24.1.13

Ellie: 6 Months Old

My Dear Ellie:

You are SIX months old!  That's half a year!  And I have to admit . . . I sure hope the next half of your first year will go a little slower than the first half!  You are growing up too quickly!  I had to have a little bit of help with your month marker this time around.  Because this is what you think of it (it was nearly impossible to capture your monthly picture this time because you couldn't keep your hands or your mouth away from the paper!):

There were so many exciting things going on during your sixth month of life (and one not-so-exciting).  It was your first Christmas!

You loved all of the pretty packages and bows.

And here you are on Christmas morning with your stocking.

I was so sad that you spent your very first Christmas with an ear infection.  I know you won't remember it.  But I will.  I began noticing that you just weren't yourself.  You were fussy.  A lot!  And you would just cry and cry for two hours before we could get you down for the night.  And then you were waking up a lot during the night.  You were also grabbing at those ears.  So I took you to the doctor on Christmas Eve.  You had a double ear infection.  The doctor prescribed an antibiotic, and we came home to begin the Christmas festivities.  During the next few days, I wasn't convinced that you were feeling better.  You were still up a lot at night.  And you just weren't my content baby.  So I took you back to the doctor on January 7.  Sure enough, you still had infection.  So we started another round of antibiotics.  You began fussing less and sleeping more.  Well, a little more.  But I still wasn't convinced so I actually took you back to the doctor this past Monday.  There is no infection, but there is still some fluid in your ears that is bothering you.  I am praying that the fluid will drain and not bother you anymore.  During all of this, it seemed like you'd forgotten how to sleep through the night.  But last night I put you in the crib at 9:00, and you slept until 4:45 this morning!  The uninterrupted hours of sleep was such a blessing to us both.

You got a lot of toys for Christmas . . . you absolutely LOVE playing with your toys!  You love things that light up or play music.  As a matter of fact, you LOVE music!  You were in your bouncer the other day while I was practicing the piano.  I was playing a rather peppy tune, some swing music, and your legs were just a kicking, and you were just a laughing!  You always have to have something in your hand.  You are almost - but not quite - sitting up by yourself.  For now, I'll put you on your pallet with the boppy pillow behind you.  You love being on your pallet surrounded by all of your toys.

You wear a size 2 diaper.  You are still in size six month clothes, but you are wearing nine month in some of your footed sleepers.  When you went to the doctor on January 7, you weighed 13 pounds 5 ounces.  Everyone always comments on how "tiny" you are for your age, but you are the chunkiest baby of my three! You have a huge fat roll at the top of your thighs.  Neither your brother nor sister had chunky monkey legs like you do.  You are growing some peach fuzz on top of your head, but you can't really see it.  I just love that bald head!  You are drooling a lot, and I know you are teething, but none have come through yet.  You are rolling over more and more these days, but you still don't care to be on your stomach.  You sleep on your back most of the time, but you're beginning to prefer sleeping on your right side instead.

Here you are with Hannah Kate's bitty baby.  Yall are about the same size!  At first, you couldn't figure her out.  You would touch her ever so gently and then take your hand away.  And this continued for awhile.  And then you started knawing on her, and sister took her away from you.

Since you were so puny at Christmas, I left the tree in the playroom up a few extra days and took your picture in front of it later . . . as in these pictures were taken after January 1!  But I wanted to try to get some sort of picture with you in your Christmas dress.

And here you are, my happy baby once again!

I love you so much, Ellie girl!  EVERY DAY with you is a treasure!

XOXO

Mama