6 months old!

Eleanor Claire is 6 months old. Half of a year....unbelievable! Our lives are filled with crazy excitement and precious baby babbling. This age is fun! At her 6 month check-up Ellie weighed 15 pounds and 1 ounce (35th percentile) and was 24.75 inches tall (60th percentile)- she has caught up fast. She is such a happy girl which makes our job as parents really fun. We took Ellie for her first professional portraits (We consider Daddy to be pretty professional but we wanted to see what they did in the studio and we wanted one with him in it!) They are pretty cute. We did get suckered into buying the ones of her in the dorky little red velvet chair. They were just to overwhelmingly cute and dorky! The photographers loved her...little miss smiles. Jason took some 6 month portraits as well:

Highlights of the last month:
-She can almost sit! Well she can sit up alone but if anything distracts her she quickly topples over. It is pretty cute. She does do the tripod sit where she hold herself up but sometimes she needs her hands to play with her toys! She really doesn't like to lay down much anymore. She arches her back and tries to pull herself up working her ab muscles. It must be frustrating to be a baby!

-Pacifier in the mouth-she can do it! Often not on the very first try but she can absolutely get her pacifier into her mouth. She works diligently to get it in and sometimes sucks on the back or the side if her aims isn't correct on the first try. She hasn't quite figured out how to get her fingers out of the way and leave the paci in her mouth but sometimes she gets it. She for sure recognizes the things she likes and can spot her paci among many things.

-Distractions, distractions- Ellie is very easily distracted right now. She nurses quite inefficiently because she has to stop and look at every noise and see what is going on. It is pretty funny. If the TV is on she will turn her head all the way around to try to get a glimpse. If I try to feed her in a public place or in the car it is pretty much pointless because there is too much going on around her.

-Talking up a storm- Ellie has just this week started discussing life with us. She just babbles on and on. It is adorable. We babble back which she likes

-Foods- Ellie has tried quite a few solid foods. Prunes are still the fave. She doesn't really like peaches or peas. Carrots, pears and squash are all okay. She really isn't a great eater everything goes in her mouth and immediately squirts back out. She pretty much just prefers milk. Which is totally fine with me. I kinda think the whole 4 month solid food movement is a little too early and so we give her solids once in awhile but don't push the issue. Her digestive issues seem to be much better with this approach so we'll let her dictate when she's ready for more solids. Cereal is totally out now so it is just fruits and veggies.

-Baseball and fireworks!- We took Ellie to her first baseball game. She cheered on the Durham Bulls in her new baseball cap (adorable!) and even enjoyed the fireworks afterward. We weren't sure how she'd do with fireworks because she is easily startled by loud noises but i guess the colorful lights were enough to distract her.



-Toes- Ellie found her toes this month. For a couple of weeks every time we changed her diaper she grabbed her toes. She seemed very proud that she could help us by lifting up her legs. We haven't ever caught her sucking on her toes but maybe that is still to come.

-Smiles and laughs are still the highlights of my day. I love how Eleanor smiles behind her paci but you can see the grin in her eyes and cheeks. If she smiles big enough the paci falls out. She still isn't a big time giggler but she laughs wildly if you catch her in the right mood and give her kisses on her belly or neck. She especially thinks her Aunt Carissa is hilarious....