6 month stats

Lana turned 6 months old this past Sunday. A full half year old!! Once her touchy newborn stage ended, the time has definitely started to speed up.

We had her next well-baby checkup yesterday, complete with another round of shots, so here are the official 6 month stats:

• Height:  27″ (90% – her height finally caught up!)
• Weight:  15 lbs. 1.5 oz. (25-50%)
• Head:  43 cm (50-75%)

Other than growth, not a whole lot has changed since her 5 month stats.

She still only sleeps through the night sometimes, which sucks, but what can ya do? I’ve actually contemplated moving her crib into Della’s room now before she even sleeps consistently until morning. Maybe it would help keep them both calmer through the night knowing the other is right there? Maybe not; we’ll see.

She no longer sleeps swaddled at all. I just wrap the swaddle sides around her middle to keep her a little warmer than using simply a blanket, since apparently winter is never going to end this year. We still have to use the stupid space heater in our room at night for her because it continues to get so cold.

Naps have become pretty scheduled, though. She generally takes a mid-morning nap for roughly an hour, then an afternoon nap starting somewhere between 1-2 that can last a good 2-3 hours, and then an evening nap for another 30-60 minutes. At least we can almost always count on those, even when we never know if we’ll be awakened at night or not.

She’s still exclusively breastfed, eating 6-7 times a day. I tried rice cereal again the other week, and she had no interest. So then I tried baby food bananas last weekend, which she seemed to enjoy more. She still doesn’t really get the hang of the spoon at all, though, so we haven’t implemented solids on a regular basis yet. Fine by me. And the doctor said that’s fine too, whenever she’s ready.

Rolled back to front 5 days after she turned 5 months old and hasn’t stopped since. I say she’s the most mobile non-crawling baby I’ve ever seen. She can roll, spin, and reach her way to nearly anything she wants. I had to put away her playmats and bring the baby jail playpen back down from the attic, because she literally ends up halfway across the room on the hardwood floor every time we put her down on the mat now. It’s not her favorite place, but maybe it’ll grow on her. If not, I guess we’ll just let her roll around on the floor, which she actually doesn’t seem to mind one bit.

As I typed that paragraph, she scooted on her back from the middle of the couch to ram her head into the arm by arching her back and planting her little feet. On the move, that’s for sure.

She absolutely loves the jumperoo. She can now spin the seat in different directions so she can see what else is on the tray. In particular, she loves looking at her reflection in the little whale shaped mirror with the bar and sliding rings above it. She will happily stay in there for long stretches of time, which is very helpful when I’m trying to get something done around the house or need to tend to Della. Unfortunately it usually bounces the poop right out of her, as it is not uncommon for her to be found sitting in a blowout by the end of her jump sessions.

Still very much makes her presence known. She likes to scream for no real reason other than to ensure you don’t forget she’s lying there. It’s not crying, it’s just screaming. I guess she wants to see just which octave she can hit. We’re also starting to hear some consonant sounds in all that chatter. The other day at work one of the girls came out of the kids room carrying Lana and said they were warming up her bottle because she was getting very vocal. Yep, that’s a nice way of saying she was screaming at them to eat, ha!

Some random fun facts from her sixth month of life – she wears size 2 diapers and is pretty much out of her size 3m clothes. There are still a couple shirts and pajama onesies that fit from the 3m era, but the vast majority of her clothes are now 6m or some 6-9m. She unfortunately has her first real illness, a case of croup. I had a feeling that’s what it was when she started having a harsh, hoarse cough Sunday morning, and the doctor confirmed it yesterday. I just hope her cough and congestion clear up soon, because the poor little thing sounds awful.

She’s gotten to be so much fun. She laughs out loud when I nuzzle in to tickle her cheeks and neck. She kicks her little legs to splash all over the place when I give her a bath. She smiles as big as her head and starts panting when she sees us in the morning or when I come into their room at work. I just love it, and I simply cannot get enough of her.

Now just for grins, here’s a comparison shot of Della at 6 months on the left and Lana at 6 months on the right. Similar or not?