Halfway through her first year!

Alethea is a half a year old already!  It is amazing how much changes in just a short 6 months.  It seems like she is learning something new every day.  I love it!  At the end of this month she weighed in at 15lbs 15 oz (50^th percentile), she is 27.25inches long (90+ percentile), and her head is 43.2cm.  The doctor said she is looking great and developing so nicely.

Sitting up so tall and rockin' her new teething necklace

face #1

Face #2

                This month was the month of the grandmas.  Alethea got to spend a week with her Grandma and a little over a week with her Mamaw.  So much fun!  While Grandma was here we went shopping for a new dress for Alethea, went to Sonic for milkshakes then to the park for nice walk/playtime, did lots of reading, went out to eat for Grandma’s birthday and played a ton at home.  While Mamaw was in town we went to church, went swimming with friends, did tons of shopping, went for a walk/played in the park, stayed home with Mamaw while mommy got to go to a Pampered Chef party, got a new giant blue ball and blocks, went for lots of walks and ate bananas for the first time.  There is lots of good spoiling to be had when family is in town, especially grandmas.  I think Alethea forgot for a bit what it was like to have to ride in the back seat alone, which isn’t always a good thing for Mommy when no one can sit back with her anymore.

Loving Grandma

Yay for swings!

How about a walk in the park

Cheering on daddy at his game

Fun in the pool with Molly while Mamaw was in town

She loves her Mamaw

Tuckered out after a walk with Mamaw

Backyard naked fun with Mamaw

More swings!

3 generations of Lenoras!

                This month marked some fun firsts.  She began creeping…it is her own version of crawling, but it definitely gets her where she wants to be.  She is also pulling up to her knees and climbing all over things, including Mommy.  When we went to the park with Daddy earlier in the month, she got in the swing for the first time, loved it, and we have been back many times to enjoy that some more.  Then when Grandma came to visit Alethea went down the slide in Mommy’s lap for the first time and she loves it!  She also took her first bath in the big tub with her little tub inside of it this month and she is still a wild woman, but at least I don’t have to worry about her jumping off the kitchen counter anymore. J She also got to sheer on her Daddy at her first ever basketball game.  So much fun!

Tired from creeping along

Apollo likes that she bathes in the tub now

trying to escape

                One big first happened when I got to go to the Pampered Chef party.  It started about an hour before she would normally nurse for the last time so there was no way I was going to be able to make it home in time to feed her.  So this was as good of time as any to test the waters with how she would go to bed without nursing.  My mom was in town so she was able to give her a bottle (of Mommy’s milk of course) and she did great then went right to sleep.  Yay!  That was such a freeing night for me.  Not only was it a big step for her, but it was a big step for me as well because up until that point I was worried that her night would be all thrown off if she took a bottle before bed.  So maybe now there will be a good chance of a Mommy-Daddy nighttime dinner date for the first time!

Another big first this month was starting solid foods.  We had waited on solid foods because of the family history of allergies on Ben’s side of the family, as well as the many other benefits I had read about concerning waiting on solid foods until 6 months of age (such as reduction in obesity as well as asthma).  So up until the day before she turned 6 months it was just Mommy’s milk for her and thankfully that was perfectly satisfying for her so I didn’t have to worry about whether I should be starting solids sooner.  We opted to do it the day before she turned 6 months because it was a Saturday, which meant Ben could be home for it, my mom was also leaving the next day, and Sunday mornings are never an easy morning to guarantee having time to start anything.  We chose to start with bananas because they are easy and yummy.  And Alethea was a fan.  She didn’t eat a ton of them, but she at least didn’t make any disgusted faces.

Yummy bananas

She loves her cup...and even drinks from it

she loves to suck on canteloupe :-)

She has become much more vocal and expressionate this month.  We are hearing lots of fun squeals and grunts and a fair amount of screaming when she gets frustrated too.  It has been so much fun to see her learn how to express her emotions this month.  Up until this month she didn’t really vocalize frustration and though it’s not always pleasant to listen to, it is so much fun to see her grow in this way.

helping Mommy with diaper laundry

                As always I could go on and on about how amazed I am at all the little things that my baby girl is already doing, but this is a little peak into what our world has been like her 6^th month of life.  It’s amazing how much love you can have for someone you have only known for 6 months, but I am so thankful for having her in our lives.  God is good!

Limited pics because some of my pics randomly turned sideways. :-(