Elyse Love ~ 6 Months

I can't hardly believe it, but we are now closer to Elyse's 1-year birthday than we are to the day she was born...how is that possible?!? 

It's a rainy, cloudy day here so Elyse & I took advantage of the lazy morning & had a fun little photo shoot.  I swear I have little miss photogenic on my hands, she certainly knows how to perform!

Weight/Height:  At Elyse's 6 month well-child checkup, she weighed 15 lbs 6 oz (40th percentile) & was 26" long (70th percentile).  She is still our little skinny minnie, but those rolls have certainly appeared on her thigs!  And seriously, this girl has some chubby cheeks!  We just ordered her next month's worth of diapers & we have officially moved into size 3s. I can't believe how fast she's growing!

Clothes:  She is wearing a combination of 3-6 month & 6-9 month clothing. With her length she's already outgrown a few of her 3-6 month items, but thankfully we have lots of hand-me-downs in the 6-9 month range! Her mamaw just bought her a bunch of sleepers and we opted for the 6-9 month size so they would fit for a lot longer.  I've done pretty well this month with not buying anything new.  I have reminded myself that it's certainly ok for her to wear outfits more than once!  ha! 

Food:  Elyse is still our big eater!  We adjusted her schedule a bit a few weeks ago, mainly because she told us that she wanted to adjust it...it was certainly easier to go along with her rather than keep fighting it.  She is nursing or having a bottle of pumped milk 5 times a day & is now eating solids 2 times a day-2 tablespoons at lunch & 2 tablespoons at dinner.  Of course I don't know for sure, but I would say she is eating somewhere between 30-35 oz of milk a day.  We decided to skip the rice cereal as her very first food & started with sweet potatoes.  As you saw from my post the other day, she LOVED them! 

 Sleep:  It seems that overall we are doign better in the area of sleep.  We had a rough week or so a few weeks ago since Elyse & I both had a cold.  She wasn't sleeping hardly at all without being near one of us which meant lots of sleeping on the couch or in the rocker--we honestly had some of the roughest nights we've had since she was born!  Even worse than when she was a newborn!  Poor baby just couldn't sleep with her stuffy nose.  Part of the schedule adjustment in the evenings was because she has pretty much dropped her early evening nap (leaving her with 2 naps per day).  This leads to an earlier bedtime & when we are home we are trying to start her bedtime routine between 8 & 8:30.  She's been sleeping through the night pretty well for the last several nights, just waking a little early some mornings which we can deal with! 

Activity:  I will be completely shocked if we don't have a crawler on our hands within the next month.  She is rolling over from back to front during the day & we know that she can roll the other way based on how we find her in her crib.  She's also perfectly content to sit up unassisted and play with her toys for 30-45 minutes.  Lots of times I will just sit in the floor with her & watch her as she picks & chooses which toys she wants to play with.  When having tummy time she is kicking her legs like crazy & she can move in a complete circle as she moves from toy & toy on her tummy.  She is reaching for items that are farther & farther out of her reach so we'll definitely be babyproofing our house very soon! 

Personality:  Our baby girl has the most infectious personality & I just LOVE spending my day with her.  She is starting to babble & jabber more & more each day and I would love to know what she's saying.  I just talk back to her or sing to her & we have our own little conversation.  She is still such a GOOD baby & is almost always incredibly happy unless she is tired or hungry.  However, she's also learned that she can throw a quick little fit to let us know that she wants something else.  Her little dramatic cries are quite pitiful. 

Most all of her sounds are happy, but she has also started this grunting stage which has nothing to do with her bowel movements...ha!  I think she's started making this sound to get our attention & she's learned that eventually we'll do what she wants.  It is the funniest sound & she went on & on for about 10 minutes the other day while we were having lunch out with my mom!  You would swear that we were going to have a horrible diaper to deal with...but she's just trying to get her point across. 

 Likes: 
~Anything she can put in her mouth, especially Sofie the Giraffe!
~Sitting up like a big girl
~Singing the "little green frog" song & "head, shoulders, knees, & toes"
~Puppies, she loves any dog & just smiles so big as they move around her
~Water--she's always loved bathtime but she also loves the swimming pool! 
~Jumper--She really enjoys the doorway jumper that I put up in the kitchen as I'm working around the house!
~Grocery shopping--She LOVES going to Walmart/Target or anywhere that involves riding in the cart.  She is the biggest hit when we go to the store so I've started running my errands with her!
~Textures:  She is really developing her sense for textures and loves to feel anything new...whether it's grass, concrete, glass, a fuzzy blanket, she will scratch her fingernails along with texture to learn all about what she's feeling. 

 Dislikes: 
~Nasal Aspirator:  She definitely does not enjoy this and we had to use it a lot when she had her cold a few weeks ago!  It was guaranteed to produce some real tears. 

  





6 Month Milestones: 

~Sitting up unassisted all by herself:  Middle of May

~Overnight stay at Papa & Gigi's:  May 24-26

~First dip in the swimming pool:  May 27

~Dedicated to Jesus:  June 3

~First Cold:  Started June 3, lasted almost 2 weeks

~First Family 5k:  June 9



  Love this baby girl & her crinkly nose smile!