Cara is SIX Months!!

I am SIX months old!

I like: Trying new foods, making mommy laugh, playing "roller coaster", music/dancing/singing (seriously LOVES this!), selfie mode on a camera (she really loves looking at any baby), being a part of things with mom and dad (she wants to sit up and come along with us...even if she has to roll there), reading time (she giggles at every book in front of her), rolling all around the house (now that she figured out rolling from tummy to back again), and sleeping on her belly and face (which makes mommy very anxious!).

Marks from sleeping on her face...
But she's obviously still happy

 I dislike: Poopy diapers, being hungry or tired, laying down when I want to sit up so bad, being held like a baby (though to be honest, this has been her dislike for a few months now), being hungry around loud new places (she will lose her crap if that's the case), and the dr's office (she knows it by the paper on the table now haha)

Not ALL foods are winners

I am now: 14lbs 10.5 oz (with a wet diaper) and 26 inches long according to the dr appointment we had today. She is in mostly 6 months clothes, but she does fit into some 3-6 month ones still. We're still putting her in size 2 diapers, but she's starting to blow out of those and ruin onesies so we might be upgrading soon.

A Typical Day looks like: She is waking up between 7:15 and 7:45 now and gets her first bottle at 8. She'll usually be up 2-3 hours before needing a nap. If her nap is a short one (usually half an hour) she'll only last closer to the 2 hour mark. If her nap is longer (about 1 hr to 1.5 hours) she can make it 3 hours. If she's fussy we'll let her take a mini nap between 5 and 6, but some nights she skips it and is fine (so she usually gets 2 - 3 naps a day).

We give her bottles every 3.5 hours throughout the day (last one around 3). Then we feed her a jar of baby food at 6 and a last "top off" bottle around 7. We start her bedtime routine around 7:45 and she's out by 8. She sleeps throughout the night, but does tend to wake up to babble a little bit around 2 or 3 AM. She is good at self soothing and putting herself to sleep though (which I'm very happy about).

This Month I: Became a pro at rolling over and turning around - can't leave this girl alone for even a second or she'll be 5 feet away from where you left her. She is starting to get up on her knees so I think crawling or scooting will be right around the corner. We also started practice sitting up on her own (I'm actually a little embarrassed I hadn't started this one before) and she seems to like that.

We also started giving her more solids (little tastes of what we're eating for dinner or breakfast usually) and she's getting VERY interested in foods now (opening her mouth anytime food is nearby, even if it's not for her haha). She even likes to hold the spoon when we feed her. She did try some foods she didn't like (spinach zucchini & peas was a bad one) and a lot that she did like (hello carrots or any fruit heavy foods), but overall she's eaten everything we've given her and she seems to look forward to times she gets to try something other than her bottle formula haha.

Cara is having issues with strangers and strange homes so we're going to be working on having babysitters. As much as I hate the idea of leaving her (she is my responsibility after all and I feel guilty for the person watching her), I know she needs to be used to other people rather than us. She even got to the point of hyperventilating at a birthday party and we need to get her over this issue.

Parent's Notes: Cara has been really hilarious this month! We realized she liked when I (mom) sang the tune of her piano activity mat so I started singing other songs and saw she smiled at that. One night I was bored so I put music on and started dancing and singing around her and she LOVED it. So now when we have down time I start to do that to entertain her. Every now and then she wants to be part of it and I'll pick her up and dance with her and she just laughs and laughs.

She's a giggle monster for sure and we love finding new things that make her laugh and/or smile. I'm so happy she's a smiley girl for the most part. Her Dr did note she will be popping out some teeth on the bottom soon (based on how the ridge of her gums is looking) so we get to look forward to that (I'm loading up on some children's Tylenol this weekend to be prepared for a fussy baby) and we are moving her to her room tonight so hopefully she does well with that.

Having her around is seriously the best and we're having so much fun playing with her. Since she goes to bed so early that gives us time to do what we need to and unwind each day so we feel we have a really good balance of parent/couple/personal time each day.

 

 

 

Update on last month's goals:

• We did watch the Halloween movies and even squeezed some others in (Beetlejuice, Corpse Bride, Hocus Pocus, etc.) and she liked those. We carved a pumpkin with her and let her feel the guts...she did not like that (she had a very concerned look on her face like she didn't like messes haha). We also let her gnaw on the top of the pumpkin (the inside portion after it was cut off) and she seemed to be intrigued by that haha.. She hated not being part of the trick or treaters, but it was fun to stay in and have her help us hand out candy. It was a GREAT start of the holidays for us.
• She definitely doesn't spit out food anymore (unless she's showing off her new fart noise skill while eating or if she doesn't really like the food). She loves to eat and try new foods all the time.
• We got our costumes picked out (she was a bee so I dressed up as a flower and Larry was a bee keeper). It was such a fun change to what I feel are normal first costumes.
• We've been good at having Football games on, but she tends to have her big nap during a chunk of them so she doesn't get to see them a lot, but I'm still glad we get to have them on and she gets to see parts of them still.
• Signing is still a work in progress. I still haven't found the bath one (I haven't looked), but we started doing cat and sleep more. She seems to like when we sign to her as she smiles when she sees us do it.
• Cara is a rolling machine, she is a pro at it now haha. Also, one night I was feeding her tiny shredded bits of chicken and she seemed to see those all right so I think she's good at that part now. Sitting up is still being worked on (she can sit by herself for a second and even corrects herself if she starts to lean, but if she sees a toy she falls over for it and she still face plants sometimes).
• 6 month appointment was scheduled and done on her actual 6 month mark so we're good there.

Goals for next month:

• Work on sitting up on her own and crawling.
• Introduce her to Thanksgiving themed foods, movies, etc. And we can creep some Christmas in there as well :)
• Keep up with the baby signs (I'd like to add grandma and papa along with bath to the routine).
• Work (hopefully not too hard) on getting her used to being in her own room
• Definitely get her trying more foods, hopefully we can start on some puffs soon, depending on how quickly her teeth show up. I'm in no rush to introduce choking hazards to her though haha.
• Work on having babysitters come visit so she can get used to being without us. We want to work up to leaving her at a house if we need so I've been sending out texts to people to see who wants to help us with this issue.