Six Months Old

Grace turned six months old yesterday. I can't believe a half of a year has gone by since she was born. Time goes so fast. I am so in love with her now. I really can't describe how much that love grows. It doesn't seem possible that I could love her any more than I do right now, but I have a feeling I will. She is developing such a personality. She's so happy. She rarely fusses. When she does, she's usually hungry or tired or you just took a toy away from her, but she can always be calmed relatively fast. I think she's hit a growth spurt recently. She goes to the doctor next week, but I think we're probably in the 18-19 pound range. She now has solid food 3 times a day. Oatmeal or oatmeal with bananas in the morning with a bottle, a jar of fruit with her mid-day bottle, and a jar of vegetables before her evening bottle. Grace can now sit unsupported for several minutes at a time and I have a feeling she'll be crawling before we do our 7 month update. She can turn around on her belly and will find a way to get closer to toys or other things she wants to explore, usually by rolling or stretching. She will also entertain herself in an exersaucer or even with toys on the floor. She loves to bang things to hear the loud noises. She also loves interacting with people. She has a wonderful sense of humor and loves to give deep belly laughs when you act silly. Peekaboo is a new game she finds especially funny. She loves to be startled. I adore her laugh. I find life especially nice, now that we have a good routine. Grace sleeps wonderfully (thank you so much Dr. Ferber). She goes to bed without crying at all between 7:30 and 8 p.m. and sleeps until around 6:15 or 6:30 a.m. Saturday we went through her evening routine and then instead of putting her in bed, we went out to eat. She was an angel. She just watched everyone and then went straight to sleep after we got home. The waitress even commented that she was one of the best babies she'd seen.

Being a Mom is the best thing in the world. I think everyone should fill their lives with children. I honestly can't wait for more. I'm told it gets more fun when they get even older, so I can't wait to see what's in store.

Here's the milestones we've reached for 6 Months based on "What To Expect The First Year." The bold items we have reached.

By the end of the Sixth Month your baby:
...should be able to:
- keep head level with body when pulled to sitting
- say ah-goo or similar vowel-consonant combinations (Grace doesn't say "goo" hard consonants are hard for her, but she does say "na" "ma" or "da", so we'll count that)

...will probably be able to:
- bear some weight on legs when held upright
- sit without support

...may possibly be able to:
- stand holding on to someone or something (she'll stand if you hold her arms in front of her or beside her)
- Feed self a cracker (we've never given her a cracker to try)
- Object if you try to take a toy away (Oh, yeah)
- Work to get a toy out of reach
- Pass a cube or object from one hand to the other
- Look for a dropped object
- rake a raisin and pick it up in a fist(never tried a raisin, but she'll pick up a bottle cap from a bottle of water)
- Turn in the direction of a voice
- Babble, combining vowels and consonants such as ga-ga-ga, ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma, da-da-da

...may even be able to:
- pull up to standing position from sitting
- get into a sitting position from stomach
Pick up tiny object with any part of thumb and finger(she picks up her rattle with her thumb and finger from a small piece that hangs off of it)
- say mama or dada indescriminately