Happy 6 Months!

My sweet little girl is 6 months old (well, a few weeks ago).  A half a year.  Whew that went fast.   The first birthday party may already be in the planning stages.  She is developing such a sweet little personality and for the most part is a happy little girl!The Stats: This was a week ago or so, but she’s growing great.  She’s 16lb 12.5 oz (75th percentile) and 26.5 in (75th percentile).  Her head continues to be the perfect knitting head model at 42.5 cm and exactly the 50th percentile.  Milestones:  She’s been sitting up for about 3 weeks now completely by herself.   She loves the freedom this is bringing her.  I think Owen thinks she’s a big kid now because he’s been a little more rough with her lately.  She also can scoot herself backwards while on her tummy.  I have a feeling she’ll be full on moving much quicker than I want her to.  She babbles all the time and is a shrieker!!Loves/Hates:  She loves to sit up and play with her basket of toys.  Owen only allows her to play with certain trucks and cars, but she does love when she can get her hands on anything that’s not a “baby toy.”  She loves her jumperoo and likes to be in on all the action.  She loves bath time, especially now that she can sit up just like her brother without anything holding her.She loves to kick her legs.  Anytime you lay her on her back, this is what she does.  She’ll do it for awhile before putting herself to sleep.Feeding:  She is still a great nurser. She typically just nurses on one side unless it’s before bedtime.  I love nursing at this stage.  She gets so excited before diving into the boob.   She is getting a little more distractable, so we usually have to go nurse in her room to be sure she eats everything.    But onto the more fun things: “real” food!  She’s doing a great job eating.  I’m pretty lazy with this, so she only gets it about once a day.  She is the messiest eater which drives me crazy.  So far, she has had:

butternut squash
avocado
pears
apples
peas
sweet potato
banana (poor girl’s tummy was a mess after these)
rice cereal Sleep: she’s a great napper.  Usually 3 a day.  One early morning, one right around lunch and the last one later in the afternoon.  I nurse her and she’ll put herself to sleep.  Nighttime sleep is awful right now though.  I feel like she’s reverted back to newborn sleep and is up every 2 hours or so “needing” the boob.  We’re about ready to do a little night weaning tough love. :)  This momma’s tired. Other stuff: She is going through some major stranger anxiety.  I tried to leave her in the nursery for a Mom2Mom event and I got paged within about 10 minutes.  But she finally recognizing William as her dad though and she gives him the biggest smiles!Except for once or twice, she continues to leave things on her head!  I’m one happy momma about this one.And of course, she’s still madly in love with her brother.  She lights up when he comes in the room and watches his every move. I pray they continue to be good friends! Such an amazing little person.  We love you Ellison Jakeh!

Happy 3 Months!

Well, just a week late. :)  The post was done, I just needed to take her pictures.  Happy 3 months of life Ellison Jakeh!

Measuring
At her vaccination appointment last week, I had the nurse weigh her.  She was at 14 pounds even and while I think she’s huge, she’s a full 1lb, 6 oz LESS than Owen was at his 3 month appointment.  But she’s growing fast!  She’s quickly filling out her 3-6 month clothing which is sad because she has SO many cute outfits for this age.  She could wear a couple each day and still might not get them all in before we move up a size.

Milestones
Her head control is awesome. She rarely loses control of it now. She gets tired after awhile in her Bumbo, but likes to sit and be part of the action.   She likes to "stand up" with help of course. But those legs are getting stronger.   She given us a couple full on laughs and is much quicker to smile than Owen ever was.  She’s found her hands and often stares at them like “what are these things?”

Tidbits about Ellison
I have never seen so many huge boogers come out of a child.  Seriously every morning I have to suction this girl’s nose and I get things out of there that really gross me out.  She’s a heavy breather even with her nose all cleaned out.  She drools all the time, which is so different than Owen who rarely drooled or spit up.  But oh those smiles melt my heart.  She loves her brother and keeps a close eye on wherever he is in the room.

Schedule/Sleep
She’s down to 3 naps a day on average which is really nice.  She’ll do a short one in the morning for about 30-45 minutes.  Then after lunch, she’ll nap from 1-4ish.  I usually have to nurse her once during this time, but she goes right back to sleep.  Then she’ll take another short nap in the evening and be down for the night at 9.  She’s consistently waking up around 1am and 4am, but again goes right back to sleep!  Needless to say, I think we have a better sleeper on our hands than Owen.  Woohoo!

Nursing
She’s an awesome nurser and is pretty good at staying latched on even when Owen is making a racket.  She still won’t take a pacifier and I really should try a bottle with her.  I’ve just been lazy and haven’t wanted to pump but I may have missed the window already for her taking a bottle from someone.

Other things that have happened:

• She got her 3rd shot (DTaP).  Her nurse but she still turned beet red and screamed really good.  A little nursing calmed her right down though.
• We took out the 14 lb newborn insert in her car seat.
• She loves to pull up her shirt or dress or whatever she’s wearing.
• She loves holding onto a blanket of any kind and then rubbing it on her face.
• We’re finding the toys that get her really excited.  Her little doll makes her kick her legs really fast!
• We took out the newborn insert in her bathtub and she seems to like the extra room.  

And of course some pictures:

still not sure what color those eyes are going to end up

I think it's that way

what do you mean, more pictures?

I love my outfit from Angie!

Love you so much little girl!!

Pinned It, Did It Monday! {Ellie's flower balls}

Welcome to Pinned It, Did It Monday where each week I try to actually do something I pinned on Pinterest.  I’m trying to go back and use some of the first pins I stumbled across.So I cheated a little on this project.  I pinned this and started it months ago.  I knew the minute I saw it that I wanted these for above Ellie’s crib.  But after doing the first 1.5 balls, I got bored with the project (have I ever blogged about my project ADD?  More on that later).  But seriously, doing 3 of these might have been a bit much.  But knowing I needed something for these Monday posts made me finish these up this week and get them hung while Owen was away.  I love how they turned out.  That reminds me that I need to get you her nursery tour sometime, don’t I?  Ok, onto the actual pin.
Picture I pinned:

 

Source: Tissue Rosette Kissing Balls from The Idea Room
My Pictures:My Review:  I think they’re adorable.  Flower balls made from styrofoam balls, streamers, and hot glue.  She has pretty good directions on how to make these, including a video.  Since I make lots of rolled flowers, they weren’t too hard to make, just a little tedious.  But I’d be happy to give you more in-depth instructions if you need help!  One thing I would suggest is painting your styrofoam balls the color of the streamers you’re using.  That way if there are little spots that aren’t covered by a flower, it won’t matter.  The other thing I’d suggest is buying more steamers that you think you’ll need.  I ran out in the middle of ball #2 and even though I bought them all from Target, the streamers I bought later are a totally different color.  Ok, maybe you wouldn’t notice, but I’m trying not to let it bother the perfectionist in mes.  All in all, these make the perfect little “mobile” for above her crib.
Who doesn’t love another chocolate chip recipe?  I’m always on the lookout for a good one. 
Picture I pinned:

Source: Chocolate Chip Cookies from I Am Baker
My Picture: My Review:  I may have completely missed the part in the directions that the dough was supposed to sit in my fridge for 24 hours.  Ooops.  Didn’t follow that rule.  Maybe that’s why my cookies look nothing like hers.  But they were good!  Very crunchy (again, could be me not the recipe) but I enjoy a good crunchy cookie.  The little surprise in this one is the course salt you add.  Every few bites I’d get a bite of the salt and I loved it.  If you’re not a sweet/salty combo person, I’d leave the salt out.  But overall, good cookies that were gone quickly.  And I only made a half bath and that was plenty!

And a few funnies for the week:

“Pageant Mom”

That’s what my sister called me after I texted her this picture: So here’s my confession.  Yes, I painted my 6 week old’s toes.  I am that mom.  I had to add a small item to my Amazon order last week to get free shipping (ordering a few last minute things for Owen’s bday).  I had read decent reviews of this baby-safe nail polish called Piggy Paint.  It’s water based and non-toxic.  I love their tagline “natural as mud.”  I only painted her toes in case she finds a way to get her hands in her mouth.  It definitely only lasts a couple days but that’s great since I wouldn’t want to use polish remover.
I had to promise my sister I will never be a pageant mom.  I just love me some painted toes.