Six Months Old

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Charlotte! You continue to be a great part of our lives and we are amazed at how much you are changing every day. We can only imagine what you will accomplish in the next 6 months. At 6 months old, Charlotte:

• can sit up by herself, but still not for super long periods of time. A part of me thinks it is because she is much more interested in scooting around the floor.
• is super close to crawling. She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth, but hasn't quite figured out the correct motion. Don't let that fool you, though. She can definitely scoot around the floor just fine, going from one toy to the next without any problem.
  
• has started solid foods. We started with cereal and oatmeal a couple of weeks ago and just this last week added some vegetables to the menu. So far she has tasted sweet potatoes, squash and carrots. She's not totally sold on the whole solid food thing, but gets better at it each day.
• has 5-6 bottles (or nursing sessions) a day. She loves her milk.
• is working on sleeping through the night. We have really left her no choice (see previous post). :) Night three was amazing as she slept from 7:30-6:30 without a peep. However, last night was awful. It is a work in progress.
• loves watching other little kids, especially her big sister. Claire still wins the prize at making her laugh and smile the most.
  
• is still working on kicking her pacifier habit. She really only uses it the last hour or so before bedtime (when we are struggling to keep her up), which is fine by us. She no longer relies on it to go to sleep, which is what we were most concerned about.
• still loves being held and is a pretty cuddly baby, especially when she is tired.
• has hair that continues to grow thicker and thicker each day. I wouldn't be surprised if she's sporting a ponytail in a few months.
  
• enjoys listening to stories and songs.
• still puts most everything she touches into her mouth and has become especially skilled at hair pulling.
  

Love you, baby girl!

Let the Sleep Training Begin...

I have patiently waited for the last 6 months for my sweet Charlotte to sleep through the night. I have gotten up night after night to soothe her and cuddle her and nurse her back to sleep. These middle of the night moments we have shared have been peaceful and sweet. My level of frustration has been much lower than I thought it would be. Maybe it is because my body has adjusted to the lack of sleep. Maybe it is because it has become a habit. Or maybe it is because I know her baby days will be over far too soon.

Despite all of this, we decided it is time. Time for her to learn to get back to sleep on her own in the middle of the night. Her chubby little thighs and cheeks are enough to tell me that she no longer needs the middle of the night feeding. Her pediatrician has also confirmed this. We decided to take a no nonsense approach to sleep training and let her cry it out. No feedings before 5:30am, no exceptions. Night one was bad. She woke at 3:00am and cried off and on until 4:15am before falling asleep until 7:15am. Night two was leaps and bounds better. She woke at 4:00am and cried for 15 minutes before falling asleep until 7:15am. If this continues, this is going to be a lot easier than I thought. A part of me feels bad and a little guilty, but I also believe I am doing what is best for Charlotte. Every family has to figure out what is best for them and I think this the right decision for ours. Now if I could just sleep through the night.

She must not be holding all of this against me as she was a very happy girl this morning!

Dollies

Over the past week or so Claire has become obsessed with these two little dolls that used to be her cousin Ella's. She has named them Eliza and Fiona (two of her friends at school) and carts them all over the house with her. They eat breakfast with her, she sings songs to them, and they even go potty with her. It is so fun to watch her imagination at work.
Claire was sent home around 11am yesterday with a fever, so we had a little photo shoot with her 'dollies' yesterday afternoon. She ended up having another ear infection and is doing much better today.

Cakecups!

Claire and I made cupcakes (or cakecups as she calls them) yesterday for my dad's birthday (which is today). From stealing licks of batter from the spoon, to more of the frosting ending up in her mouth than on the cupcakes, to pouring no fewer than 300 sprinkles on each cupcake...Claire had a blast. Boy does my little girl have a sweet tooth! Wonder where she gets that from! :)

Evening Fun

Here are a few videos from tonight.

In the first one Charlotte is trying desperately to crawl and hasn't quite figured it out. She can get up on all fours, but hasn't figured out how to move forward in the crawling position.

In the second one Claire is tickling Charlotte. Claire continues to love her little sister and is particularly skilled at getting her to laugh.

Little Miss Scoots

Over the last week Charlotte has figured out how to move. She's not very fast and she can't go very far, but she has definitely learned how to scoot when she wants something. She is particularly skilled at scooting backward and has gotten on all fours on occasion. We really thought that she would be slower to move than Claire, but I guess she didn't want to be shown up by her big sister. Things are about to get really busy around here...

New Year's Day Playdate

The Wannings came over yesterday afternoon for a play and pizza date. Claire and Whitney weren't sure what to think of each other at first, but by the end of the night they were "sweeping the floor" (see picture below), dancing and laughing together. As they get older it gets more and more fun to watch them interact. Hopefully they will continue to be good friends. Thanks for coming over - lets do it again soon!