Madeline: Six Months

And here we are at 6 months old! This has been a big month of firsts for us! Maddie has been sitting up really well on her own for about 3 weeks now and it has made a huuuuuuggeee difference for her. She can now sit and happily play with her toys without whining at us (…for at least 15 minutes, anyway…). She has been working hard on reaching and grabbing items so sometimes she ends up falling over in the process and whines until we help her back up.

Now that it’s getting to be quite warm here, we blew up her baby pool on the patio and she went “swimming” for the first time! And by swimming, I mean just sitting and leaning back on the side of her pool, but whatever! I think she probably just thought she was getting a weird bath at first, but as long as she is not tired and the water is warm enough, she seems to like it!

The most exciting first this month though has been the start of solid foods! Our ped recommended we wait until she was six months so we made her wait though I think she was probably ready at 5 months. So far she has had oatmeal cereal, green beans, and carrots! It cracked us up when we gave her the green beans for the first time because we expected her to make a “yucky” face, but she just chowed down! She makes this “mmmmmm” sound the entire time she eats and its the cutest thing ever. I’m so excited about this new phase. As of right now, I plan to make as much of her baby food as possible myself. I will plan to share any yummy recipes with you guys! The only bad thing about this change has been her sensitive tummy. The cereal and carrots both led to some long and restless nights for all of us.

At Maddie’s 6-month checkup, she weighed in at just under 16 pounds. She’s now at the 50th percentile for weight which is great news since she was only in the 10 percentile when she was born and at her one-month checkup. She is chunking up so much and it just cracks me up daily to see her chubby cheeks and legs! She is wearing her 6-9 month clothes.

I told you guys in the 5-month update that we were working on transitioning her to her crib in her own room. It was definitely a rough few weeks, but she now sleeps pretty comfortably in her crib. She stirs more and we usually end up getting up a few times night to reposition her and/or give her her binky. Every night is different which sometimes drives us a little crazy. She still wakes up once a night to eat, but this could happen any time between 3-7:30. Maddie is a side and tummy sleeper. This bothered us big time at first and we were basically not sleeping for the first week or so because we freaked out every time we saw her face down on the mattress. She has now gotten the hang of turning her head when she rolls over so we have learned to relax a bit, but we still wake up a lot at night and check her. We are definitely missing the sleep we got when she was right next to me all snug in her Rock and Play! She always ends up towards the top of the crib with her face close to her bumper. Luckily, we use a Breathable Baby mesh bumper.

Now we are working towards building a good nap routine during the day. Her naps have been sporadic and she takes such short naps. So now we are trying for 2-3 scheduled naps a day and are hoping she will start sleeping a bit longer. I know some babies just don’t take long naps, but this girl gets super grumpy and is very clearly tired. We have been lowering the shade in her room to make it dark in the room and putting her in a wearable blanket to make her more cozy. Not taking any naps or very short ones makes it impossible to get any chores done!

As much as I like to keep these updates positive, I also want to keep them honest and share our true feelings. Don’t get me wrong, we just love this girl so much and are so grateful for her, but some days feel so incredibly long and hard. There are days where she just howls all day no matter what we try to do for her. Perhaps it’s the new food bothering her little tummy, maybe it’s a growth spurt, maybe it’s separation anxiety, maybe teething (though we haven’t felt anything popping out yet), but some days we feel pretty frustrated because we can’t figure out why she is so grumpy or not sleeping well. If only she could talk to let us know what is bothering her! We feel like we play the guessing game all day, every day. This has been the hardest on my husband since he stays home with her during the day and he never gets a break. He and I do not function well on little sleep and when we have many nights in a row of her waking up frequently, it really takes its toll. It’s also hard because we don’t really have much help with our families living out-of-state. I wish we had family closer so we could drop her off for a few hours here and there for a break. By the time I usually get home from work she is starting to get sleepy for bed and gets extra crabby and it’s hard to make dinner and eat in peace. Many nights we opt to just get her to bed and end up eating a late dinner so we can have a meal where we can eat with both of our hands and that is not rushed. People offer to watch her so we can go out, but the truth is, we don’t want to go anywhere! Give me a glass of wine and sleep and I’ll be the happiest person alive.

The last six months of our lives have been so crazy. It definitely is rushing by, but at the same time, it sometimes feels like it’s been forever with no relief in sight! Being a parent is truly an amazing experience and I love this girl so so so much. She is truly everything, but it is certainly not without its challenges! Plenty of tears of exhaustion and frustration have been shed, believe me. I’m excited for this new phase in her life as she becomes more playful and continues to grow and develop new skills. I just want/need a few nights of good sleep! Until then though, a glass of wine will have to do!

Now that we are 6 months in, I plan to do another favorite products post soon so stay tuned!

Related posts:

Madeline: Three Months Madeline: Five Months Madeline: Eight Months Madeline: Nine Months