Turner Blogcast Station: 6 Months

Stats:
Callie had her 6 month check-up postponed a few times because I had to travel so much for work this month, so these are her 6 1/2 month stats. Callie weighs 13 lbs 9 oz (5th percentile), is 25 1/2" long (30th percentile) and her head is 16.63" (36th percentile). Our pediatrician says she's small but hearty and that her height/weight growth curve is moving along normally, so she isn't concerned about her growth. WHEW!

Health:
Callie caught her first cold this month. I also caught the same cold on the exact same day, so poor Bryann had to take care of a sick baby AND a sick wife. Callie was really, uncharacteristically fussy on Saturday while Bryann was at school, and I was like "WTF is going on?". Then that night, she REFUSED to go to sleep for more than 45 minutes, and I didn't notice she was running a little warm until I fed her at like 2 am. So I took her temperature at 100.4, called the RN line to see what to do... Apparently nothing- stupid babies and colds - we were told to let her immune system do it's thing and not to give Tylenol for fevers below 102.

So I basically breastfed her every hour and sucked the snot out of her nose with the Nose Frida (amazing invention). When she wasn't sleeping, she was crying, and both Bryann and I (at one point or another) got so annoyed and fed up with the crying that we needed to take a break or we might have gone insane. I don't know how single parents do it. I'm completely baffled that anyone is able to survive raising a kid on their own. We actually gave in around 4pm on Sunday and gave her some Tylenol. 30 minutes later she was 90% back to herself. By Monday she was fine, but I was still sick. Stupid babies and their stupidly amazing immune systems...

I DID learn a few things though - apparently breast milk delivers antibodies specifically tailored to fight whatever illness she's dealing with, and adjusts it's temperature to suit her body temperature. Breast milk also helps keep the mucous in the nose from proliferating and keeps babies from getting all stuffed up.

Poor baby girl is sick... :-(

Sleep:
Callie has gotten into this terrible habit of waking up at 1:30 am now. Usually Bryann puts the pacifier back in and she's asleep again. Sometimes that doesn't do the trick and he bottle feeds her. But she's always up again between 3 and 4 am. Then again between 6 and 7 am. We are exhausted...

Clothes/Diaper Size:
We moved Callie into size 2 diapers at night and are going through the last of our size 1/2 diapers during the day. She's fitting nicely in her 3-6 month clothing, though occasionally I can squeeze her into a 3 month outfit depending on the brand. I even have Cherokee brand NEWBORN clothes that she still fits nicely into.

Diet:
Callie is still breastfeeding, and eating nicely from the bottle. I'm SO glad the bottle battle is over! We introduced some solids to her diet towards the end of this month. We started spoon feeding her bowls of oatmeal at night, and she's played around with some mushed carrots. I think she even got a few carrot chunks in her mouth, rather than all over her face!

Baby Gear Love:
We're still getting great use out of her Ergo carrier, her strollers (both the BOB and the stroller frame for her car seat), and since she's still a little (ok, a LOT) small for her highchair, I purchased a used Bumbo with tray on CL, and she's been much easier to feed in it.

There are lots of mixed opinions out there about whether Bumbos, or walkers, or any sort of seat that enables babies to sit before they're "ready", but we really only put her in them for short amounts of time (10 minutes here and there) and closely monitor her while she's in them.

Nicknames:
Nothing new this month. Lots of variations with the word "Goo" and "Monster" in it. Googley Bear came back since we watched Monsters Inc. the other day.

Favorite Songs/Lullabies:
Callie seems to enjoy any music at all. I turn on my Pandora stations during shower time, or while I'm working and she's playing on her jungle mat. I also sing all the usual silly songs while I'm feeding her, burping her, changing her, or playing with her.

Milestones/Firsts:
Sitting up. Callie can balance herself pretty well leaning forward and doing a tri-pod thing with her arms. She sits really well on my lap, leaned against a corner of the couch, or with the boppy pillow supporting her sides.

Sitting up before she's even 6 months old!

Eating cereal from a spoon. Lots of adventures in eating this month! She likes to grab the part of the spoon with the food on it, but never manages to actually get any food in her mouth. So I end up holding her hands while I feed her so she can slurp the oatmeal off the spoon. She's SUPER smiley through the whole process and leans forward for the next bite.

Exploring some oatmeal and some spoon

Half-rolling back to tummy. We have to help her roll over because she hasn't figured out the leg fling yet. So we hold her leg down opposite side and she flips herself on over. She's enjoyed playing on her stomach a lot more this month.

Doing the half-assed half-roll

Crying to get attention or to protest against having whatever she got hold of taken away.

First Snow. We had Snowmagedon 2014 hit Portland this month and got a good 8 inches of snow at our house! We couldn't help taking her out and snapping a few pictures.

SNOOOOOWWWW!!!

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I know this is all about Callie, but look how cute Sammy is!

First cold.

First baby play date. I had Annie & Clara, Tamara & Hannah, and Katee & Isaac over for a good ol' baby play date and mommy gossip session. Annie brought her camera and snapped some awesome photos, and it was really nice watching all the babies interact with each other. Isaac brought his farm over because he wasn't sure whether we would have an appropriate amount of toys, but he ended up ignoring his farm and SUPER into Callie's Disney Princess walker and her Jungle play mat.

First time spending a few days alone with Grandma Lainey and Grandpa Jake. Bryann and I both had work trips scheduled (me in LA and Bryann in Tacoma) over the same period and my parents were amazing and came to watch her for a few days while we were gone. She fared just fine. She ate from the bottle like a champ and even slept well. I think I had a harder time being separated from her than she did. I came back at like 10:30 at night, went in to feed her and she woke up for a few minutes, said "goo goo ga ga" (translation "Hey mommy! How was your trip? Nice to have you home. Welp, gotta get back to sleep.") and went straight back to sleep. For my part, I enjoyed a few nights of un-interrupted sleep, and work and some LA friends kept me occupied while I was away, but I think 3 days away from my baby and my family is about my upper limit. By the end of the trip I couldn't WAIT to get home.

Likes:
"Coffee Talk" (in the voice of Amy Pohler and Maya Rudolf on SNL). This is where I drink coffee while Callie talks to me, and I ask her to expound on her thoughts. She really does have some fascinating opinions already!

Putting things in her mouth. Seriously. Everything she gets her hands on goes in her mouth. I even got her a little too close to my valentines roses when we were having mirror time in the kitchen, and she got hold of the rose buds and yanked the rose out of the vase and started chewing on it. And she moves SO FAST, I couldn't stop her in time so she ended up yanking out a bunch of the petals.

Getting "kiss-monster"ed in the face.

Being thrown in the air.

Dislikes:
Being tired. Callie definitely has some great "put me down for a nap IMMEDIATELY" signals, including rubbing her eyes like crazy. I once caught myself rubbing my eyes when I was really tired and cranky one night, and I was like "Hmmm... I now know where she gets that from!" Perhaps it IS just a baby thing in general to rub ones eyes, but I prefer to think she's inherited all of my adorable quirks. (Yes, my quirks are ADORABLE!!)

Things I Don't Want to Forget:
Spoon feeding her oatmeal cereal for the first time. She would get a good bite down her gullet and then look up at me and smile oh-so-proudly! UGH she's the cutest!!

One time we put her on her stomach in her nursery to try to entertain her longer before putting her to sleep, and she full-on planked like a seal, and lifted her legs super high up in the air behind her. I swear they went above her head. Bryann and I laughed and laughed and laughed.

Singing "Happy Half Birthday to You" in our family room with my parents and with Reezy on the phone. Bryann was still in Tacoma on a work trip, and I had just gotten in from my work trip and was exhausted and hazy. But it was still wonderful to reach that milestone with her and sing to celebrate.