Madison: 6 months old!

I have a ton of updates on the blog to catch up on, but right now, I've got to tell you about my little girl!  Today, she is actually 7 months old, but let's back up and talk about 6 months because it's been a huge month for her.

This is how the photo shoot turned out: I lay her on her back, she turns over, I lay her back, she turned over.  She started squealing when I would flip her to her back because she thought it was a game.  Can't get her to sit still!

Mom, just let me crawl around, okay?

First off, she is so so so active.  She can't sit still unless she's tired.  She's CRAWLING.  Not only is she crawling, but she is pulling up on everything.  She only crawls because she wants to get to things that she can pull up on.  She is so happy to stand up on those little feet.  She started by leaning forward on her hands while sitting up on the ground.  Once she was more confident after a few days, she started leaning so far that she was on all fours.  Then she started rocking on all fours.  She did this all the time for maybe a week straight.  It wasn't long until she was crawling all over the place around 6.5 months.

Sleep:  When Bryce when on a business trip for 12 days, I decided to sleep train Madison.  With the move, she had been waking up 2-3 times a night and I was more than ready for a full night of sleep.  Plus, at 6 months, she didn't seem like a helpless baby to me anymore.  I know that sounds weird.  She is still a baby.  But with her developing social awareness and an opinion of her own which I began to see, I knew that she could handle sleeping through the night.  Most of the time, she was waking out of habit, which the doctor pointed out, or because she just wanted to hang out with me because I am so fun.  I'm flattered, but not at 3am.  However, you can imagine what a self esteem boost it gives you when a person is crazy about you so much that they want to be around you all the time!  It is really sweet.  Anyways, sleep training for us consisted of me taking a benedryl and putting ear plugs in.  It was hard.  Especially the first couple nights when she woke up 3x at night and would cry anywhere from 10-40 minutes to fall back asleep.  That first night, I was on the verge of sobbing myself as I debated in my head whether I was a good mom or a horrible one.  Every couple days it got better and easier.  Soon she was waking up 2x, then 1x, then none at all.  I put her down between 7-8pm and she wakes up between 5-6am.  If wake up is closer to 5am and I am lucky, she'll fall back asleep until around 7am.  By the time Bryce returned, she was doing great and he was pleasantly surprised (although it was never a big deal for him because he would just poke me until I got up and fed her or he would not even hear her crying!).  Occasionally she will wake up randomly at 9:30pm or 11pm, but she usually goes right back to sleep within a few minutes.  I don't really mind feeding her again when I'm still awake, but if it's after 11pm, I do not get up.

Naps are getting a little longer.  Depending on her wake up time in the morning and our schedule for that day, she takes 2-3 naps, anywhere from 40 minutes to 2 hours.  Usually it's 3 naps about an hour long.  It's just not that consistent.  Maybe I should be better about making her schedule consistent, but it's tough when you have coffee with a friend one morning, which sets naps later, and then Bible study another day, or a doctor appoint another day.  I tell myself that it's fine, as long as she sleeps when she needs to sleep.  It is obvious when she needs to sleep.

Eating:  She is becoming a little chunk!  At the very beginning of April, we started giving her puffs and baby cookies that remind me of dog biscuits.  She actually chews (or gums) them until they dissolve.  She also gnaws on chunks of bread when we are out to eat which is great because she stays occupied.  She eats 2-3 "meals" a day, usually oatmeal and a pureed fruit, then a pureed vegetable in the afternoons.  I thought that I would be making my own pureed baby food all the time.  Well, I was dreaming.  In between working on job work that I have and the full time job of being a mom to a crazy crawling girl, I don't make my own baby food.  I buy the Gerber pureed fruits and vegetables.  Maybe for the next baby?  Or maybe never.  I guess as a mom, with limited free time, you have to pick and choose what you do with yours.  Either way, she's healthy and happy which really is all that matters.

She loves being in public.  There's so much to see and take in.  People constantly comment on how content she is.  She's also great at making eye contact with people that talk to her.

She's doing a lot of baby talk.  Babbling and saying new sounds like bababa, dadada, gagaga.   She says dadada a lot.  She also squeals a ton.  She does this fake cough thing still (she learned awhile back how to make herself cough, so now her and daddy cough to each other).  She'll squeal back and forth with me.  One time, after having wandered off, we were squealing at each other in Home Depot and that's how Bryce found us...just listened for the loud squeals.

Her hair is getting longer!

She waves her arms up and down when she gets frustrated and slams them down on the tray of her high chair when she wants another bite.  She likes fruits and hates anything green (green beans, peas).  She has been drinking from her sippy cup of water more often and seems to like it more.

She chews on her hands and fingers, but doesn't really put everything in her mouth like a lot of babies. Still no teeth yet.

She had her first sick visit at the doctor a couple weeks ago.  Turns out she just had a bad cold with really bad congestion and stuffy nose.

She doesn't take her pacifier at all anymore.  She giggles when we tickle her.  She loves books and holding paper in her hand.

I'm sure I'll say this every time, but this age is SO FUN.  Seriously.

Growth:

Birth - 6 lb 3 oz , 20 inches

1 month - 8 lb , 21.5 inches

2 months - 8 lb 14 oz , 23 inches

4 months - 12 lb, 4 oz, 24 inches

6 months - 15 lb, 12 oz, 25.75 inches