Today, you turned 6 months old! Holy cow! You're halfway to your first birthday! Mommy blinked and you grew up. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?
Six months ago today, you were just this little thing struggling to breathe and looking up at me with those big eyes. I remember singing to you and encouraging you to breathe. I remember sleeping with you in my arms in the hospital room... a big no-no that the nurses were ALL over. But what do they know? You slept better in my arms. I remember our friends and family coming to visit us in the hospital. I remember how you didn't seem to cry very much. I remember trying to get you to nurse and how hard it was for you and for me. I remember how whenever you looked at me, you looked right into my eyes with so much trust and innocence and how I thought that there was nothing in this world that can ever compare to that moment of bonding between a mother and her newborn.
All of that seems like it just happened yesterday. THAT WAS THE FASTEST 6 MONTHS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, MILLIE.
In the last 6 months, that little tiny infant who looked at me with those big eyes and tiny arms and legs has grown into a full blown baby!! Those hands and feet that were so long and narrow... well, you have plumped up quite well. And you've got incredible power in those hands... you're able to bring me to my knees when you grab my hair and pull. Today you managed to grab my necklace (on the first try) and pull me from a kneeling position right to your level on the floor. And in the last month? You've turned into this little personality. A little VERBAL personality. My goodness do you like to jabber. A lot. You appear to be taking after your sister.
And possibly your mother.
It all started last weekend when I took you on your first flight to go to a friend's wedding in Seattle. Let's just say, you didn't handle the pressurizing of the cabin very well. I felt so bad for you. You cried soooo much and refused to nurse, even though that would help with the ear pressure. You finally fell asleep after I forced you to nurse and stayed that way until we had leveled out in the air. That's when you woke up and started grabbing at everything around you. Including the nice man who was sitting next to us... who didn't even flinch when you grabbed his arm hair and attempted to ingest it.
It was like your crying spurt triggered something in you because OMG... you have not stopped jabbering since. You've got a lot of "da-da-da-da" going on. And a lot of happy shrieks. (Except when they're not happy shrieks and are just shrieks...aka - the return flight home).
You've also become even more mobile in the last month. I can leave you on one side of the room while I run to the kitchen to make sure your sister doesn't pull the cabinet door off the hinges when she is attempting to throw away your diaper (she's a huge help that way), and when I get back, you are on the other side of the room... usually stuck mid-roll against something.
You love story time with your sister and we are so happy that both of our girls are "readers". I look forward to reading more with you when you get older. You still love your jump-a-roo and especially love it when your big sister comes over to give you a kiss... or to laugh/scream in your face. It makes you feel like you're part of the action. Oh, you cannot wait to be a part of the action. You already never stop moving. EVER. If it's not your arms, it's your legs. If it's not your legs, it's your head. If it's not your head, it's your hands.Changing your diaper is so different than changing your sisters diaper was when she was your age. You are constantly rolling and the only way I can get you to sit still for the 15 seconds it takes to change you is to have Hazel come over and stand above you so you get to look straight up at her and laugh. But the second she leaves, you're rolling over so that you can see where she went. It's a lot like attempting to change a live rolling pin.
You are soooo close to crawling now. You're not quite on your knees yet, so the "crawling" that we see now is mostly you pushing off with your feet and scooting your head across the floor. But trying to rock you down at night requires about 6 arms because you are so much more interested in climbing over Mommy's shoulder instead of nestling in close.
Speaking of going to bed... you are hilarious when it comes to your bedtime routine. Usually about 6 p.m., you start to get a little fussy and we know we have a short amount of time before you're going to get really upset. Usually by 6:30, we have your bottle ready and Daddy takes you into your room. When the lights go out and the sound machine goes on, you know it's dinner time and OMG... the 10 seconds it takes to walk over to the chair and get you situated to feed is 15 seconds too long and YOU MUST EAT NOW. Dinner time in your room is the fussiest you ever get. And it lasts all of 5 seconds before we plug you in.
You're still sleeping through the night and absolutely love waking up in the mornings. Your internal alarm goes off at 6:39 a.m., though... Mommy would prefer it go off at 7:01 a.m. See if you can work on that for me, mkay? When we put you to bed every night at 6:30ish, you immediately roll to your left and put your feet up on the bars of the crib. That's how we know you're down for the count... the roll to the left and the feet up. Sometimes, the roll to the left occurs as I am putting you down and you roll right out of my arms and land with a soft bounce in the crib. This doesn't seem to phase you in the least and you go right back to sleep. Sometimes the roll to the left is a full 180 and you end up sleeping nose first in the mattress. You seem to be okay with this so we just kinda leave you to do your thing. And 12 hours later, you're up and ready to take on the world again!
Interestingly, you have only recently started to motate in your crib. Prior to the last few weeks, you would wake up and cry out for me in the same position I put you in bed the night before. But now... well, now you can be any where in that crib. And sometimes you cry out because your leg is stuck in between the slats of the crib and this upsets you because it restricts your mobility and apparently, there was something on the other side of the crib you wanted to check out.
You still aren't able to sit on your own yet. You seem to always fall to the left. I think in another month you may have it mastered. So... like tomorrow?
And you still don't have any teeth!!! But the drooling has reemerged as a lost art. You drool ALL THE TIME! And I keep expecting you to have some teeth popping through but, alas... NOTHING!
Another new development for you... we introduced you to Aunt KC's dog, Gus. You sister... well, she loved Gus from the moment she met him when she was your age. You? NOT SO MUCH. Why? We can only guess that the terrified cries you let loose whenever he gets within sight have something to do with the fact that even though Gus is unaware of this, THAT THING IS NOT HUMAN!!! GET IT AWAY FROM ME!
Or something like that.
We've tried it twice now... and it doesn't matter if you're up in our arms, completely protected from "The Beast", as your Daddy likes to call him... you are simply NOT HAVING IT. Which doesn't bode well for when we dog-sit for Aunt KC this winter while she is in Thailand doing whatever it is you do in Thailand... aka: nothing legal.
Which is why you are to stay away from Aunt KC, understand?
You have so many expressions these days, Millie. We can't get enough of your smiles and the way you study your world.
Today was the last day that you nursed. We had a nice morning nurse session and... yep. That was it. It's crazy... it's almost like the last few weeks, you have decided that you've had enough of nursing and prefer the bottle. I have a hard time keeping you on the breast... I think you get frustrated with it. Usually in the morning I can only get you to take one side... and you just get too distracted with what's going on around you and you want to see it. Which is a lot easier with a bottle.
So... we made it to 6 months of nursing. Yay! In other news, I just got a $160 a month raise (the cost of the prescription to even have milk). And, more oxygen will get to my brain now that I'm off the medication. So, there's that. I thought I would feel more sentimental about stopping nursing with you... but you honestly seem like you were kinda over it. So. There you have it. Mommy doesn't have to carry the pump with her to work anymore... which is good because most of the time, I forgot it and had to come back home and pick it up.
I can't wait to see what the next few months bring with you. You are just the happiest baby and I hope that you continue to enjoy your world... and bring joy to it.
I guess now I can start panicking about your first birthday party. Yowza!
Love,
Mama
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