of the ornament - she is well supplied with 'My 1st Christmas' ornaments! It would have been much more overwhelming had we and my in-laws not decided to contribute to a starter savings account instead of buying toys.

Pacifiers are going away, though are still accepted on rare occasions, and the once-magical swing is no longer quite so magical. Little One now goes down for naps pretty well in the pack & play (She is mostly a tension decreaser at nap time. That generally means minutes of screaming before she finally conks out.), which still has the upper level bassinet in place despite her over weighing the limits. Again, see the back. I'm not leaning over the side to the point where I tip over myself to place her in it to sleep or pick her up (I wish they had more levels, like cribs do...). Since her room is the coldest in the house, naps in her crib don't go so well. We're still swaddling at night for warmth and to keep her from flipping over onto her stomach and subsequently screaming for rescue from her tummy in the wee small hours when we all should be sleeping.

Speaking of sleeping...we usually get a good stretch from somewhere around 8-9pm to 6-7am. Since DH is currently spending 12-13 hours / day working he'd never see her if she went to bed earlier! Right now she's passing out with her last bottle, but I expect that will change as she gets more solid food.

Since I get tired of a day full of the constant repeat of the lay on back, roll over, scream in frustration, return to back, roll over...rinse and repeat routine, and since she's not sitting up by herself yet, she's getting a lot more use out of the bouncer, both in action and as a chair. But she does love her play mat when I do allow the above routine to occur. (Does this make me a mean mommy or a practical one?)

Based on her new enjoyment of being held to standing with bouncy knees, I'm going to be buying a jenny jump up at my next trip to Target (delayed thanks to winter-ish weather this week) as my back just can't stand the continuous bending over. I'm also doing research into high chairs as sitting on the floor feeding her in the Bumbo can only last for so long. (Any favorites out there? I'm contemplating this one, though I've heard good things about this one and this one too.)

The 6 month appointment is on Thursday, so I'm really excited to see how she's doing on percentiles. As of last Monday, she was 16lbs 15.6oz, so there's a very good chance she'll be pushing 17 1/4 to 17 1/2 pounds at the appointment. Who would have thought my little preemie would be so on track?

UPDATED BELOW:
The dr's appointment went well - at 27" long she is now 90th percentile for height! (good grief, no wonder the 6 month clothing is too short) And as suspected weighed in just shy of 17 1/2 pounds at 17lb 6oz, so running close to 76th percentile there. Her little noggin is still lagging behind at 33%, but she doesn't look out of proportion, so no worries with that. Not that anything much could be done about it if it did.

Thanks to a grand total of 4 shots (including Flu #1) and the oral suspension, Little One is currently crashed, and I suspect that the rest of the day will remain low key, if a bit fussy. All the better to get the looming list of thank you notes for (forever incoming) baby gifts and Christmas written....