Six Months Old!

Phoebe turned six months old on Saturday. What was this huge milestone for Charlotte just seems to have crept up on us with Phoebe - such is the way with second children, I guess?



First time in a park swing!

 A lot has happened with Miss Phoebe over the past month. She can sit up unsupported, although she's a bit wobbly. She can wiggle and roll around and get to where she wants to go. When she really wants something, she'll move her knees up and move her legs like she wants to crawl. I'm sure it won't be much longer before she really starts crawling around. She babbles different sounds, although she reserves to mama sounds for when she's really upset. She likes to blow raspberries (I have a great video, but I can't seem to get it uploaded). And the newest trick is that Phoebe has cut her first tooth! I noticed it on Saturday when she was chomping down on my finger.

We've upped her solid food intake, although we haven't been as on top of it as we were with Charlotte. So far, Phoebe has tried sweet potatoes, yams, butternut squash, bananas, apples, carrots, and pears. Pears are the hands down favorite. Last night, Phoebe gummed a piece of baguette and really liked it (no surprise there!). Her doctor recommends waiting seven days before introducing a new food given Charlotte's history with food allergies.

Sleeping continues to be erratic. Phoebe only gets up once a night, but it's anyone's guess when it will be. Sometimes it's 4AM, other times it's 6:30, yet other nights it's 2AM. I really need to look into ways for her to self-soothe because I know she can sleep the entire night without needing to eat, but it's hard to tell her that!

Huge thanks go to Chris for letting me have my first night away from children in close to a year. I think the last night I was away from Charlotte was probably last November for a work trip, and I've never had a night away from Phoebe. I went to Carson City for a day packed with meetings and then I got to stay in a hotel in South Lake Tahoe. It was amazing. The studio was enormous. And the best part was that I slept without any interruptions from Charlotte, Phoebe or the cat. I slept from 10AM to 8AM. I really, really needed it.

Here are Phoebe's stats from her six month appointment:
Weight: 15 lbs 11 oz - 43rd percentile
Height: 27.75 inches - 97th percentile
Head circumference: 17 inches - 72nd percentile

Dr. M. voiced some concern about Phoebe's weight because she dropped off her growth curve (until yesterday, she has consistently been between the 60th and 75th percentile in weight). When we saw him a month ago, she weighed in at 15 lbs 6 oz, so she only gained a quarter of a pound in a month. I reminded him that Phoebe continues to spit up after every single feeding. He suspects that because she's moving around so much that she's expending more calories but not taking in more calories. He's asked that we bring her in six to eight weeks from now for a weight check. In the meantime, we're to give her some cereal at least twice a day in hopes that the rice will expand in her stomach and maybe keep the liquid from coming back up. I'm not sure if there's any merit to that, but I'm willing to give it a try. She's certainly very interested in solid foods, so we'll just have to be better about making sure she gets some every night.

Other than that, Dr. M. declared her "perfect." We certainly agree.