6 months!

Her first Starbucks. Very important milestone.

Etta turned 6 months old Sunday. I just cannot believe that my little baby is already halfway through her first year of life! We've been in hardcore sleep training mode and (knock on wood), I'm starting to believe it's working. It's hard when she's screaming and crying, but we'd been setting her up with bad habit after bad habit. And not scheduling around her naps. Last week the you-know-what hit the fan and she would not sleep. Woke up at her grandparent's Thursday night and wouldn't go back to sleep, so they got her up. Then woke up at our house at 1:50am and wouldn't go back to sleep for 2 hours. Eek! So we stiffened our spine, made some sacrifices (like Tim and Etta missing a birthday party that Stella and I went to Saturday afternoon to not sabotage nap), and got her back to human baby form. Most days, we only suffer through less than 10 minutes of crying before she falls asleep. But she still cries as she senses that we're starting her nap/bedtime routine and every time it breaks my heart and I say, "it's not going to work!" Tim is always like, "why don't you give it a few minutes, you say this every night!" I'm glad he's right;) Triple-decker of cuteness

So Etta is now back on the cereal (rice) and has started eating sweet potatoes. She really digs the food now. We went to the doc Monday and she is 26 inches long (50-75%), 13 lbs (25-50%) and 43 cm head circumference (50-75%). For comparison (and of course I have to compare), at 6 months Stella was 26.25 inches long (75%), 16lbs, 9.6oz (just below 75%) and 42 cm head circumference (25-50%). So Stella was 3 lbs, 9.6 oz heavier (WOW), but they're about the same on height. I blogged on the occasion of Stella's 6 month visit too. Apparently then I was also worried about squeezing in 3 feedings. That seems so silly in retrospect. What did I have to do back then? Ah, I was so naive! With Stella the doc, (same doc, btw), was all about cutting down on feedings. No mention of this that time. I guess that's the difference between having a big baby and an average/slightly below average one! I'm enjoying doing everything again this time, but having it be totally different.

Etta continues to be a super happy, smiley baby. She's now moved into the terminally cute blowing bubbles and making really cute gurgling sounds phase. I think teeth may be imminent, as she puts her tongue over her bottom teeth a lot and also is drooling constantly. Plus her gums are swollen. But who knows, Stella didn't have teeth until she was 8 months old!

We'll be going on our first family vacation two weeks from tomorrow. And this weekend my Mom will be coming and watching the girls while Tim and I do Slapdash Flimflammery 6 Hopefully all those changes won't sabotage our sleep training and turn Etta back into a zombie. I did not like zombie baby!
Well, Stella's timer woke up Etta, but not Stella, so I guess I'm back on duty again!

Family Photos

We did family photos a couple of weeks ago and they turned out AMAZING! You probably will only be able to see these for a bit longer, but check out some of them at:

http://www.robinwinklesphotography.com/Favorites/thomas.htm
and
http://www.robinwinklesphotography.com/blog/?p=1985

Etta's got a brand new trick

Etta's been saying "mama" for the past week or two. The first time I heard it, I was shocked because Dada is the easier sound to make and Stella made that sound for months before she said Mama. But Etta is a bit of a Mama's girl;) I knew she was just making a sound and I wasn't naive enough to believe that she knew I was Mama. Until today.

This afternoon I was trying to get Etta to take a nap and she was wailing and was in full-on crawl position in her crib. She looked up at me with those big brown eyes and yelled, "Mama! Maaaammmmaaaaa!" Dude, no mistaking that girl knew what she was doing. She was tugging at my heartstrings. Hard. I am in trouble with this one, she knows how to play me!