Six Months!!!

Man, time sure has flown by. It's hard to believe my little newborn has grown and learned so much over the last six months. We had Emma's 6 month well check today, and she's doing well. She's 16 lbs 8 oz (60%) and 26.75 inches (90%). She's rolling around like crazy, loves watching Lilah play, laughs SO easily, and is good at sweet snuggles and great sloppy kisses.

It's hard to explain, but she's learned this week to turn her head at appropriate times. Before, when she was on her belly and was tired, she would put her face down straight into the floor or bed or wherever. Same when I had her on my shoulder. She would either look over my shoulder or bury her face in my shoulder. As of two days ago, she turns her head and rests her head on my shoulder or on the floor. She doesn't scream in frustration, and even sleeps on her belly instead of waking up mad.

We also tried sweet potatoes today for the first time and she loved them! I couldn't feed them to her fast enough. Gotta love a little orange face....

Fluffy

Emma's hair is coming in in stages. She has several longer pieces of hair that she has had since birth. Then about two months ago, after I removed a good bit of cradle cap, a bunch of new hair sprouted from the cleared area of scalp, and now she has a second level of hair. Not too long ago, we had another cradle cap removal session, and now she has a third level of hair that is very short and spikey. Much like Lilah's whole head was at this age. It's very fluffy with the shorter hairs buried underneath, and I love it. We had another session today, so we'll see what shows up in a few weeks.

Dinner Time!

I have forgotten how messy it is to teach a baby how to eat solids. We have tried cereal with Emma a few times this week. The first bite she took alright, and then the next several she would give a whole body shutter when I put the spoon in her mouth. We rested for a few days, and now she is beginning to get the idea, and even likes the taste now (she should, it's just breast milk with rice cereal). She likes to look down towards the spoon while I am trying to feed her though, so a lot of it just dribbles right back out of her mouth. And she just doesn't listen when I tell her to look up. I was able to snap a few cute shots though while I was trying to get her to eat. Today we tried avocados for the first time. She's getting better already and ate it all up. More than a tablespoon already! I think she's giong to be a champion eater!

Spring is Here!

We are finally getting a bit of nice weather, and we have really made an effort to get out and enjoy it. It's been quite windy, so it cuts our walks a bit because Emma is gasping for breath when the wind cuts across her little face. Lilah enjoys it a lot though, as do I.

Before I Forget...

A few funny things that have happened in the last week or so that I want to remember....

-- I noticed the chickens had dumped their water when we came home from the store the other day...
Me in the garage: Oh man.... the chickens knocked the water over....
Lilah once we got inside, while removing her shoes: SHOOT!
Me: What happened?
Lilah: Chickens.... spilled water.... Poor chickens.

-- Emma giggles by simply looking at her bare belly. I think she's learning to anticipate that I am going to kiss it, or give it a raspberry, and she knows that tickles, but it's pretty funny just to pull up her shirt, give her a look, and make her laugh.

I know there are more, but now of course I can't think of any of the others. Bah. They'll come to me, I hope.

More Milk, Please

So I'm convinced my breast milk production has decreased over the last several weeks. Emma sleeps so long at night, so she really only gets in about five feedings a day. In order to boost milk production and to help her gain weight, I've been nursing her pretty frequently during the day. Then before I go to bed at night, I pump, so that I can give her that bit of milk at her nighttime feeding the next night after nursing her. I think she's not getting enough mostly because she is so excited to polish off a 5oz bottle of milk AFTER nursing before bed. She kicks her legs and lunges after the bottle. Otherwise she is still sleeping great and acting normally, but I'm going to mention my concerns to the pediatrician at her 6 mo check coming up next week. And we can get a good weight recheck then too. We'll see!

More Lilah Chatter

In the past week or so, Lilah has really started to make more creative sentences and to put phrases together that I haven't heard from her before. When we were leaving a meeting the other day in the car she said, "see that momma? Circle, circle, circle?" I said, where?, she said "way back there, momma, see it?". I still don't know what she was talking about, but she likes to use "way back there" a lot now.
Even since her friend Asher moved into a new house, she calls our house her new house. As we were coming home from church today, she said, "I see my house! My new house. My super new house!" I guess super is a new adjective for her too.

Fun in the Sun

Today was the first sunny Saturday we've had in a while, and it wasn't too cold out. It was a bit windy, but that didn't keep us from checking out the local park for the first time in many months (six, probably?). Lilah loved getting out of the house, and the fresh air was good for all of us. When we got home, we decided to let the chickens have a first time ever walk in the grass. I guess it was cooler than I realized, because they jumped back into our arms and didn't want to get back down. (We only brought out our two most agreeable birds). Lilah said she wanted to hold one, so Ella Buttercup and Lilah shared a moment today. It was really cute. Lilah kept shush-ing her because EB was a little frightened of the wind. It was gustier than I originally thought too. They only had a moment outside, but Lilah loved it. And of course we took some pictures.

Eloise came out too. Aren't her feathers so pretty?

Big Girl Lilah

I know I should start potty training Lilah now, but with our big trip home in a little over two weeks away, I am hesitating. The thought of taking her to the airplane bathroom while holding Emma scares me. As does letting a stranger hold my baby. So we will probably hold off until we get home. Yesterday however, I decided to give it a try, since she hasn't even peed in the potty, to see if she would do it. She had a ton to drink yesterday morning, and I knew she would have to go soon. She was bottomless, and kept asking to put a diaper on, but I just kept putting her on her little potty. She eventually went after about three hours. Immediately afterwards, she was looking in her potty whispering, "yay, Lilah!". So proud.

Rollie Pollie Emma

I took the girls last week to have a developmental assessment that was free through a community program. Emma was a bit behind on her gross motor development, mostly due to lack of opportunity. She wasn't really rolling over or hadn't so much noticed her feet. She only gets back and belly time when I am changing her diaper or sleeping in bed, so when we got home I pulled out the mat and put her on her back during waking hours. Within about thirty seconds, she rolled over! After about five minutes on her belly, she was getting pretty mad, so I rolled her back onto her back. Two seconds later, she was back on her belly. Who knew she could roll over? Now she rolls over all the time, even a few times belly to back. I guess I just had to give her the chance!

Cheep, Cheep! - Week Five

I can't believe how much the hens have changed the past several weeks. It has been such a treat to watch the change daily. I have pictures of five of the eight girls. I just couldn't catch them all. They weren't so happy about being photographed again this time, but I just love to see how much they've changed in pictures! They are 4.5 weeks old today.

Ginger

Bandit

Rose

Eloise

Ella Buttercup

Lilah's New Friends

Lilah's current favorite show is The Wonder Pets. Pretty poor animation, but the team-working turtle, duck, and guinea pig have won Lilah over. She would watch it all day long, constantly sings the song, and even pretends that other stuffed animals she has are the wonder pets. While cruising around amazon.com the other day, I found a beanie baby trio of wonder pets for pretty cheap. When we got home, the box had arrived from UPS and she was dancing all around the house in excitement to open it (she didn't know what was in the box, I had just told her it was a surprise). She was SO HAPPY when she saw her new dolls. She immediately took them to her kitchen and played without emerging for an hour. They watched her eat dinner (the only way she would come to the table) and they are going to bed with her tonight. We'll see if she actually sleeps! She was so proud to pose with her new friends. (L-R Tuck, Ming-Ming, and Linny)

Baby Poop Strike

About two weeks ago, Emma went from sleeping about 8 hours straight to sleeping 12 hours straight for about three nights, after that she moved to 14 hour nights. Crazy! About the same time, she stopped pooping. She went yesterday for the first time in a week, making it her second BM in two weeks. I don't know if it has anything to do with sleeping so much, and therefore eating less, but I don't like it. She's been acting normally. She's smiling all the time, eating well during the day, and passing lots of gas. I weighed her the other day, one week after I weighed her for her 5-month weight, expecting her to up a ton since she wasn't pooping. She was down two ounces! So, with all this in mind, I called the doctor for reassurance. They figured that everything was probably just fine, but with all these things together, wanted to see her just to be sure. I took her in to her pediatrician this afternoon. Of course, he said things are just fine. I should be happy with the sleeping, she'll eat what she needs, and the pooping is normal. I'm happy now. (And her weight was 16lbs 1.5oz). We have her 6 month well-check in three weeks, so we'll get a good weight progression then.

This is Emma after we got home from her appointment. She's one happy baby.