Saturday, April 21, 2012

6 months...

Its so crazy how fast time has seemed to go in the last few years. What's even crazier is how fast the last 6 months has gone by and everything that has happened...

In the last 6 months: we moved and started a new life in Las Vegas, we found out that baby #2 is already on the way, we've purchased a new bed, couch, and said goodbye to my beloved laptop and hello to a brand spanking new dream machine laptop for Jeff...

There is more that's happened, but those are the big ones...

All the while, our Little Diva has been growing and growing.  Yesterday was her half birthday- she has officially been a part of our home and family for 6 months...it feels like she's always been here, like she just fits- its hard to imagine how "new" she really is... I managed to take her outside for a little photoshoot yesterday so I could try to capture her awesomeness for everyone to see:


At 6 months old, here a few of the milestones we've witnessed...

She is now the master of the double roll (i.e. rolling across a blanket) but not so good yet at rolling back from her belly if that is the way that she lands...

She says "mamma"

She LOVES solid food...in fact, I'm sure that if she didn't need her bottle for full nutrition she would eat solids all day long if she could. She has made her way through all of the first foods. She currently enjoys avocado, sweet potato, apples, pears, peas, and carrots...she loved squash but we're pretty sure she had an allergic reaction to it, so we will have to try it again later when she is older.

She gives kisses in her own special way...that way being that she opens her mouth as wide as she can and holds it open waiting for you to kiss her- she then proceeds to suck on your cheeks and make you a slobbery,wet mess...but she can't get enough of it.

She can now sit up on her own for almost a full minute.

Beyond her developmental milestones...she is full of personality.

We're pretty sure she is going to be extra melodramatic (gee I wonder where she gets that?) You always know that she wants a bottle because she shakes her arms like she is convulsing and cries out and then, the minute she sees her bottle, she starts to make relieved laughing sounds as if to say, "I'm sooooo glad you're here- I was STARVING!"  Also, when she is playing with a toy but its obviously naptime and you take the toy away, she will throw her head down into her arms and bury her face like its the end of the world...

She loves music...especially if mommy knows the words and sings along- she thinks that its the coolest thing ever! She will smile up and kick her legs in excitement and coo along with you.

She likes to lay on her belly and mindlessly kick her legs as she plays with toys...its just cute and for a moment she looks like a 4 or 5 year old in a 6 month old's body.

She is obsessed with textures. If it feels different from anything she's felt before,she will be obsessed with it! She is also obsessed with faces. She loves to feel people's faces and touch their lips, eyes/eyebrows, cheeks, etc...Early in the morning, after I bring her to lay with me in bed, she will roll over and face me and just touch my face gently and smile...she thinks it hilarious when she grabs my lips a bit too roughly and I say "Ouch, ouch..." but I think she is starting to learn that it hurts and isn't appreciated...it will be a long road. I'm just praying she kind of gets it before the new baby gets here.

She has got to be one of the happiest babies I've ever met. She only cries when she is tired and ready for a nap, hungry, or turning into a teething monster (Disclaimer: when she is a teething monster, as soon as she gets some Tylenol and teething tablets she is her regular happy self again.)
I've had several people: my bishop, friends and even random strangers ask me if she is always smiling that much and the answer is YES. She pretty much has a million dollar smile and she isn't afraid to show it off.

She is super curious and has started to mimic things. This makes it tough to do chores because she cries if she can't be in on, or watching the action as I do things around the house... Today, for example, she spit up on her new doll and Jeff used a rag to clean it off. The rag was still on the blanket next to her doll and when Jeff sat her up for a while she reached for the rag and attempted to clean off the doll in the exact same place that she had spit up on it. I managed to catch a picture of it:

Oh...Daddy, you didn't clean her enough...

Maddy Q? Are you okay?

Here, let me fix it the rest of the way!

See, I fixed it!
(P.S. There is a cute story that goes along with the doll. Its the first toy that Faith picked out all by herself. Jeff and I were walking through the toy aisle, and showing her different toys to see how she would react and she FELL IN LOVE with this little Cabbage Patch Kid. Its soft and has a little jingle bell in it.  We showed her other dolls, but she kept wanting that one. Finally, we went back to the store, and decided to see if she remembered and still liked it- she did! When we took it away she almost looked like she was ready to cry...parental guilt crept in, and we decided it was just too cute not to let her have it- especially because it was her first "official" toy.  She played with it in the cart, quiet as a mouse while we finished the rest of our shopping trip and even whined a bit when we handed it to the cashier to check out. The doll's name is Madelyn Quinn (you know Cabbage Patch Kids...) we lovingly call her Maddy Q. Faith gave her kisses in the car (I kid you not!)  and held her all the way home, happy as a clam!)

 If you make a noise that she doesn't know how to make she will sit and, with many hilarious antics, try to figure out the noise...She also tries to grab the spoon and feed herself when we're giving her solids- it makes a huge mess, but I am glad that she is already showing so much desire to be self sufficient.  She also tries to steal our forks, plates and bowls off the table and out of our hands when she sits on our laps at lunch and dinner times.  She wants to eat what we're eating, and she gets frustrated watching us, not being able to partake yet.

She wants to crawl SO BADLY! She just hasn't quite figured out that she needs to be up on her hands...She will lay on her belly and get into her superman flying position, grunt and try to swim her way forward...I'm sure if she could levitate and fly to where she wants to be, she probably would.

She LOVES to make new friends.  She is sooo friendly. She started to discover other kids at about 4 months old, and since then she has her very set way of making friends...she locks eyes with her intended target, flashes the million dollar smile, and once they are close by she giggles, coos and otherwise loves on them- super content that they are giving her the attention she so obviously deserves...

All in all, I'm pretty sure there are things that I will remember that I want to write about later...she is so awesome, fun and easygoing. I feel so lucky and blessed that she chose to come to our family.  As terrified as I am about having another baby in the house before she is even a year old, I see how kind, loving, and self sufficient she tries to be and I am so grateful. She will be a great big sister when she's given the chance and hopefully, considering how loving and kind I see her to be, she will be the world's best, best friend for baby # 2.

Here's hoping that baby #2 is just as wonderful, and here's being grateful that while our Little Diva is a melodramatic genius, she is easy going and kind....

Hugs and loves until next time darlings.








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