Half Birthday

What?!!!? Audrey turned six months old yesterday. How cliche to say that "I don't know where the time goes", but how true. I remember when she was a week old, thinking to myself that six months old seemed so far away. I couldn't picture in my head what that would look like. Well, this is what it looks like:

How beautiful she is. Sometimes in the morning if we aren't in a hurry to get out of bed, I stare into her eyes and we study each other's face. I study her features and wonder what she will look like when she is a year old, three years old, thirteen. I love those mornings.

We celebrated Audrey's half birthday by letting her taste her first food: A delicious sweet potato and momma's milk puree. I baked the sweet potato Tuesday night and then threw it in the processor that Cheryle got me, along with some milk.

After I got it to a runny liquid, I poured it into an ice cube tray and threw it in the freezer over night. I also made a batch a little thicker for later on when she doesn't need it to be so runny. Yesterday when we were sitting down for dinner, I pulled out a cube and popped it in the microwave for a minute, and that was it! Dinner is served...

She liked it! She only ate a few bites which is what I expected since it was her first time. She will have sweet potatoes again this evening for dinner as well. On Sunday I will give her some avocado and see how she likes that. I am so excited to make all of her food. I love that I'll know exactly what she is getting in her tummy, and it is all homemade by mama and papi! I hope that we can encourage her to love food, and one day that she can enjoy cooking as much as Joshua and I.

 She went to her six month checkup this morning and everything went great! She has lost weight since last week when she was there for a sick visit, but I expected that, and the doctor wasn't concerned. Her weight now is 18lbs 11oz, and she is 26 3/4 inches tall. That puts her in the 90th percentile for both weight and height, which is great. If you remember, at her four month check up, she was off the chart for weight and in the 75th percentile for height, so she has definitely slowed her weight gain and has evened out a bit. Thank Goodness! I thought I was going to have a toddler the size of a teenager...

She has two teeth that just broke through the surface of her lower gums, and ouch!, they are sharp! This literally happened overnight. On Tuesday, I was feeling around in her mouth and could feel a slight bump, but Josh said he couldn't feel anything. We felt around again last night and we both agreed that there was something there. Then this morning I was feeling around and she bit me! It didn't hurt, but it sure was a surprise! I think she has managed teething pretty well so far. She isn't fussy and hasn't been crying (she never really does) any more than usual. She has, however, been waking up very restless during the night, but that could be teething or her illness that she's been fighting. Whichever it is, it hasn't been to bad on us. She really is going easy on us!

She talks more and more every day. She's so social and loves to have conversations with anyone that will listen. 

These changes are all so exciting...but so sad at the same time. She isn't the little tiny baby she once was. I will miss that toothless smile and those long nursing sessions. I'm going to miss the infant stage. She is just too precious! Don't grow up, slow down baby girl!

 She sits up on her own very well, which is so wonderful. It opens up a whole new world of toys and it means we can leave her to entertain herself for a few minutes while we do other things. People keep telling me that is very close to crawling, but I'm not so sure. She does enjoy being on her tummy, though. If I lie her on her back, she'll roll onto her tummy within a minute or two. I place toys just out of her reach and she'll try to get them. The other night Josh and I hid out of her view while she was in her crib (supposed to be sleeping, not playing!), and we watched her pull her legs up underneath her body and kind of scoot towards a toy in the corner. Then she realized she could pull the blanket towards her and the toy would come too, since the toy was on the blanket. Too smart! She also does this "around the world" move, where she lies on her tummy and just goes around in circles playing with different toys. It is pretty cool to watch. She discovered her feet a while back and those now have become her favorite teethers. Babies are flexible and its so funny to see her grab her foot and pull it to her face. The way an infant develops is so amazing. It is so subtle, gradual, and then one day, BAM!, there it is - a new skill. Wow.