Emma: 6 Months

Emma is hitting her milestones at a fast and furious pace. She no longer seems like much of a baby now that she is half a year old! A lot has happened since I last posted.

The biggest news is that we started solids on February 25th! Emma got her first taste of avocado. I think it'd be stretching the truth to say she liked it but she did manage to swallow a few bites through her gags (pictured below). I think her favorite part was the sippy cup of water which she figured out how to use right away.

Today, Emma's half birthday, I introduced her to lentils which she found much more appealing. Either she's getting used to the texture of this solid business or she like the flavor of lentils more than avocado.

Emma is officially sitting up! I think the first time she did it for any length of time was on February 12th. Now she is nearly a pro and stays pretty well balanced unless she sees something exciting. I usually surround her with pillows to buffer falls or just stay close by to catch her when she falls. She seems much happier now that she doesn't have to lay around on the floor all day and I think we are officially done with the bouncy seat.

Emma finally rolled over back to tummy on Isla's half birthday, February 25th. She was so close for a really long time but couldn't quite seem to get over her shoulder without Isla's help (which she likes to do often).

Emma discovered her hands, feet and even her shadow this month and loves to watch each of them move while I'm changing her. I love seeing how intrigued she is by her own limbs!

Emma is really into papers and magazines lately. If she can get her hands on them, she'll rip them to shreds and try to eat them. It cracks me up how eagerly she lunges for them.

She started doing this funny thing when you are holding where she will suddenly tilt her head to the right really fast. It usually is rather forceful and she's nearly thrown herself out of my arms on a number of occasions. Part of me wonders if that's actually what she's doing--trying to get down--because she usually does it when she's squirmy and usually the only thing that fixes it is putting her down. She also started babbling last week. This video captures a little of the babble but mostly the head tilt. :)

So in case you've been under the impression since my last post about Emma that she's sleeping through the night, ha! Not so much. Unfortunately, we went through another period of her crying on and off again when we put her down at night and she also started waking a few times a night. I temporarily put her back in the pack n' play in the guest room so we could let her cry a bit. So frustrating! Binky plugs no longer stop her crying in the middle of the night so we tried letting her cry a couple of times. Only once did she actually fall asleep so usually I just get up and feed her because it's amazing HOW LOUD a crying baby can be in a small, otherwise silent house. It's a major bummer as I know she's capable of making it to 5 or 6 AM (after going to bed at 7 or 7:30 PM) since she's done it a number of times. I'm averaging 2 trips to her room a night so I'm really tired but at least I'm "getting" the opportunity to do my devotions every day as a result (Kindle with reading light!!) She has gone down without crying the past couple nights so I'm hoping we're back on track with that and so I'm trying her in the crib again tonight.

I am happy to say we do have a good morning nap in place now! Emma usually goes down ~8:30 or 9 AM in her crib and sleeps for an hour, maybe an hour and a half. I am grateful for the opportunity it provides to clean up breakfast and sometimes even get dressed!

We spent most of the month cat-napping it through the rest of the day as I couldn't get her to sleep for any, regular, extended length of time. The last few days she's napped for almost an hour on a couple occasions which is progress. I'm still hopeful I'll be able to get both her and Isla napping in the afternoon at the same time (and maybe even in the same room!??) but I have yet to be successful on a regular basis. I'm putting her in the guest room currently although it doesn't seem to make a huge difference as both girls are light sleepers and can hear the slightest noises through the shared wall.

On another note, I'll close with a video of my new most favorite thing: the girls laughing in the back seat of the mini-van. It brings me so much joy!! And along with that, I should make a little confession. I actually am really, really enjoying taking my van out for little spins. I like to bring along a big cup of coffee, listen to music and call various people to catch up. I am blessed to have girls who like the car because we drive to Seattle A LOT. :)