Richly Blessed: September 2014

Six months...half a year. Well, actually, she's now 6-1/2 months old. Every month, I say I'm going to start writing this post early and I never do. Maybe next month. :)

I am so, so thankful for a healthy, happy, growing baby, but goodness. It's just going by way too fast. I'm one of those people who is all too aware of how quickly time passes. I swear I have a non-stop loop of the songs "You're Gonna Miss This" and "It Won't Be Like This For Long" playing in my head. And yet, even though I held her a ton, I still wish I would have held her more when she was a newborn. I'm just trying to soak in every single moment with this little sweetie

She is so close to sitting up on her own! She can do it for a little bit before she starts to lose her balance, but I'm sure it will be any day.

One Month Update
Two Month Update
Three Month Update
Four Month Update
Five Month Update

Here's what's been going on with Emery the last month.

- Her last doctor's appointment was on September 17th. She weighed 17 pounds, 6 ounces (75th-90th percentile). Her length was 27.5 inches {I knew last month's measurement was wrong} which was the 95th percentile...still a tall girl! Her head circumference was 17.25 inches which was the 75th percentile. She had to get shots, but she did great. She cried like crazy as soon as it happened, but she stopped as soon as I picked her up and seemed fine the rest of the day.

- She's grown out of most of her 3 month clothes, but she can still wear some. Most of her things are 3-6 months and 6 months. Her pajamas are still 6 months, but she has outgrown a few of them. The 9 month pajamas just seem *so* tall! She's still in size 2 diapers.

- She's doing great with her schedule! On a typical day where we stay home, she wakes up anywhere from 6:30-7:30. She's all smiles when I go and get her and it's one of the best parts of my day! She eats about 7 ounces and then has cereal and about an ounce of a fruit or vegetable. So far she's had peaches, pears, mangoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and avocados. She didn't seem to be a huge fan of sweet potatoes or carrots and she hated avocado! Her favorites so far are definitely mangoes and pears. When it's something she really likes, she dives for the spoon and says "mmmm" the whole time! :) She stays awake for about 2 hours and then takes her morning nap which lasts anywhere from 1-2 hours. {I think we've *finally* said goodbye to the 45 minute intruder!} When she wakes up, she has another 6-7 ounce bottle, stays awake for another two hours and takes her afternoon nap which is also usually 1-2 hours. Another 7 ounce bottle, 2 to 2-1/2 hours of awake time, then she takes her third nap which is anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. When she wakes up, we get to have some family time because Daniel is home. Around 7:00-7:30, she has her last 7 ounce bottle, then we get her ready for bed, and she's usually asleep by 8:00 or 8:30.

- One of her favorite things to do when I feed her is put her hands in her mouth when it's all messy and then touch everything she possibly can.

This is what she thought of avocados...

- She is all over the place. Looking at everything, trying to reach and grab {and eat} anything that's remotely close to her, she's just so curious and wants to explore all the time.

- I can't believe she doesn't have a tooth yet. I feel like she's been teething for 4 months!! She is drooling, eating her hands {and anything else}, chewing on her toys, running her tongue over her gums, sucking in her bottom lip, and still nothing. She hasn't been exceptionally fussy, though. She's had a few fussy days where I can tell her gums hurt, but nothing terrible. I'm expecting that first tooth any day, but I've been saying that for a while!

- She loves her feet! She plays with them all the time and loves to put them in her mouth.

- Her hair is growing and it's so cute. It's longer on the top and the sides are getting a little fluffy...especially right after she's had a bath. I love it so much!

- Our doctor recommended giving Emery a little bit of apple juice every now and then once we started solid foods and she *loves* it! I decided to go ahead and try giving it to her in a sippy cup and she's doing great! She was so confused at first, but after a few tries, she didn't have any trouble at all!

- She's making all kinds of new sounds, but squealing seems to be one of her favorites. She's also doing this sound that's kind of like a long drawn out cough.

- Smiles are super easy to get out of her. If it's someone she knows, just looking at her and talking will usually get a smile unless she's really tired. It's a little tougher to get a laugh, but she surprises us sometimes with what will make her giggle. One day she laughed when I sneezed and I fake sneezed about a thousand times that day trying to get more giggles. Daniel can *always* get her to laugh. He kisses her and makes silly noises when we get her ready for bed and she goes crazy giggling. It's one of the highlights of our day!

Riding "horsey"...one of her favorite things! :)

- She is rolling over both ways like a champ! She will roll over almost instantly after we lay her down anywhere. She's also learned how to roll over in her sleep which was *awful* at first. For almost a week, she would wake up *several* times a night {think every 15-20 minutes} because she was on her tummy and couldn't get back on her back. That didn't last long, though, and now she almost always sleeps on her side or her tummy. Speaking of being on her tummy, she's finally a fan of tummy time. She still pretty much hated it and would cry and kick her legs at the beginning of the month, but now she's almost constantly on her tummy when she's playing on the floor.

- She's starting to try and hold her bottle. She does really well when there's only a couple of ounces left and it's not very heavy. Like with every other milestone, I'm certainly not rushing anything! ;)

- Something she started doing almost right after she turned five months old was putting her Wubbanub pacifier in her mouth by herself. She didn't have it quite right at first...

...but she's totally gotten the hang of it and can do it every single time now. She will actually look at the pacifier very intently to find the part that goes in her mouth and then she puts it right in. It's pretty adorable!

- The exersaucer is still one of her favorite things. Those dangling butterflies that used to be her favorite now drive her crazy and we ended up taking them off. She would have them in her hand and then get super frustrated. I think she wanted to be able to put them in her mouth and she couldn't reach them. She seems to be much happier now that they're gone! :)

- She went through a short phase where she didn't want me to rock her to sleep. I was seriously freaking out. I rock her to sleep for almost every nap and I love, love, love it. Thankfully, it only lasted a couple of days. I wasn't ready to give that up yet!

- She tries to grab anything and everything. If I pick something up, she immediately reaches for it. If she's in her Bumbo seat, she's leaning from side to side grabbing for anything within her reach. One morning, I was carrying her out of her room and I had Wubby on top of a pile of things I was carrying with my other hand. She reached for it, grabbed it, and put it right in her mouth! She also likes to reach for and grab faces!!

- Overall, she's a pretty laid back happy baby and I'm so thankful for that! She really doesn't cry much at all unless she's really tired or hungry. She absolutely lights up our lives and makes us smile more than we ever have before!!!

A few more of my favorites from this past month... :)