6 months old

Baby girl, you are now 6 months old.  You have become quite active.  You can't sit still for a second!  You learned how to roll over from your back to your tummy shortly after turning 5 months old and haven't stopped since.  You started figuring out how to scoot over at Uncle Jeff and Auntie Jessica's house and Grandma bought you a big rug so you can practice at home.  You like to roll back and forth from your tummy to your back to your tummy etc., but since you can only go in one direction for each and they are opposite directions, you don't really get far.  You can sit by propping yourself with your arms, but you'd much rather be on your tummy so you can try to go somewhere.

You love to talk and will babble away, mostly saying bababababa.  When I try to teach you to say mamamamama or dadadadada, you look at me and smile.  Or you move your mouth but no sound comes out.  You also learned to blow spit bubbles, but you tuck your bottom lip under your top lip when you do it.

You don't laugh very often, but when you do, it is the most infectious giggle and I do just about anything to hear it.  I'll do something that you find hilarious and when I try it again you are so over it.  Keep it fresh mom!

It's late, so I'm going to end this post.  I'll do a part 2 if I think of anything else to add.  I love you baby girl, more and more everyday!

Being a mom is a messy job

When I said I would have a more interesting post, this was not quite what I had in mind.  I guess the universe took that last post as a sign that I needed a challenge.

So, Wednesday I go to get my daughter out of her car seat to go to Baby & Me and I smell poop.  I cautiously remove her and see that it has already started leaking through the side if her outfit.  It had been a whole week since she last pooped, so this would be a fun one!  I now carry her awkwardly into the building and up to the 2nd floor because I don't want it getting on me.  I have clothes for her, but I don't have any for me.

I get to the group and tell the facilitator that my baby who only poops once a week decided the ride over would be a good time to go.  She offers to hold her while I get everything ready.  I don't know that I would be offering to hold her, but I definitely appreciate the help.

I get everything ready, lay her down and prepare to open the diaper.  Another mom at the group said she had never seen such a full diaper.  I didn't really even know where to begin.  It was everywhere!  I didn't want her hands in it, but I couldn't hold her hands and feet and wipe at the same time.  That other mom very nicely held her hands for me so I could try to conquer my messy job.

The facilitator then asks if I just want to give her a bath in the sink.  Yes!!!!  That is a great idea.  I was afraid I was going to run out of wipes and still not have her clean.  I had been wiping away and was nearing the end of the pack!  So my baby got a bath in the sink at Baby & Me with the help of the facilitator.  We used paper towels as wash cloths and baby blankets to dry her off, but we got her all cleaned up.

Who knew a diaper change could turn out to be a three person job!  At first I was a little upset to have to deal with such a mess at Baby & Me, but then I was actually thankful to have the help.  If she had done it at home, I would have been on my own.

So there you have it, just another day in the life of a mom.  I'm going to think twice before ever saying there's nothing too exciting going on again!

Nothing too exciting going on

I thought I would get in a quick post since it has been awhile.  I left off saying we were going to try solids and I did give her a little rice cereal with a lot of breast milk.  She seemed to think this was a crazy idea.  I don't think she actually swallowed any of it, she just let it drip out of her mouth with this funny look on her face.  That was a week ago and I haven't tried again.  I have to try something else though, because apparently when your baby only poops once a week, rice cereal is not the way to go.

Of course now I'm thinking that I really don't know why she wants to eat at night.  I have lots of theories, but of course she can't tell me if I'm right or wrong. So I guess there just has to be a lot of trial and error.  I don't know if she needs solids or not, but since she will be 6 months next week, it will be time to start anyway.  However, I am now thinking that she isn't eating enough during the day because she is so distracted and she is making up for it at night when things aren't quite as interesting.

I have no idea how to solve that problem other than waiting for it to pass.  In the meantime I am just trying to get used to this more demanding nighttime schedule.

Okay, that's enough for now.  It's time for bed.  I'll try to think of something more interesting for my next post if there is another one before I do my daughter's 6 month post on the 22nd.

So many changes

My little girl is going through so many changes right now.  She is starting to sit by herself for a little while, using her arms to prop herself up.  She rolls from her back to her tummy.  She has been so close to doing this for awhile now, but finally made it all the way over on Sunday, July 31.  Ever since then she doesn't really want to be on her back.  Only problem is that she's not satisfied to just stay there on her tummy, she wants to go places.  She gets frustrated that she isn't mobile yet.

Last night my husband and I left her at my brother and sister-in-law's house and while we were gone, she started her first real efforts at scooting.  They have carpet at their house and we don't, so she hasn't really gotten the chance to try at home because she can't get any traction on the hardwood floors.  Lucky for her, today grandma bought her a big rug to practice scooting around on.  Now we need to buy some baby gates so she doesn't scoot right down the stairs!

I also think we're going to start solids very soon because she is eating every 2-3 hours night and day.  Sometimes doing a little cluster feeding every hour a couple times before bed.  She used to sleep 11-12 hours a night waking only once to eat after 8-9 hours.  Now she's waking up all night long to eat.  I try other things to get her back to sleep and when that doesn't work, I feed her.  She doesn't just comfort suck for a minute and fall right back asleep, she gulps like she's starving and she eats just like she does during the day.  I think she's really hungry and is starting to need something more than just breast milk.

So that's where I'm at right now.  Trying to figure out how to handle my baby who needs lots of activity, stimulation and frequent feeding night and day.  I am one exhausted mama.  I look forward to the day when I get to sleep again!