Sweet Six Month Old Baby Jayne

Today was J's six month appt and as usual, she did amazing! Took her two shots like a champ and hated taking the oral vaccine (always has issues with this!!). She only cried for a second and stopped the minute I picked her up! Jared & I always take bets on her weight...Jared guessed 15lbs even and I guessed 14 lbs 10oz and the winner was.....

ME!!! On the nose too might I add! She's grown another 2.5" for a total "height" of 26.5". And she is still holding steady in the 50th percentile for height and 25th for weight. The doctor isn't concerned b/c she is staying right around the normal range for herself. I brought up the concern about her not eating as well since we introduced solids...she used to take 6oz and 8oz respectively at her last two feedings of the day, but now is only taking between 3-4oz at each. The doctor things its b/c she's teething. Although there isn't any real proof of teeth coming through (and the doctor herself said she was horrible at predicting them), she said there are indentations on her gums (whatever THAT means) and that the way Jayne was rubbing her gums with her tongue or chewing on her tongue, it could happen in the next couple weeks. So we'll see! I just pray she doesn't begin to wean herself during this time. That would make me sad =(

I think I mentioned before, but I'm making my own baby food. Jayne has already conquered sweet potatoes and has now moved on to peas...which by the way smell horrid and make me want to gag, but so far she is eating them like a champ. Next up will be winter squash and then maybe a fruit. We'll see...its a slow process b/c each item has to be introduced for at least three days to make sure there is no allergic reaction. Her feeding schedule is below...come on I know you're interested in it =)

7:30am- 5-6oz milk & rice cereal
11am- 4-5oz milk, rice cereal & one veggie
2:30pm- 4-6oz milk
6pm- 6-8oz milk, rice cereal & one veggie

This whole solids thing has me going crazy. How am I supposed to know how much is enough or which veggie/fruit to offer? Is she getting enough milk?? It was making me paranoid! But after talking with the doctor she said we can pretty much do whatever we want. She recommended going to the store and seeing what kind of 1st foods they have jarred and what second foods and kinda get an idea from there. She said we could start offering little finger foods (cheerios & arrowroot biscuits) now if we want to, obviously watching closely since its more of a choking hazard. I've also been teaching Jayne to use a sippy cup. She really doesn't get the concept just yet, but she watches intently when we drink and I've given her sips from a water bottle or non-lidded cup...most of it runs down the front of her but she gets the concept and swallows a little. Its fun to start experimenting with her and teaching her how to do things. She is definitely getting more and more vocal. She screeches now and its a lot easier to get her to laugh at things. Sometimes just my laughing at her makes her laugh. She is lifting her arms up to me when I act like picking her up and last night I sat her on the edge of the bed after her bath and she actually wiggled/scooted towards me and "threw" herself into my arms and squealed....it was SO cute!!! I swear, she looks more like a little girl than a baby now. Gosh, she's growing up so fast!!!

- T -