Emma: Six Months

It is mind boggling to think that we have a six month old! SIX MONTHS! How is that possible?

Emma seems to really "get" things now, such as who people are, responding to her name, actually enjoying books and her toys. She is now an active participant in playing, instead of just laying there and relying on us to entertain her. Speaking of just laying there, laying there is not an option for her. She is rolling over until she gets stuck and can't roll any farther. Once she rolls to her stomach, she instantly gets up on her knees and starts rocking back and forth. She can be on her knees for minutes, but just doesn't know yet how to get where she wants to go. She also loves different textures, rubbing the carpet, blankets and the leather chairs.

When we got back from Hawaii, I spent a Sunday afternoon making baby food for her: sweet potatoes, carrots, avocados, apples, pears and bananas. It was super easy and only cost me $7 to make over 140 little ice cube sized servings. We did buy some Gerber food too as I had a coupon and didn't want to make green beans and peas. Emma has tried all of the above foods and really loves sitting in her high chair and eating. The only foods she wasn't a fan of were the green beans and peas.

We are now four nights in of Emma sleeping through the night....finally! We should have started trying it a long time ago as it has been fairly easy. I knew that when we went to her six month checkup that the doctor would tell us that she doesn't need to be eating in the middle of the night, so we tried it two nights before her appointment. Her night routine is usually falling asleep while taking her bottle or me rocking her after her bottle. I knew she was used to that and we didn't want it to be a crutch for her. She needed to learn to fall asleep on her own. So we established a new nighttime routine: bath, bottle, change diaper, read two books back in her room, say "I love yous" and lay her in her crib. The first night she fussed for about 20 minutes, the second night was 10 minutes and the last two minutes have been just a couple minutes before falling to sleep. She woke up the first two nights in the middle of the night, but we didn't go get her and she put herself back to sleep. The last two nights she didn't wake up at all! Now I just need to learn to sleep through the night again!

Emma had her six month checkup on Friday and put on quite the show for the nurse and doctor: rolling over, rocking on her knees and killing them with her charm. She measured in at 27.5 inches (97th percentile) and 16lbs 2oz (52nd percentile), our long and lean girl.