6 Months

Hadley is 6 months old. A half of a year. At first I think that is so old, but then I was cleaning the refrigerator and found a bottle of salad dressing that I've had 6 months. So, maybe its not that old. This month Hadley has changed so much. Its amazing how much they change day to day, but I've noticed the biggest difference this month! I love this age and wish I could keep her like this forever! We went to the doctor and got another great report on our girl. She had three quick shots and we all survived. Here are her stats:

Weight: 15.2 lbs (35th percentile)

Height: 26.75 inches (85th percentile)

Head Circumference: 16.5 inches (35th percentile)

Here is what life with our 6 month old is like...

Sleep: I'm sad to report you are not sleeping through the night anymore! You were sleeping more at 2 weeks then you are now, so starting Monday is Baby Boot Camp. (i.e we are not eating at 1 am and 4 am anymore!) She is still going down to sleep at 8 or so and is waking up 2 times nightly to eat. She's up at 8 for the day. She takes at least three naps still at 10 (ish), 3 (ish) and 5:30 (ish). Wish us luck on next week, listening to your baby scream at night is difficult- but momma needs to sleep!

Eating: You still don't take too many ounces in your bottle, only about 3.5 ounces. Hopefully when I eliminate the two night feedings you will take more milk during the day. You love eating solids and get so excited when you see the bowl and spoon! You've eaten green beans, sweet potato, mango, pear, peach and banana! You eat solids once a day usually after the morning nap. 

Sizes: You are wearing 3-6 month from everywhere. And now you are wearing size 2 diapers full time!

Things you love: You love so many things now! You love standing on my lap, sitting independently, watching Yo Gabba Gabba, bouncing in your froggy or your doorway jumper. You love staring at people and smiling, and you love getting attention! 

Activities: We do lots of playing now! You sit assisted with the boppy pillow (and sometimes alone) and will play with your teething toys, books and stuffed animals. You love rolling around the room and bouncing in your froggy.  We started a Kidville class last week and you love looking at the other babies and listening to all the music. 

New things you do: You are finally sitting by yourself, you blow raspberries, you follow my voice around the room and you reach towards your toys on the ground. Also, when you get hungry and see the bottle you scream until you are eating! 

Hadley Carol, I love you to the moon and back. I can't believe I've only known you for 6 short months- it seems like a lifetime! You are the perfect addition to our little family. 

Adventures in Baby Food

So far, Hadley loves eating solids and as soon as I put her in her high chair she starts squealing. Its so precious. I've also had a lot of fun making her food- its healthy and easy, fast and cheap so we'll stick with that for now!

For example, this week I bought some pears for $2.46. It made 24 servings of food for Hadley!

I peeled the pears

Cut them into chunks,

steamed and pureed. Then stored in ice cube trays until frozen. Then I put the cubes in plastic bags!

Hadley's favorite food is green beans. She can't get enough! We've also tried sweet potatoes, peaches and mango. 

She sits in her high chair and plays with her toys while I'm getting her food ready

 I let her hold the spoon and she was very confused!

Even after all this eating, she still looks great in a swimsuit! On Friday, we went over to Caroline's and hung out by the pool!

Hadley's first solids!

Hadley is almost 6 months old and we have decided to start solids! Our pediatrician recommended starting solids as close to 6 months as possible. Hadley has been showing signs that she is ready for solids (i.e waking up every 3 hours at night again!) It feels like we have a newborn at home again. This week Hadley was also sick for the first time. She had a cold that ended up with her having croup, so its been a rough few nights at home. She is doing better with a Infants VicksVapor rub, humidifier, and saline mixture!

I am trying to make all of her food, and I will blog about that later. We are skipping rice cereal and going straight to oatmeal as it's a little easier to digest. I tried making homemade oatmeal, but discovered that buying it is much more time efficient. So far I've made her sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, peaches, butternut squash, pears, apples and bananas. They are all in the freezer waiting for her to eat them. I've found so many blogs, websites and books that have baby food recipes and I'm excited to make them for sweet Hadley. I made her first food tonight with oatmeal mixed with some frozen milk. I pureed some banana mixed with milk and added it to the oatmeal. Hadley was a little hesitant to eat off the spoon but she loved it and I'm so excited to introduce her to more fruits and vegetables!

Here's a quick video from this morning! She was eating oatmeal and pears!

(Go to www.derekandlizzy.blogspot.com to view the video!)

San Francisco

This weekend I went to San Francisco and Napa Valley for one of my closest friends bachelorette party. Julia is the bride and is marrying Stephen, Derek's best friend. I met Julia in college and we lived together and she quickly became one of my closest friends. Julia and Stephen are one of our very best friends so you can imagine how excited we are for their wedding! Julia is the nicest person you will ever meet and all us girls had a blast celebrating her this weekend.

It was a big weekend for me since I've never been away from Hadley, but I know she was in great hands with her dad. Our moms watched her on Friday during the day and I know Hadley had a blast! She had so much fun at my moms house, that she didn't even take a nap! Sorry mom!! I'm sure Derek loved having Hadley to himself this weekend- he is such a good daddy. I left 4 pages of notes for him and he didn't even read over them! The house was clean(ish), bottles were washed, dishes were put away and most importantly Hadley was happy when I came home.

San Fran is such a fun city and Napa is too beautiful for words. It was a weekend of some much needed girl time, fancy dinner, and of course great wine.

 Some of the girls at the hotel

 Julia and me walking around San Fran

 At our first winery- Robert Mondavi

We got an amazing tour of how the wine is made. These barrels were very cool!

One of our stops was at Chandon. I loved tasting all of the different champagnes.

The bride!

It was an amazing weekend, but I missed my little family so much. All of my girlfriends were so sweet and let me talk about Hadley and show them pictures. This was the first trip I have ever been on where I was excited to get home! I spend Sunday night cuddling with my sweet girl and re-memorizing every feature on her face. I was worried she wouldn't remember me, but girlfriend knows her momma.

I sure did miss these two!