elsie - six months

written August 8th

Oh my baby girl, how do you keep getting older?  I can't figure out where the last six months have gone.  They were long and hard while we were in them, but I honestly can't believe that Elsie is already six months old.  She has grown and changed so much in the past half year, and I know the changes will only keep on coming.

don't you just want to nom on those cheeks?

We had E's six month well visit today.  Overall it was a pretty traumatic experience for I think everyone involved.  For starters, she usually only poops every 4-5 days.  So go figure she has a poopy diaper when I get her out of her carseat.  We measure her length, and her head, and then the nurse takes her to go weigh her and tells me she'll change her diaper for me too.  The second they leave the room Elsie starts screaming.  She is such a mama's girl and stranger danger has set in for sure.  Pretty much the only people she is consistently happy with are me, Chris and my parents.  Everyone else is hit or miss.  Anyway, Elsie continued to cry throughout the entire appointment.  The shots only made it worse.  It was absolutely awful.  It's a good thing that I didn't have too many important questions for the doctor (except it was a nurse practitioner because I forgot to schedule our appointment on time) because I couldn't function with her crying so much.  My poor little Elsie Belsie girl.  I felt so bad.

I could tell Elsie is a bit smaller than Ryann was, but I was surprised to hear she was only 15 pounds 2 ounces.  I'm going to guess I was wrong when I estimated her weight at 15 pounds last month.  Whoops.  Her weight puts her in the 34th percentile.  She measured 26.25 inches long (69th percentile) and her head is 17 inches (69th percentile too).  Because I'm in denial I still have E in 3-6 month clothing (the pants are WAY too short), which reminds me I should get the box of 6-12 month stuff out of the basement.  Elsie is also still in a size two diaper, and I think we will stick with it a bit longer.  I can tell she is filling them up at night though.

On average Elsie nurses six times a day, pretty much every three hours.  Slightly longer between feedings if she takes a good nap, less if she takes a bad nap.  I swear sometimes she isn't really hungry, but she sees me and instantly thinks FOOD and starts crying.  It is almost funny.  Almost.  E takes three naps a day, each one lasting between 30 - 90 minutes.  Occasionally if she has had a couple of crappy naps we will get a good two hour afternoon nap, but it is very rare for her to nap for a long time these days.  With the shorter naps has come the need for an earlier bedtime.  For the most part she is in her crib by 7:30pm, if not before, for the night.  Honestly she usually starts letting me know she is ready for bed by 6:45pm at the latest, it is just taking our family some time to adjust to an early bedtime.  She is usually up for the day between 6:45 and 7:30am (with one feeding).

We have yet to introduce any solids.  But I'm guessing it is about time.  I'm not sure why I'm dragging my feet on this one.  Mostly because I'm lazy?  I don't know.  We'll probably start with oatmeal next week.  Maybe.  We'll see.  Ha.  I'm interested in doing baby led weaning and Chris would rather do purees, so I'm not really sure where I'm going with the whole feeding thing.  So I just don't do anything.  Good plan, right?

The biggest milestone in the gross motor skills department is sitting.  Which I absolutely love.  She looks so cute and so big just sitting there playing with her toys.  Milestones are so interesting, Elsie finally was able to tripod for about 20 seconds the day before she turned 5 months.  A week later she could sit unassisted for that length of time, and maybe a week after that she could sit for minutes at a time.  It just happens so fast!  I still don't trust her enough to just set her down and leave her, but she is pretty sturdy, and is doing really good reaching out and grabbing things and being able to bring her body back upright.

Elsie has finally started rolling belly to back again.  I haven't actually seen her do it, but I have caught her on her back in her crib, when she was previously on her belly, maybe three times in the past week.  She has also started rotating on her belly a bit more in her crib, or if I leave her somewhere for a little while.  Apparently she just doesn't want to do any of it while I'm actually watching.  I'm betting now that she has a little more freedom to move at night, she might have more of an interest in learning to crawl during the day.  E LOVES to pull to a standing position though.  She can't do it on her own, but if I give her the slightest bit of resistance with my fingers, she can successfully get to her feet.  I think it will take her a bit to figure out how to hold on to a piece of furniture and do it, thank goodness.  Of course overall I'm still paranoid about her development, which is stupid, because she is obviously strong and capable of a lot.  But I'm a worrier.  Plus Ryann was an over achiever, as are some of my friends' kids cough cough Sarah cough cough, so I think that is throwing me off.

had to throw a sad face in here too, so pathetic!

I think Elsie might give me kisses.  Or she just tries to eat my face.  One of the two.  But I'll tell her to give me a kiss, pucker up my lips and go in, and she leans in with a big ol' open mouth.  I'm going to make myself happy and say she gives me kisses.  She also seems to be starting to actually play with her toys, such as shaking a rattle to get it to make noise.  It is awkward, and possible that she isn't really doing it intentionally, but when I say something like 'good job shaking the rattle!' she gets a big grin on her face like she accomplished something.  So I'll go with it.

Elsie really likes when you do 'this little piggy' with her feet.  The anticipation totally gets her every time.  I also love that it is something that shows she is starting to remember things and have an idea of what is going on.  As soon as you say 'this little piggy went to market' her eyes get big and she gets all excited.  Twinkle Twinkle still seems to be her favorite song.  She likes any toy as long as she can get it in her mouth.  If she doesn't have a toy in her mouth, it is her thumb or her feet.  There is ALWAYS something in her mouth.  It is so different from Ryann who never would put anything in her mouth, including food!

adorable headband from here

She doesn't babble as much as I remember Ryann doing, but that certainly doesn't mean she is quiet by any means.  This month she discovered that she can make this awesome high pitched screeching noise to get attention.  Let me tell you how much fun that is while we are grocery shopping.  Oh yeah, none.  Especially when Ryann starts covering her ears and yelling at me because Elsie is being too loud and they both just get louder and louder and then I'm that mom in the grocery store.  So yeah.  High pitched screeching.  Awesome.  Ok it is awesome, because she is so dang proud of herself when you finally look at her.  Elsie has also started blowing raspberries with her mouth.  So if she isn't screeching she is covered in spit.  All kinds of fabulous right there.

E hasn't distinctly made any sounds like ma da or ba, but often when she is crying it does sound like mama.  Really hoping she decides to start making that sound when she isn't completely pissed off.  Elsie is also really good at this creepy breathing noise thing.  She does it when she is happy, she'll look right at you and just exhale over and over again.  It is hilarious.  Chris says he is going to call someone and just put her up to the phone because it really does sound like that breathing you hear on horror movies.  Strong work E.  :o)

Overall Elsie is really such a good baby.  She seems like she is going to be a sweetheart (fingers crossed!).  She doesn't cry all that often, and most times even when I know she is crabby or upset, nobody else can see it.  She definitely gives off a go with the flow vibe.

Happy half birthday sweet girl.  I love you so!