Six Months Old

Pippa is now 6 months old!

Pippa at six months!

Our 6-month doctor appointment went well. She is 16 pounds 13 ounces which isn't much bigger than last time but I guess they grow slower at this age so the doctor wasn't concerned. She's also 2' 4" tall. She smiled and flirted with the doctor as much as she could...until she got her shots. This time she got three immunizations and the flu shot. I've never had a flu shot and I guess at this age, they get two. So when I take her back in for her second shot next month I will bring Liam with me and the three of us will have it done. Yuck.

She's eating like a horse! I made some teething biscuits yesterday and she loves them (so do the dogs). We are still able to keep up and make all of her baby food and it appears that "baby food" time is starting to go away now that she can eat pretty much anything, it's all about grinding it up first. I bought her some oatmeal baby cereal - we have only been giving her rice. She had some of that this morning and loved it. I am enjoying all the apples, pears and bananas as much as she is.

Well, she's now sitting up really well on her own so we have pulled out the playpen and we move it around the house. When I'm in the kitchen, I put her in it so she can watch me cook and play. I used to put her into a bouncy seat but she doesn't like that anymore. She's been on her hands and knees a lot and is rocking back and forth but has not mastered the crawl yet. She scoots backward and rotates on her belly to get where she wants to go. A friend at work gave us a walker and she loves it except that every time it moves forward, it scares her. Pretty funny stuff.

More tired than you can imagine

I'll keep trying to upload more videos but for now, this is my favorite new picture. She was taking a nap on a "daddy day" and he snapped this picture of her sleeping, yes sleeping. She napped for two hours like this. Before you comment, yes she was put "back to sleep" and yes we know there should not be blankets in the crib. :-)

Teeth Already!

Pippa turns 25 weeks old today! Almost six months has gone by and I cannot believe it.

She has recently cut two teeth. One came in on Saturday October 8th and the other came in today! They are her bottom two front teeth. I simply cannot get a picture quite yet but I promise (swear on my tooth marked finger) they are there. We had very little indication it was coming already, other than the drool there were no "typical" signs of teething. She does have some random outbursts of pain once or twice a day but the binkie helps.

She is sitting without any support and holding much more still within the last few days. We went to Woodburn yesterday to visit my grandparents who are leaving for California on Friday (snowbirds) and she sat up on her own and played a majority of the day. This weekend we are headed to my mom's house in Long Beach. It's a long drive (2.5 hours) but she hasn't seen her in almost two months! We will be celebrating Liam's 11th birthday a week early there with a little party.

The other interesting stuff is that I recently took a temperament test online through our Kaiser doctor. Check with your doctor about this quiz if you have a baby older than four months. It will help you to determine some main points of your baby's temperament and give you strategies for coping or helping your baby with their natural instincts. For example: Pippa is categorized as an "intense" baby. Meaning she is loud, makes a lot of movement, tends to be less patient etc. What I learned is that intense babies tend to eat a bit more than other babies because they are constantly burning calories even when they sleep because they move around so much. I also learned that touching an intense baby actually stimulates them more than other babies and can lead to more intense reactions. Meaning, if you put Pippa down for a nap, leave her there. I have a tendency to pick her up and cuddle her when she's crying but in reality it's just waking her up more and stimulating her in the wrong ways. So instead I stand by her crib for a moment and help with the binkie if needed then leave her alone. My several trials of this helped her go from a 30 minute nap time to a 2 or 3 hour nap! She's also sleeping much better at night. No random wake periods. We have also determined that if she cries when she wakes up, she's not ready. She always gets up in a good mood. It's been working wonders. It's so hard to just leave her alone but it's best for her.
Another part of that is intense babies don't like to be dressed/bathed/diapered because it inhibits their movement for short periods of time. So instead of doing things quick like I'm used to, I slow down the process and she's enjoying it much more. She doesn't cry when I dress her anymore and I think it's because I give her time to flail her limbs after each movement. It takes some time to get ready for the day but it's worth it to have a happier baby. I'll leave you with the latest picture taken today.

Arms are out because she wants to be picked up, not for balance.

25 weeks old!