6 Months!!

Dear Evelina,

You are 6 months old!! WOW!! I just can't believe that a half a year has gone by since your birth. I am proud that you actually survived despite me and your papa navigating the world of parenthood for the first time. We've encountered some bumpy terrain along the way but we made it through together and will continue to do so as you (and us too!!) learn and grow. We are just thrilled that you are such a happy wee one, smiling so much that I often wonder if your cheeks ever get tired. Your smiles and giggles just make me melt. Even after a stressful, long, exhausting or frustrating day (yup, even days that you don't want to nap for more than 30 minutes), I will lay my head down peacefully just thinking about how happy you make me feel. I couldn't ask for anything better in my life.

Over the past month you have continued to change and grow. You are working to perfect your grabbing skills and stretch your arms out for anything within reach, including our faces, mouths, hair, jewelry, clothes, Christmas tree, Violet or even me or your papa. You just love to touch and inspect things with an intense stare or pursing of the lips. You still need some work keeping your grip tight on objects so they don’t always fall to the floor but you will get there. You do keep a tight grip on our fingers though, especially during feeding time. I even made you cry the other night when I had to release my finger from your grip to grab a burp cloth while feeding you your bedtime bottle…so sad. In other developments, you love grabbing your feet and attempting to put them in your month, you’ve started to do baby sit-ups, and you can successfully roll from belly to back although you still haven’t mastered back to belly. You still remain content just chilling out on your back or doing your side rolls. If there is something next to you or behind you that you must have, you can shimmy around to capture it. You’ve also started to put more weight on your legs and feet this month and enjoy standing in our laps. When you get bored, you just buckle at the knees and we know it’s time to move on to another activity.

I’m happy to report that the fussy period you were in last month, when it seemed like nothing would make you happy, not even the floor gym, is over (for now that is). You once again enjoy all of your toys, especially bouncing in your Jumperoo. It is just too cute seeing you bouncing up and down with joy. One of your favorite activities is to sit on our bed after I pick you up from daycare. I plop you down against my pillow with a toy for you to play with as I get into my pajamas. We chat about your day, play peek-a-boo, I give you tons of kisses and tickles and we have fun giggling together. It is truly one of my favorite times each day.

The biggest accomplishment of the month occurred just days before your big 6-month birthday...you were weaned from the pacifier AND Mr. Miracle Blanket!! YAY!! I was dreading the first night swaddle-free but you did so wonderful. I had hoped all along that you would make the decision to be ready for a sleep sack and that is exactly what happened. Although, swaddling had such a connection to when you were an ity bity newborn so for me it will be a bittersweet moment when I store it away. Now that you are free of the binkie and swaddle, you move around like crazy in the crib. We put you in the crib with your feet toward the door and you wake up with your head toward the door. You are quite active during the night but you are able to go back to sleep without a peep (usually) and are back to sleeping from 7 until about 6 or so. My fear is that once you start rolling over and/or teething our nights will get tough again but we will get through it like we have been for the past 6 months.

You had your first taste of solids this month, yummy sweet potatoes, while we celebrated your first Thanksgiving. Your 6-month well baby visit is coming up on Friday (more shots…whaaa) so after we speak to your pediatrician about starting you on solids and ask him lots of questions, we are going to officially begin. I hope you like your mommy’s cooking since I’m planning to attempt to make you some yummy purees. We will see how that goes.

As always, I wonder what new and exciting things you will learn and do this month? Will you roll from back to belly, will you say “Papa”, will you push up on your hands and knees, will you have a favorite food, will you get your first tooth…? What I know for certain is that we are very excited to spend our first Christmas with you (well, we spent last Christmas with you too, but you were only the size of a lemon) and celebrate the holidays with family. You are most definitely on Santa's "nice" list.

You are the sunshine of my life,

Mommy