Six Months

Haidyn Elizabeth turned 6 months old on June 14th.  What a big girl!  She loves sitting up and playing with her toys.  She also loves to be standing and can hold onto a table or toy for a few seconds by herself.  Her legs aren’t quite strong enough to hold her, yet, which is totally fine with me!  It just means that one of us has to be holding onto her at all times.  She also tries really hard to pull herself up, especially when she’s sitting on my lap.  She’ll grab my shirt and pull until she’s standing…usually with a tiny bit of help from me.  And then her favorite game is to pull off my glasses, pinch my nose, claw at my mouth, etc.  She’s definitely a busy girl!  When she’s on her tummy she tries really hard to move forward; but much to her dismay, she has only mastered scooting backward.  She can sometimes get her knees underneath her (yikes!) and has even gotten up on her hands and toes.  I think we might have a crawler on our hands soon.  It would be great because she gets so frustrated when she can’t get where she wants to go, but I have a LOT of baby-proofing to do around here before she gets moving. 

We’ve been going to a music class on Monday mornings, and Haidyn loves it.  There’s a big drum on the floor at the beginning, and she bangs away to the music.  She also loves Matilda the Gorilla who comes out and sings.  She laughs whenever Matilda “gets” her.  It’s so cute!  After that she mostly just eats the instruments, but we still have a good time.

This month we started solid foods.  So far she’s had carrots, sweet potatoes, and this morning she had butternut squash for the first time.  I don’t think we need to worry about having a picky eater…she’s loved everything.  She’s also eating rice cereal, oatmeal and mixed-grain cereal.  And the pediatrician told us we could start giving her an ounce or two of water in a sippy cup.  Seriously, this girl is getting so big!  I can’t believe it. 

Her first “real” meal…carrot puree and rice cereal

Getting ready to eat.  We decided to eat outside on the deck since it was so beautiful.  Dining “al fresco” as Aunt SES put it.

Mmmmm…yummy!  

I decided to try making her baby food.  It’s actually been really fun and super easy.  I started with carrots last week.  I steamed them and then pureed them in the blender with a little bit of the water.  Then I poured them into an ice cube tray and froze them.  I know lots of people who have made their own food, and they all said it was easy, but I was still pleasantly surprised at just how easy it was.  And our great friend Kylie passed down her ice cube trays, so it’s been super inexpensive as well.  After the carrots, I’ve made sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas and avacado.  I figured out that the sweet potatoes cost 6 cents per serving and the squash was 12 cents.  You can’t beat that!  I know my mom has a bunch of baby food recipes, so I’m really excited to get those from my dad and give them a try. 

We’re also starting to see more and more of Haidyn’s personality emerge, which is so exciting.  She’s super happy and smiles at just about everyone she meets.  She loves sitting up in the shopping cart and high chairs when we are out and about.  She also adores all the attention she gets from strangers.  Maybe she will have her daddy’s outgoing personality!  However, when she gets tired or hungry she can be a bit sassy and some might even say “feisty.”  (No idea where she gets that from…)  The other morning I was trying to get out the door for church and noticed that Lola hadn’t been fed.  I was already holding Haidyn, so I just grabbed the bowl and went into the garage to get her food.  Every time I put a scoop of food into the bowl, Haidyn grabbed it and threw it on the ground.  It was cute at first, but then I had to sternly tell her that the food needed to stay in the bowl.  She made a growling noise and then head-butted me on the shoulder.  Wow.  The teenage years are going to be SUPER fun with this one!  Ha ha.  

Oh, and I almost forgot her stats:

Weight: 16 lbs. 1 oz. (55th percentile)

Height: 26 inches (60th percentile)

Head: 42.5 cm (50th percentile)

I can’t believe half of her first year is already over.  Being a mom has been the greatest joy of my whole life!  It’s everything I’ve ever wanted.  Sometimes I still can’t believe she’s ours.  We love you, Haidyn…to the moon and back!