6 Months

I'm a couple of weeks late on this but its still September so I'm not gonna worry about it too much. This last month has been so much fun getting to be with my sweet girl every day. I love watching you grow and change, learning new things every single day. People ask me how I get you to always smile in the pictures I take, but that's just how you are, you smile all the time! 

My favorite moments: I love when you turn your head to the side as if to get a better look at something. Its adorable every single time you do it. I also love your laugh which comes more easily now and more often. I love how you fuss at me if I'm not shoveling food into your mouth fast enough. You have learned how to take your pacie out and put it back in. It takes you a few tries to get it turned around the right way when your putting it back but you get it eventually. 

Clara quirks: Well after months of wanting desperately to get a hand full of the dogs and cat's hair, you finally succeeded. Only you got a little more than hair, more like Hope's entire tail. She was meowing like crazy and I had to rush over to free her tail. Then you started crying too because Hope was hollering and I was hollering. What a mess! Hope stayed behind the furniture for the rest of the night but I think she's over it now. Poor kitty when you finally learn to crawl!

Nap/Sleep: Napping has gotten pretty consistent in terms of you taking 3 naps a day. The length of time you sleep can vary a lot, especially if we are out in the car. You fall asleep every time we get in the car which is nice on some levels. However you consider this your nap so instead of sleeping for 45 minutes you sleep for the 15 minutes it takes us to get somewhere then you are ready to go about your day. By evening you get pretty fussy if you have mostly just had car naps that day so I try to at least be home for you to get one of your naps in the crib. When we put you down in your crib for naps or at night you usually do great. You curl up with your pacie and your luvy and go right to sleep. Every once in a while you will cry for a few minutes but overall you are great at going to bed. Since I've quit work we have eased back your bedtime so you don't go down quite as early, that way you get to spend a little time with Dad. You usually sleep from 8PM to 8AM but still eat once in the middle of the night. Sometimes that feeding isn't until 5AM but I still consider that the middle of the night! About half the time I will wake you up for a dream feed before I go to bed but that doesn't really seem to make any difference. With it or without it you are still going to get up to eat during the night. We also have to go in and give you your pacie occasionally if you start screaming but luckily you go right back to sleep. I'm looking forward to the sleeping all night deal your friends' mommies talk about! Hopefully we will get there soon.

Eating: You are still a great nurser and have finally moved your feedings a little further apart. You will usually go 3.5-4 hours between feedings. We started you on solids and that had gone really well. We started with rice cereal just at dinner and have since included applesauce, peas, sweet potatoes, pears and carrots.  Peas were a definite no but if I mix them with applesauce I can get you to eat them. I'm pretty sure the sweet potatoes are your favorite. We have given you a sippy cup with water this past week but you aren't too sure what to think about that. You think its a fun toy but then aren't sure what to do when water actually comes out of it. I have a gradual sippy cup where you can use a nipple with it then switch it to the sippy cup. I started it with the nipple but that just made you mad that milk wasn't coming out so we have moved on to the regular sippy cup inserts. At least that way you don't expect it to be milk.

Mobility: You have gotten really mobile these last few weeks. No crawling but you can spin all the way around and do reverse. When I put you on a blanket to play you constantly end up somewhere else and then cry because you can't get to any of your toys. Although being on your tummy is your least favorite thing now that you can sit up! I'm amazed at how fast you caught on to the whole sitting up thing. One night Dad was practicing with you and you were still really wobbly but you could hold yourself up for probably 5 seconds before you lost your balance. The next day you could do twice that and a week later you were a sitting champ! We still have to sit with you because occasionally you will reach for a toy too far away and topple over. You love being able to sit up and give me a fit when I try to lay you down. You can lift yourself up onto your hands and knees and rock a little but no attempts at crawling yet.