Six Month Update - A Bit Late

Ok. So I'm a little late on this posting. Baby Tuna had her six month birthday on the 19th and I'm just now posting her update. Can you believe that this kid has been on this planet for half a year already?!?! We spent the first four months in a haze as we waited for Z's surgery, but the time after that has just FLOWN by! The last month has been full of milestones, gallons of drool, and so many spoonfuls of baby food.

Weight: 15 pounds, 13 ounces
Height: 26 inches (The 49th percentile! Remember back when she was in the 15th?!! Finally catching up!)
Sizes: Z is kind of in between sizes these days. I'd say most of her clothes are 3-6 month (although she wore a 0-3 month sized top yesterday), but little-by-little those are getting packed away to make room for the 6 month stuff. It's so sad when one of our favorite rompers or onesies is too small or when we have to cram her little feet into the cutest pair of strawberry footie pjs. I guess it just makes room for cute fall items and Halloween outfits!!

Sleep: Well, I wish I could say that every night Z sleeps for 11 hours straight and that she takes two two-hour naps every day. I would love to tell you that I am able to put her in her crib drowsy but awake (what does that even mean?) and that after babbling for a few minutes she quietly falls asleep. I'd love to tell you all of that, but it would be total bullshit. All of the mommy blogs and sleep training websites would have you believe that this stuff actually happens. I think they are all lying. In truth, Z is an OK sleeper. She has been taking three naps a day, all exactly 30 minutes. You could set your watch by her. Once in a while, she will sleep for longer - like, 40 minutes. At night, she sleeps from about 8pm to 7am, which is awesome. Most nights we only hear from her once, when gas pain wakes her up. It takes about 20 minutes to get her calmed down and back to sleep. As for the "drowsy but awake" baloney, tried it and it can't be done. Not with this kid. After her bedtime book, we take five minutes and rock her to sleep. I'm sure we are ruining our kid's sleep habits forever, but it's what's working for us right now. It's not so bad, although I'd love for her to take two long naps each day so I could actually get some work done! Maybe this month!

Love that little squinchy face!

Diet: Just before Z hit the 5 month mark, we started her on oatmeal. She wore more than she ate for a long time, but really had a lot of fun with it. Once she started actually swallowing and closing her lips around her spoon, we gave her some sweet potatoes. Major hit! Since then, Baby Tuna has had bananas, peas, peaches, apples, carrots, green beans, and butternut squash. Her most favorite is a blend of peaches, apricots, and bananas that I think would be great over vanilla ice cream. I'm serious, the stuff's delish. We have yet to find something this kid won't eat. Once we've established a bit of a menu, I'm going to start making some of her food. I just didn't want to spend all that time peeling, chopping, steaming, and pureeing (is that even a word? I guess it is now!) only to find out that she hated it.

At her checkup, the doc gave us the go ahead to start her on puffs to get her practicing the pincer grab, and to start her using a sippy with water. All signs that she's no longer a newborn. She's moving into big kid territory. Guess we better start shopping for a highchair. So far she's been in her bebepod chair up on the dining room table, but it might be time for an upgrade!

Milestones: Holy milestones this month! Seems like there is a new one every day!
Baby Food: One of the biggest, of course, is starting with fruit and veggie purees. This has been so messy and so much fun. With the first bite of every meal, whether it is her very first taste of it or it is something she has eaten many times, she always makes a face like she can't figure out what it is and she's not sure if she wants more. It's hilarious. Then the lightbulb goes off and she remembers that she likes it. She opens her mouth and moves her tongue around like a baby bird. So cute. Recently, she started "chewing," which may be one of the funniest things yet! This kid has such a silly personality emerging!

Sleeping in Her Crib:  Right around her 5 month birthday, we decided it was time to move the babe into her own room.  She moves around so much in her sleep, and the swishing sound of the pack n' play was driving me nuts! It was a pretty smooth transition that started with nap times. And although we put her down on her back, she likes to roll onto her face to sleep. Totally terrifying. We love our video monitor, but even if we spent the entire night huddling around it in the dark while we watched her sleep, there is no way to tell if she was smothering herself. So, thanks to a brilliant suggestion from a friend (thanks Sarah B!), we purchased a Snuzza monitor, which clips onto her diaper and measures breathing movement, and alarms if the baby is too still for too long. The best $100 bucks we have ever spent. That little thing helps us relax enough to get a full night's sleep. Amen!

Getting Around: Z finally remembered how to roll from her belly to her back a few weeks ago, something she started doing at about ten weeks old and stopped doing shortly before her surgery. Now she can roll her self all over the place. She's also still moving backwards, and has even done an army crawl once or twice. Baby Tuna is really trying to work out the whole crawling with the belly off the floor-thing, but can't seem to get her butt in the air without smooshing her face into the rug. As cute as it is, it doesn't quite count as crawling.

"Oh nothin'. Just chillin' in the middle of the living room." 

Kisses: She will grab my face and come in quick with a big open mouth and a slobbery tongue. It might just be the best thing ever!

Shopping Carts & High Chairs: The little lady has begun to make life a wee bit easier on Momma and Daddy-o. A few weeks back, she starting sitting in those wooden high chairs in restaurants. And, thanks to the tiny carts at Hobby Lobby, she started riding in shopping carts like a big kid.

Why are the wooden highchairs so low? How is that helpful?    

Thank you, Hobby Lobby, for your Oompa Loompa-sized carts!

It wasn't until we got a shopping cart/highchair cover that she felt comfortable riding in the carts at Publix and Target. I think they were too open for her liking. But now, Zoey rolls in style!

Infantino Cart & Highchair Cover

Swimming: This kid has been a water baby from very early on. She loves splashing and kicking in her little whale tub, so as soon as the doctors gave the OK, we brought Baby Tuna into the pool. She loved it! The Hubs got her a little splash pool of her own and she has had such a blast playing around in it.

Teething: We are in the thick of it. The doctor said she could feel the start of something, and we are elbow-deep in drool around here. So, obviously everything ends up in Z's mouth...even fistfuls of my hair. 

So, last month I showed you a collection of outtakes from Z's photo shoot. This month was equally difficult, but more because of my lack of photography skills than anything else - half the shots were blurry. Mental note: always wear glasses when taking photos. Baby Tuna was being way too serious for the first few shots, so I busted out an old Tickle Me Elmo I had from my babysitting days. Her reaction was priceless!

Some more random pix from Baby Tuna's sixth month: