Six Months!

I've been waiting for this milestone since Eleanora was born - or really, since I was pregnant.  I know that probably sounds awful, like I wanted to skip everything before that, but that's not true (well, sometimes it was).  Now that we're here, I'm not sure it's quite as magical as I was expecting it to be.  I was hoping that a lot of things would get easier, like sleeping and routines (not really true yet), digestion issues like reflux and gas (somewhat true), and Eleanora sitting unassisted and being a bit more independent (not true yet).  It's also when we planned to move her to "the girls' room" with Evie and when we planned to start giving her food other than breast milk.  These last two things actually made me sad and a bit anxious.  We have just started having her sleep in the room with Evie, and it's actually going a little better than I thought, meaning not much different.  But no longer are my lazy nights of getting to stay in bed while I nursed her lying down, both of us falling asleep and snuggling together afterwards.  And we no longer get to hear her special music that she made just for us as she sang her little songs and made happy little sounds when she went to sleep and woke up.  And no more "meerkat" pop-ups, when she would stick her little head up and look for us right away to ensnare us with her smile.  But she isn't getting distracted by us, and we do have freedom in our own room now, which counts for a lot.  We can watch TV with actual volume and move around and make noises without worrying about waking her up.  We wanted to get the girls used to being companions early on, and even though it's a little tricky, both of them are doing really well with the adjustment.  Eleanora still wakes up about 2-3 times a night to nurse and have her diaper changed, but luckily Evie sleeps through her wake-up crying, and Eleanora usually just goes right back down to sleep afterward.  Sometimes she'll wake up at 6am and act like it's her wake up time for the day, but I bring her back to our bed then and do everything in my power to teach her that she needs to sleep for at least another hour (and by teach I mean snuggle and beg).  Sometimes that works, but sometimes she just lay next to me laughing (at me) and wiggling and making noises for pretty much all of that hour.  Oh well.

Starting solid foods was another thing that I was only somewhat excited about.  While it can be fun seeing babies react to new foods and try new flavors and textures, it also means preparing more food, cleaning up more mess, watching for reactions, and having stinky poop diapers that we have to spray off (instead of just throwing them in the washer like all her other diapers).  I thought she was very ready to start solid foods because of the way she would intensely look at our food while we were eating, sometimes even following it with an open mouth. But when we sat her down to try broccoli for the first time, she wasn't very impressed.  We use a method called baby led weaning, which is basically giving solid, non-pureed foods that babies can handle themselves so they can feed themselves and learn how to use their mouths and tongues to eat.  It's almost been 2 weeks now, and she seems to just be coming out of the "why is my new toy breaking apart in my mouth" phase, but still doesn't really "eat" much.  She chews on the finger-size soft-ish foods we give her and some pieces come off in her mouth and she figures out what to do with them - sometimes it's swallow (usually by accident), and sometimes it's spit it back out.  Either one is good for her to learn, but I guess I thought she'd be trying to eat more now.  But it's good that she's not because this period is supposed to be all about exploring, and we try to follow the rule that "food before one is just for fun."

I would love to say that I felt better about all this because she's still nursing plenty, but she's also going through another lovely 6 month milestone - teething.  I was a little surprised when I saw her first bottom tooth appear because Evie didn't get her first tooth until after 10 months (which is fairly late).  But I was also so thankful because the days leading up to that (and after) were pretty rough, so at least there was an explanation.  But teething is seeming to also make her more finicky when nursing, and on bad days she refuses sometimes for stretches up to almost 6 hours despite my many attempts to feed her.  She also seems to wake up easier and have a harder time going to sleep, so I'm considering this a rough patch right now, and although it could be for many reasons, I'm blaming it on teething.  She will, however, make up for what she misses overnight, which means we're getting less sleep too.  Ugh.

But aside from all that, I still have so many moments each day when I look at her and feel so in love with her.  Her smile is more contagious than ever, and she's changing by the week.  She loves to look closely at her toys now and study the details on them, poking a little finger here and squeezing there, and of course testing everything out with her mouth.  She can get around pretty well without being able to crawl.  She rolls and twists and inchworms all over the place, and she is sometimes hard to contain.  She also loves to put her arms up in the air in a "v" and then slam them down on her belly (or my face or chest, which is equally as fun).  One of her favorite positions is under the couch, just at the edge where she can examine the bottom of the couch closely.  We call it her mechanic position.

She is not sitting independently yet, and it doesn't really seem like she's working toward it, but she will put herself in a standing position when being held (before you even know what's happening).  She loves her big sister so much.  She is more at ease when Evie is near her, and when they're in the car together, she just looks over at Evie the whole time waiting for her to do something that makes her smile or laugh (which is really anything).  She also loves nursery rhymes now, and immediately gets a huge smile on her face when we start to sing one of her favorites, which include "Baa Baa Black Sheep," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."  She still makes wonderful noises and says things like "ahyeeyeeyee," "hiyee," and "heyyy," just like the Fonz. She mimics a lot of sounds too and makes a sound similar to. "Hey guys" that Gabe and I find pretty funny. She has started to cling a little more with both hands and feet when I hold her in my hip now (yay!), and that is just one of the many things I love about older babyhood.

Evie seems to have evolved in her own way at this 6 month milestone.  She seems more at peace with this whole new life transition, and she seems more comfortable in her new role.  She still wants more attention sometimes than I feel like I can give, but we're constantly working on it and finding ways to meet everyone's needs.  Her language and cognitive skills are just blooming before my very eyes, and she's starting to "get" a lot of things that she wouldn't have just 6 months ago.  She likes to try to figure out how to make up jokes based on the few that Gabe and I tell her, and her world of imagination is growing and becoming more involved (although I could do without "playing Frozen" all day long).

She recently had her first dentist appointment, which she loved and did so well at.  While she had no cavities, the dentist said we should try to stop her thumb-sucking habit because it's causing an overbite (which is becoming painfully obvious).  I think it's so cute now, but I know it's not fair to let it continue.  It's very hard, though, when her thumb sucking is such a comfort to her and one of the things that helps her sleep.  I'm noticing that she can't really say the "th" sound very well, if at all sometimes, and I'm wondering if this is just normal or if it has to dovwith her teeth.  For instance, she says she's "sree" years old, and she goes "srough" the tunnel.  And when she tries to say "thick," she says "stick" and I got very confused the other day when we were talking about her elderberry syrup and she told me it was more "stick" than the other brand we had, and I said, "Oh, it's more sticky?" She got frustrated but we eventually got it cleared up.  She kept trying to enunciate "thick" but could only say "stick."  I felt a little bad because she knew she wasn't saying it like I was and really wanted to, but just couldn't.  She also says she "stucks her stumb," but I just think that's cute.  

Speaking of cute words, we've been going to Orlando a lot lately, and she keeps saying she's going to "Mylando."  I'm not sure how that started, but it's as if she's saying it's her Orlando and I can't help but giggle.  She talks about Mylando about as much as "Ehio."  I've also realized that she has this sort of nerdy, old-lady, southern way of saying some of her words, and I don't know where she gets it from, but it's pretty hilarious.  She is also learning to figure out how to use different parts of English properly, but she still has a few "wrong" ways of saying things that stick out, like "mans" for men and "mines" for mine. 

She also has been napping regularly again and staying in her room all night.  I don't know if it's helping her to have Eleanora in there with her or not, but Gabe and I both kind of think so.  In fact, one recent morning when Eleanora woke up at 6am and I took her back to our room, Evie got up later and came in crying, saying, "why did you take Eleanora from my room?!" It was so sweet. It was almost as cute as the time I put Eleanora down for a nap in the girls' room and then went to do something and came out and couldn't find Evie in the play room.  So I looked in their room and she had gone in and climbed in the crib with Eleanora and was talking to her. I couldn't help but laugh because she was just looking at me like this was a normal, everyday occurrence.

Even though some days are a real struggle to get through gracefully (or at all), I generally feel very happy and I love my little family so much.   And now that Eleanora is going to be 7 months this week, I guess I've waited long enough and need to post this already!