six months

Half a year has gone by since Ryann Elizabeth entered the world.  I wonder if her age will ever stop baffling me.  Probably not, but oh well.  I am absolutely loving the little person she is turning in to, but I keep telling Chris, I wish I could hold her small itty bitty newborn self just one more time.  I want her to grow up, but I want her to stay little.  Oh man.  I'm sure I'm not the only mother with that dilemma.

Miss Ryann is definitely getting BIG!  We don't go to the doctor until next Thursday, so I went ahead and did my best to approximate her stats at home.  She weighs 17 pounds 5 ounces (this girl was as little as 5 pounds 5 ounces six months ago!) and is roughly 25.75 inches long.  She is still wearing mostly 3-6 month clothing, because all of the 6-12 month stuff we have is HUGE!  I have put some of the Carter's 9 month onesies on her, because a lot of her 3-6 ones are too short.  Plus I don't have anything with sleeves in the 3-6 month range.  We are definitely at an awkward inbetween size, in the midst of awkward inbetween weather.  She is still rocking a size two diaper, but I think when this box runs out we are just going to grab some threes.

Solids, or wannabe solids, whatever you like to call them, are going pretty well.  This month Ryann has tried sweet peas, sweet potatoes, avocado (that did NOT go over well!), carrots and green beans.  Her is definitely sweet potatoes.  We thought she was going to like green beans a lot as well, but tonight she was disgusted by them.  Who knows :o).  We generally give her the solids about an hour after her last nap, around dinner time.  She is also usually getting five 5.5 ounce bottles throughout the day.  She doesn't always take the whole thing, but around 4.5-5 ounces.

I honestly cannot believe how much Ryann has changed over the last month, and how much life with Ryann has changed as well.  Now that she is putting herself to sleep, I feel like both of us are happier.  She isn't always 100% thrilled when I lay her down, but we don't have to fight all day about sleep.  Plus I think the fact that I am not so stressed about getting her to sleep is rubbing off.  It is definitely true, a happy momma equals a much happier family.  As of the past couple days, she will fuss for about a minute when I put her in the crib, and then rolls to her side and just sucks on her sleep sack until she is out.  She is a side and tummy sleeper now, unless she happens to roll over to her back while she is asleep and ends up awkwardly up against the side of the crib.  I do miss holding her after she falls asleep.  I've said it more than once, the feeling of a warm baby melting into your body is pure bliss in my opinion.  But there is something to be said for a happy well rested momma and baby as well.

those baby blues melt my heart every time

Currently (as this has been the trend for the last four days) Ryann is waking up around 7am.  She takes hour long naps at 9:30, 1:30 and 4:30.  We start our bedtime routine around 7:30 and she is in her crib by 8.  She is still waking up in the middle of the night.  I try to only go in there once, after she has been fussing/playing for at least 30 minutes.  If she has eaten in the middle of the night and wakes up at 5 or some other horrible hour (in my opinion) I will let her be, and she has put herself back to sleep a few times.  Unfortunately she has started a trend of pooing around 5:30am, and after all the clean up and what not she is up for the day.

Her developing motor skills never cease to amaze me.  She can sit for several minutes at a time by herself just playing with toys.  That is as long as a cat or something else equally exciting doesn't grab her focus too quickly.  Since she is still pretty tippy on occasion I generally just leave the boppy behind her.  The past couple days she has started banging toys around.  She likes to slam the rings from the duck stacker into the stand, it is pretty funny to watch.  And somebody get me a baby gate (ok I plan to do that ASAP), this girl is learning to scoot.  She has been doing her face down push with the legs move for a while, but Tuesday night we got a definite army crawl.  There was no forehead on the ground, just arms pulling and reaching while the legs were pushing.  If there is an object she wants bad enough, she is going to get it!   She is also working on pulling herself to her hands and knees and rocking.

Uh oh mom, look what I can do!

Ryann's favorite toys seem to be the snail (has been since day one!) and her jumperoo.  If she isn't tired but just a little fussy, the jumperoo can definitely make her happy.  Sometimes she goes a little crazy in there.  Also, she now knows how to turn herself around to play with the various toys.  She is also thrilled with looking at herself in a mirror.  I recently hung one by her changing table and it makes her giddy almost every time we pass by it.  She loves playing super baby, and more often than not she likes when I blow raspberries on her chubby little thighs.  Her laugh is so funny when I do that!

Speaking of the jumperoo... here is a video of her being crazy in it.

Sometimes I think people are just saying, but everyone keeps telling me what a good baby Ryann is.  And really, they are right, she is pretty easy going most of the time.  A lot of the time I think she puts on a really good show while we are out and about, being super quiet and not fussing at all.  Last week we went out to dinner with some girlfriends, and she sat in her carrier for a good half hour without making a peep.  Just checking out her surroundings.  At home she is LOUD.  Not necessarily upset, but lately it is like somebody turned up her volume.  When she laughs it is loud, when she babbles it is loud, and when she screams it is REALLY loud.  The only time it is a wee bit annoying is if she wakes up early and we bring her to bed with us.  She isn't necessarily a fan of just hanging out and cuddling, and she definitely lets us know!

A little video of the girlie from today...

Happy six months pretty lady.  I am so proud to say I'm your momma.