Another wonderful month with this little beauty! I’m a bit late on getting this posted because things have been extra busy around here. But both kids happen to be napping right now (blesssssss!) so I’m able to write for 0.38 seconds before one or both of them wakes up.
Nora is sugar and spice (but mostly nice) and she gets cuter by the day. We finally had her neurological follow-up appointment this month and it looks like we’re in the clear, praise God! In fact, the neurologist was kind of confused as to why we were even there haha. She assured us that Nora looks absolutely perfect. Of course we’re going to watch her carefully (I will always and forever be slightly more worried about her) but for now we’re moving on with life and putting that scary episode behind us. On her medical records it’s labeled as a Brief Resolved Unexplained Event (BRUE) and hopefully it never becomes anything more than that. She is happy and healthy and here with us and that’s really all we can ask for.
Here’s what’s new for our little six month old! (Phew, can’t believe it’s already been half a year!)
Weight & Length: At her six month checkup this morning she weighed in at 15 lbs, 5 oz (I think about a pound heavier than last month!) and she’s 2 ft, 3 inches (adorable). This puts her in the 84th percentile for height (!!!) and the 29th for weight. And interestingly (well not really hahah but it is to me) her head size is only in the 9th percentile! For some reason I feel like her noggin is bigger than the average but apparently it’s much much smaller. Maybe it’s all that delicious chub in the cheeks throwing me off. 🙂
Clothing: She’s almost out of her six month clothes (especially Carters brand, which runs a little small). I generally look for the 6-9 month stuff to buy her, or 6-12 month at Gymboree. I bet I’ll be getting 9 month stuff before I know it; she’s just so tall! I bought her a couple of cute bathing suits for this summer and I’m so excited to see her splashing around and playing in them in the coming months! It’s already getting toasty over here.
Eyes & Hair: No change with those baby blue eyes (everyone always comments on how blue they are!). But her hair is starting to change! It is definitely going to be curly. I’m so excited! A little curly Nora will be adorable. I’m not surprised at all, though, because Alex has insanely curly hair and my hair was in giant crazy ringlets when I was a toddler. I’m actually surprised that Jameson doesn’t have super curly hair. Some days Nora’s hair is tame and other days it will not lay flat. It just springs back up into big curls. It is so stinking cute. Plus, I think it might be going red! Or maybe more like an auburn. It still looks light brown for the most part, but the sun brings out allllll these gorgeous red and blonde highlights. I can’t wait to see the color when it fills in a bit more.
Sleep: I feel like this is pretty much the same as last month. She’s down to three naps a day (one around 8:30am, one around 11:30/12, and one around 4:30 or 5:30pm depending on how long the afternoon nap was). Her morning and evening naps are typically short (around 40 minutes each) but she usually takes a good long afternoon nap, around two and a half hours at a time. But it’s not an exact science of course. Nothing in parenting ever is. Sometimes her morning nap is long if she had a hard night and that throws everything off. She’s still having trouble staying asleep for long stretches at night (some nights she’ll wake up once or not even at all, other nights she’s up every three hours) so I think we’ll probably transition her to her own room at night this month so she can get used to it and hopefully get her act together haha. I’m just kind of scared. It’s so convenient having her nearby and I don’t want her to cry super loud and wake Jameson up (their rooms are right next to each other). But I know it has to be done eventually… ugh. Maybe the next month haha. I might drag my feet just a little bit longer.
Eating: We tried out her first solid food this month (mashed banana) and she HAAAAAATED ITTTTT!!! It was actually hilarious. I’m so glad I took a video of it. Is that mean? Oh well, she’ll think it’s funny one day. She was seriously so offended that we tried giving her such a horrendous substance. We tried applesauce too and she had the same reaction. I might pick up some of that super bland rice or oat baby cereal at the store and see if she’ll tolerate that. And then gradually add food in to get her used to flavors in a more subtle way. Feeding her straight from the table is obviously not going to work for Nora just yet. It’s okay though, she has time. And breastfeeding is still going well so I’m not worried. Table food is just for fun at this point anyway.
Milestones: She’s officially rolling back and forth all over the place! She had been doing it on the bed and on the couch for awhile now but absolutely refused to try on the floor. Literally nothing could entice her. Then one day, she just rolled with total ease as if she could have done it all along. I’m pretty sure she wanted to make sure she had the coordination and strength down before she gave it it a try. Whereas Jameson had no problem trying and failing over and over until he finally got the hang of it, Nora really wanted to perfect her rolling game plan before she showed off. She sits up with support (she does best with the Boppy around her) but I don’t trust her enough to just leave her there to play without toppling over (or folding in half, that’s always funny) so I’m always nearby. She really does love being upright though and seeing everything going on around her so she enjoys jumping around in the doorway bouncer thing and being in the walker she has at Alex’s parents’ house. She can even take little steps and push herself forward in there! Her fine motor skills are improving as well; she can pass toys from one hand to the other and flip them around to check out all the interesting sides.
Loves: Finding the tags on all of her toys, holding hands while she nurses to sleep (my heart!!!), playing in her walker, anything having to do with Jameson, being on my hip, baths, going outside, when Daddy gets home from work, listening while I read books with Jameson, and she really liked her first time in the swing this month!
Hates: The usual culprits. Tummy time, car seat, being away from me for too long. Ps, these pictures crack me up:
Communication: This has been a fun one this month! Just a few weeks ago she started officially babbling! She had been getting close for a couple of weeks, saying things like “aaaaaaba.” But then one day she started the real deal babbling and now she babbles all the time, things like “bababa,” “mamama,” “dadada,” “nanana,” and “papapa.” I know that’s not super interesting to anyone but to someone who studied and loves speech and language, these are my favorite things! Jameson was all about the physical milestones (he was legit crawling by this point) and didn’t bother with speech sounds until 8 months. But Nora is so interested in it. She watches my lips so closely when I’m talking to her and tries to copy what I do. So sweet! She also figured out how to blow raspberries which is simultaneously adorable and gross because of all the drool. Just constant drool with this one.
Things I want to remember: The way you grab my face with both your hands and smother me with “kisses,” the way you actually hug me with your tiny little arms (you are so snugly), the way your sweet fingers find mine when you’re nursing to sleep and you hold on so gently, the way you hold your brother’s face in your hands when he’s playing and talking with you, your kicky little legs when you’re so stoked about something, how you “swim” when you’re on your belly (arms and legs up and moving in all directions), the way you reach for me when you want me to hold you, the way you play with your soft baby books (hold them up over your face, drop them there, and kick happily until someone lifts the book off to reveal your huge grin/tongue sticking out), and that big gummy smile you have on your face 90% of the time.
Happy half birthday, NoJo baby! We love you to bits and pieces. ❤
Milk with a Meal 