Annaliese's sixth month of life was not the most fun we've ever had, but it also was. She was sick-ish a good part of it - head cold and low fever off and on for a couple weeks. And she went through a period known as "The Darkness" where she had dreadful mood swings and stopped sleeping through the night. We were spoiled with a babe that slept all night in her own bed from 6 weeks and when this second round of middle of the night cryings and feedings and wide awake wanting to play at 3 am came around we were not quite as enamored with it. Well, I wasn't. Her father is painstakenly even-keeled and took it all in stride, enjoying the reminder of those sweet early days. Sleep-deprived and edgy, it's a wonder Kenny survived month six. She's waking up a couple times a night still, but we're learning to cope better. Coping = co-sleeping, by the way. I never wanted it to come to this, but when you need sleep real bad, you do things the well-rested you wouldn't do. Praying that I'm not shooting our my new-parent self in the foot and just remembering what Kenny says to every "are we ruining her?" worry...she won't be doing this when she's a teenager.
Annaliese started eating solids at six months. We had given her stuff a couple times before she reached six months, mostly because the nurses at her check-ups thought she should be gaining more. I bothered me a bit, but Annaliese is obviously a happy, healthy, and developing baby, so I decided to settle down. So at six months, according to the studies I am choosing to believe (there are tons and they all say different stuff) a baby's system can handle some solid foods, so we started introducing some more often. I have tried to give her something at least once a day, but sometimes it just doesn't happen...adjusting to solids is a whole lot crazier for me than Annaliese. She likes avocado, apple, banana, cereal, carrot, and butternut squash and varieties of these things mixed together. I'm using wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com (Thanks Heather!) for a guideline and mixing baby-lead-weaning and DIY puréed foods. I offer foods in between her regular mommy-milk feedings. It's working out well and is usually lots of fun for everyone.
I'll let you imagine the fun turn diapering has taken since introducing new foods. Yeah. I took a major break from cloth diapering because crazy busy-ness in December and January, then really unreliable electricity in February. We finally got back to it and I had to adjust her snaps - she's not thick around her waist, but she's gotten so long. She's barely wearing anything that says 3 months on the tag, it's almost all 6 month stuff, and some 9 month now and I really need to go through her dresser.
As for other developments. Annaliese started sitting up at almost seven months and rolling about like crazy! She began grabbing anything and everything that she could get her hands on this months too. And anything she can get her hands on, she puts directly in her mouth. She's obsessed with zippers and tags and labels. She can be left to play on the floor on her blanket, but the couch is not so safe anymore, the ways she moves. She's more interested in books this month and she loves to hear singing. She really likes standing on the back of the couch and reaching for the things on the window sill. She does alright in the car, it often makes her sleepy. She is a bit harder to handle in church, not sleeping through the whole meeting anymore, but not too bad. She is always aware of where Kenny is and when she hears the keys in the door she always turns or perks up. She's certainly Daddy's girl. She laughs and smiles when she is thrown up or flown around. She's is so much fun!
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