Lily, half of your first year is over and it’s unbelievable. I feel like I have so much to say this month! The growing you have done in 6 months is amazing to Mommy and Daddy! Your personality is shining big time now and it’s so much fun to respond to it. You are definitely a squealer! Pop says you are going to be a soprano. You love to learn and we love to watch you learn. You get fixed on an object and explore it with your eyes, fingers, and mouth until you have it all figured out. Many people ask if you ever blink. Your big blue eyes are always wide open to take in all there is to see. Because you are learning so much these days, I’m adding a category to your monthly blog…”New Explorations”…which will be new things you have learned or discovered or obsessions you have. I’m also going to add a “Food” category since you will soon be eating solids. We’ve loved every minute of your first 6 months and we hope the next 6 months slow down a little. I don’t think I’m quite ready to plan your first birthday!
Firsts: night away from Mommy and Daddy; Memorial Day; VBS at PBC (Nana No Name’s church); out of state trip to Marietta, Georgia for the Cohort C girl’s trip (Mommy’s close friends from Auburn, minus Jessica who we missed very much), serious-buggy-full-of-groceries grocery shopping with Mommy (I can’t believe I’ve gone this long without taking you grocery shopping), Father’s Day; nap in your own bed that lasted longer than 45 minutes; trip to Mentone; play date at the pool with Brennan, your birthday buddy; trip to the river; boo boo; bug bite; jelly shoes; golf cart ride; Silpada jewelry party (Nana No Name’s first one!)
News Headlines: oil spill in the Gulf; Joran van der Sloot (suspect in Natalee Holloway’s murder) murders another lady in Peru; World Cup; US men’s national team advances to second round in World Cup (Mommy couldn’t care less but Daddy thinks this is pretty important); Toy Story 3 in theaters; iPhone 4 released for sale
Favorite Toy: Oh there have been so many! Anything that can go in your mouth and/or makes noise. You love your rattle. When lying on your back, you hold your left foot with one hand and shake the rattle with the other. You also love the tags on all your toys; you study them hard like you are learning all there is to know about that toy! Your exersaucer plays “Old McDonald” and every time you push the button, you look around for someone to sing the song to you. And of course…we can’t forget your feet. Your toes get in the way of changing your diaper, changing your clothes, eating, and bath time. I learned one day while changing your diaper on the floor when you reached for my toes that you don’t prefer your toes over others, you just want toes in your mouth! I bought you a Bumbo seat and you don’t like it because you can’t get to your toes. I thought maybe by putting the tray on the seat you wouldn’t be able to see your toes and it would be “out of sight, out of mind”. Instead, you beat on the tray and got mad so we don’t put the tray on anymore. We’ll have to wait until this foot obsession has calmed down.
Mommy and Daddy’s Favorite: Mommy loves that you smile when I sing to you, although I can’t sing to you when you are sleepy because it wakes you up and excites you. Mommy also loves that you put your hand on my cheek when I’m rocking you. Daddy loves to see and talk to you after you wake up. You are SO happy and playful! He also loves to tickle you…we found your tickle spot, under your chin!
Milestones: You are getting better at eating from a spoon, but we’re still working; sitting up with less and less support but not independently yet; ready to crawl, but can’t get that belly off the ground; still in a size 2 diaper because you have such a tiny waist; 3-6 and 6-9 month clothes; trying so hard to sit up when lying down, you will definitely have a 6 pack of abs after all the crunches you do everyday; “dog” may be your first word because one day you looked at the picture of a dog on your exersaucer then immediately looked at Sanibel and smiled
Weight/Length: 16 lbs, 13 oz. 26 in.long, head circumference 43 cm., which puts you in the 75th percentile in every area!
Like Mommy: You sleep curled to your side with knees up and hands near your face.
Like Daddy: We discovered this month that you have a double crown…like your daddy! Girl you have such issues with your hair…a cow lick in the front, a double crown in the back, a bald spot, and a rat tail that Mommy just can’t cut!
Best Memory: You place your hand on our face when we rock you to sleep. There have been many days that I have rocked you before a nap and you place your hand on my face and just gaze at me and, of course, I gaze back into your blue marble eyes. Ah, I think it’s just so sweet! No words, just rocking you in the quiet nursery and soaking up every ounce of time with you. Daddy’s best memory is from Father’s Day. You gave him a pair of Clark’s shoes and let him spend the day with his dad and brother playing golf.
Biggest Challenge: The pet store was having a sale on dog food and Mommy is always up for a good bargain! I got you out of the car seat, grabbed my purse and we headed inside to see what we could get for Sanibel. The 35 pound bag was on sale for $30! And that bag should last through your first birthday! Of course we had to have it! So I had you on one hip, purse on the shoulder, and I stood there wondering how in the world I would get the huge bag to the register..and wondered if I could even lift it! Thankfully, an employee came over and must have seen my perplexed expression and he offered to take it to the register for me. I paid and he said that if I drove the car around, he would load it for me. So we walked back to the car, buckled you in, and drove to the front of the store and no one was there to load the bag. I was worried about this…I had a feeling that I would have to leave you in the car and load the bag myself. I was right in front of the door and was only going to be out of the car for a total of like 10 seconds, but I was still nervous. You just never know what might happen these days. I used my speedy skills and got that bag in the car in no time and we were all safe. And now Sanibel has a TON of food to eat!
How We Spend the Day: You wake up around 6:30-7 just in time to kiss Daddy goodbye before he leaves for work and have a 6 oz bottle and 2 TBSP of cereal. You play in your exersaucer and on the floor with Mommy until 9ish when you start to get sleepy. I give you a paci and rock you until you are sleepy then lay you down in your crib. Typically at this point you give me a HUGE grin to convince me you aren’t sleepy and you want to play some more, but I have to fight the urge to get you out and just let you fall asleep. You nap much better if you put yourself to sleep. You usually take a 40 minute nap and wake up fussy (which means you are still tired) so I let you fuss it out again and you sleep for about another hour. You wake up in time to eat again and you take a 6 oz bottle around 10:30-11. You are awake for a good 1 1/2 hours to play then you take another nap, usually for about 2 hours. You eat a 6 oz bottle and more cereal around 2:30-3 and usually play the rest of the afternoon until Daddy gets home. Some days you take a cat nap before your next bottle, it just depends on how you have napped earlier in the day. Daddy gets home at 6 and he usually feeds you a 6 oz bottle around 6:30-7. Your bedtime is normally around 8, but this month we have been so busy with things for the youth at church that we’ve been out many nights past 8. Thankfully, you can still fall asleep anywhere and you adjust well to a change in schedule. You are a very easy-going baby and are content 99% of the time so it’s been very enjoyable to get you out of the house more often.
Funniest Moment: You can’t hold your bottle by yourself yet. You try, but you can’t support the bottle. However, you CAN hold the bottle with your feet! You little monkey! It’s only happened once and I couldn’t get a picture…but you were holding on to your feet and had them pulled up and wrapped around the bottle! It was TOO funny 🙂 What other hidden talents do you have?
New Explorations: You are enthralled with tags on toys. I always say that if it weren’t for the tags on toys, you wouldn’t have anything to play with. You hit your bottle when you are done with it or when you are distracted and bored by eating (not sure how anyone could be bored by eating!). You love to sit in Mommy’s lap at the computer desk and hit the computer. As long as your hitting something, you should be hitting a toy or something educational, so Mommy bought you a Little Tikes piano. You are more interested in putting your mouth all over it but you do bang on the keys occasionally. You love to stroll and be outside. Unfortunately it’s WAY too hot (95 and higher) during the day to spend any worthy amount of time outside. I think you are going to be a singer. Just when I think you are asleep in the car, you start to sing along to the radio.
Food: You haven’t tried anything but cereal this month. I’m waiting to get back from youth camp to try solids. I’m also waiting on a high chair and for your weird eating habits to cease. You stick your thumb or toe in your mouth after EVERY bite of cereal! I think you think that you have to suck to swallow. But the problem is that you get cereal everywhere! I have used up so many paper towels and washcloths getting you cleaned up after each feeding. I can only imagine the mess you will make once we add green beans and sweet potatoes to the mix! You already want real table food though. Anytime you are sitting in someone’s lap while they eat, you are drooling over their food, sticking your tongue out, and reaching for the food. Be patient…it won’t be too long.
How We Celebrated Your 6th Month: Mommy and Daddy went to Student Life in Orange Beach with the youth from church while you stayed with grandparents. We left on the 28th so we were unable to be with you on your 6th month birthday. But we did spend the weekend prior to the 28th with you in Birmingham.
Here are pics from your sixth month:
Packed and ready to go to Grandma Reese’s for your first weekend away from home.
Uncle Greg and you. He is Grandma Reese’s brother and lives in Florida. He came up for Memorial Day. His wife, Jan, couldn’t make it because she had her own baby at home…a colt/foal (baby horse).
Aunt Nancy and you. She is Grandma Reese’s sister who also lives in Florida. Aunt Kim was there as well, but I never got a picture of you with her 😦 She lives in Delaware.
You and Aunt Katie, and of course goofy Uncle Ryan in the back…
Playing with Uncle Greg on the porch
Pretty smiles with Grandma Reese 🙂
Worn out from all the Memorial Day festivities, you passed out in Grandma Reese’s lap!
Cutie pie with your bunny chew toy
Ashley and you. Ashley was in Mommy’s cohort at Auburn…GREAT friend ! She was also in Mommy and Daddy’s wedding.
Rebecca and you. Rebecca was also in Mommy’s cohort at Auburn, another GREAT friend! And guess what??? She’s due August 26th with baby Eli! Jessica is also one of Mommy’s wonderful “Cohort C” friends but she was unable to come to Allison’s because she is on the mission field for the summer!
Mr. Phil and you, Allison’s dad. He enjoyed walking around and talking with you!
Mrs. Karen and you, Allison’s mom. She kept you for the evening so Mommy and her friends could go get some AMAZING dessert! We’ll take you one day 🙂
This is why people ask me if you ever blink…God gave you some gorgeous blue eyes!
Playing on the floor with Mommy!
Playing in your exersaucer…you still love it!
Nana No Name and you in Mentone (where Mom and Pop live) for Father’s Day.
The cows came over to meet you!
Funny faces in your Bumbo!
And of course your Bumbo seat would not be fun unless you had your toes in your hand!
Ha! LOVE IT. After bath time…
So fresh and so clean!
Reading in your Bumbo!
Sweet sleeping Lily. This is your usual sleeping position–on your side, thumb in your mouth, and other hand covering your eyes.
So excited!
You got to meet David Nasser!
Messy after eating cereal!
Sweet cheeks 🙂
Talking to Daddy on the phone. We talk to Daddy frequently throughout the day. I put him on speakerphone while he talks to us and you just slobber all over the phone.
First ride on a golf cart. We are at the river for a SS get together one afternoon.
Your sweet daddy reading Guess How Much I Love You before bedtime.
You and T-Bone at Big Jim’s Bama Q for dinner for Father’s Day. I hate that I cut off your face in the pic because I LOVE your expression!
You and Pop talking in Mentone
Playing with Mom on the floor in Mentone
Your beautiful eyes…again 🙂
You like to get under the recliner
Always curious about something…
With your daddy on Father’s Day
Another cute expression with your crazy T-Bone!
Granddaddy feeding you cereal!
Laughing with Granddaddy 🙂
Swimming in the pool for the first time. Thanks for inviting us over Brennan!
You and Brennan playing on the floor. Look at how well he can sit up on his own!
Ok I know this is not a picture of you and it has nothing to do with you, but I wanted to show everyone how talented your big sister is. Somehow Sanibel rolled up her blanket into a doughnut and slept in the hole.
Obsessed with the tags on your toys!
A Merry Heart 