Gwen is SIX Months

I am SIX months old!

I like: my toes, having my clothes changed, when we make silly faces at her (pretty much seeing our faces after a bit she gives the biggest smiles), when I see my bottle, watching Cara play around (she really giggles when watching Cara), being put in walkers or the bumbo over laying down, being outside in the dirt, and sucking on both thumbs (she's been doing this for a couple months, but it's so cute to see it's her preferred way of sucking on fingers).

She really does love to smile! And be outside in the
Shaded sunshine!

Getting so big in her walker!

I dislike: Being hungry or tired...that's it. She smiles and is happy the rest of the time. Sometimes being in the car seat for a long time she doesn't love, but she's such an easy going baby otherwise.

The onesie I got from Hooters back in Georgia/Florida
She pulls it of REALLY well :)

That sleepy face!

I am now: We had our doctor appointment today (for both girls actually and this super mom took them all by myself...it wasn't fun haha) and she was measuring 26 inches and 16 lbs 14.5 oz...quite a bit more than Cara and the nurse kept making comments about her being a chunk haha. She wears size 6 and 6-9 month clothes (definitely nothing smaller at this point) and size 3 diapers! We don't get percentiles anymore on the paper they give us, but she is just over the 50th percentile so she's growing so good!

Hanging out with mom while she was working from home one day

A Typical Day looks like:
7:30) Start waking up for the day (now that she's in her room she actually sleeps better and more into the morning)
7:30 to 8) Breakfast time. I changed diapers, outfits and then make her bottle (usually about 5 oz of breastmilk and 2 of formula).
8 to 9:30) Gwen hangs out while I do finishing touches on the morning things (my lunch, the bottle makings for Larry, Cara's breakfast and morning setup, and getting my work stuff put together). I leave for work at 8:15 and Larry stretches her to last as close to 9:30 for her nap.
9:30 to 11) Nap time. She usually wakes up between 10:30 and 11. He'll usually do some tummy time or bumbo seat time so that he can avoid spit ups later (she's officially outgrown her swing and kept rolling out of it so we took that away).
11 to 12:15 ish) Diaper change, eat a 6.5 ounce bottle (usually 1.5 oz is formula, the rest is breast milk), get burped and more wiggle and giggle time. Although she's starting to stop eating as much so we're probably going to stretch feeding times to every 3.5 hours rather than 3.
12:15 to 2) Nap time. If she gets up early then she hangs out until her next feeding.
2 to 3:30) Diaper change, eat 6.5 oz bottle again, get burped, wiggle and giggle time and then she'll end up going down for another nap.
3:30-4:45) She naps while Larry and Cara go downstairs so he can work out and she hangs out in the play area. After his workout and he showers she is usually up and ready to hang out again. (We're lucky if she'll make it to 4:45 though)
5-5:45) Diaper change, eat 6 oz again (though usually it's ALL breastmilk), get burped, and usually hang out with Larry and Cara until I get home
5:45-6) Dinner time! I usually feed her one container of baby food with some oatmeal in it. I think she really likes this time because she gets to be in the high chair and we all eat together so she's finally part of some family time haha.
6-7:30) Family time! We go outside if it's nice weather, if it's not we stay inside and just hang out (usually teaching Cara some flash cards and letting Gwen wiggle and giggle or play in the walker/activity table). Around 7 we start our nightly show. 7:20 she gets her last bottle of the night (usually 5 oz of formula).
7:40) Get ready for bed. She gets a diaper change, lotion, book, and put in pajamas. We do a bath on Sundays and Thursdays (switched from Wednesdays), but we start that at 7:30 since we do both girls. she's usually very ready for bed at this point.

She started planking one day and we knew
She's so ready to be moving!

This Month I: Started scooting...backwards, just to keep my parents on their toes haha. I love moving around any room you put me in. I also celebrated Mother's Day with my mom and gave her some good sleep and smiles.

I also like to get up on my knees, but I'm not quite crawling yet...I wish! Watching my sister run around really makes me excited to run around with her. I love watching her play and will try and get in on that by pulling on her hair (which I'm sure she loves!).

I got to go outside quite a bit and I love when they just let me sit or walk in the dirt. I love to rub my hands against new textures and feel the differences that are out there. I also love to hold and look at books, I'm probably going to be a book worm like my sister.

I also have gotten to try some tastes of foods of my sister's and parents' plates. I have tried pizza, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, watermelon, and one of dad's smoothies from this month!

No filters on this one. Tell me this isn't a SUPER
Photogenic baby!!

Sitting without support (but only for a few seconds)

Parent's Notes: Gwen has been such a ball of sunshine still! We moved her to her own room about a week after her 5 month milestone. She just seemed like she was outgrowing her bassinet. I mean when I walked out of the bathroom and saw her head pop up over our bed (the top of the bassinet lines up with the top of our mattress) looking around the room I knew she was too big for it. Plus she was having issues with rolling over and not being able to roll back. We still kept her owlet going up until last week, but this just shows me more about how each kid really is different and you have to treat them according to their own needs. I was also reminded that the kid will tell you when they are ready for their next transition. It might not be verbal (in fact it probably mostly won't be), but you'll be able to tell if you are watching their little cues.

Moving her to her own room has been SOOO  nice! We are back to having movie date nights on Saturday's. We've been doing those for a while, but to have the option of having them in our room again has been so exciting! Not to mention going to bed and not feeling like we have to tip toe. And not having such a bright room to put her down in (the nursery has room tinting on the windows to keep it more dark).

Gwen also has loved to be upright to interact with everyone. She likes to lay on her belly and get up on her knees or do a bear crawl-like motion, but mostly she just loves feeling like she's part of the crowd in a walker or bumbo chair. I'm also convinced she likes to figure out how things work. If things spin around she will spin them and just watch it and it's like she's trying to figure out how it works. I joke that she's probably going to be an engineer or techie - she'll just want to build. It's interesting seeing how she really likes to take in the details. Cara just learned something and then wanted to move on it seemed, but Gwen likes to touch and feel and really just absorb as much of new things as possible. 

I mean...My heart!!

She went from planking to this...we're SO close!

Update on last month's goals:

• Get her moved to her new room: She moved over seamlessly! We are all very happy with our new room assignments :)
• Work on sitting up more on her own: she will sit for a second on her own, but depending on her laziness she might fall over quickly or try and stay up a bit longer. This one I will continue to work on.
• Work on scooting: if you count backwards this girl has got it down! We try and encourage her to go forward for a toy, but she just likes to go backwards haha.
• Keep trying new foods: she seems to like trying new foods. She's starting to get to where she opens her mouth more when even our food is around her. She always looks concerned at first, but so far we haven't had any spitting out because it's gross scenarios.
• Get her outside as much as possible: we've done this when the weather has been nice and she seems to really like it. It's a bit more difficult for us since we have to either lay her down on a blanket or carry her with us, but it's worth it when she gets really excited!

Goals for next month:

• Keep working on sitting up and scooting
• Work on tasting more foods that aren't just pureed baby food.
• Take her out for a family date night that's at a normal time (I think she's ready to be out a little later...maybe)
• Read to her more
• Do more sensory friendly activities when we aren't outside (she seems to like those).