Avery 6 Months

She did it! Avery turned half a year old on March 7!

Here are a few more further away that show her chunky thighs :)

 I feel like I have gotten to really enjoy her this last month. I love her to death, but the first 4 months were *really* hard. There wasn't much play time. It was basically just me trying to get her to stop crying.

Here are her "stats" -

Weight - 15 lbs. 7 oz (40%)

Length - 26" (61%)

Food - Maybe I'm too concerned with things, but I decided to not start her on solids until a week before she turned 6 months. I know they say you can start at 4 months, but I read a lot on why it's better to wait until 6. Maybe there's nothing to it, but what does it hurt? I started with rice cereal and she is not a fan. Not sure any of it has made it in her mouth. She purses her lips as tight as she can and makes a face like "gross." I guess I'll just move on to some other foods and hope she likes them better! I plan to make my own baby food so this should be interesting :)
She is also eating formula now. I wanted to nurse her for a year, but at 4 months she just stopped. I even talked with a lactation consultant about it and even she was stumped. It was like she weaned herself but she was too young to wean. I was really depressed about it for a while.
But I am still having a hard time with her eating. She will only eat max 3 oz at a time and then starts fussing. It's like she wants to eat but it hurts her. The pediatrician suggested I try soy formula but she does the same thing. He said she is gaining weight fine, so it may be something that's just more of an inconvience for me (yes - washing tons of bottles!).
Here is a picture of her eating rice cereal for the first time -

Clothes - 9 months fit her perfectly so I guess she'll be moving to 12 months soon. Luckily my friend Hillary gave me a HUGE box of 12-18 month clothes, so we're set!

Sleeping - She has been sleeping in her crib for over a week!! Yes, she was in her swing the whole time before that. I know some people may judge me for that, and some of the books say it's a bad habit, but all I know is it helped her sleep which helped me sleep. And when she was ready, the transition to her crib was super easy. I don't see how her sleeping in her swing hurt anything. I have also learned to not compare babies and their sleep schedules. They are all so different. My parents were telling me that when I was little they didn't even have to tell me to take a nap - I just did it. But with Colby it was a huge fight. Our sleep habits are still like that - I still love naps and Colby can stay up all hours. In fact, he works the night shift and loves it.
Lately she has been sleeping well through the night. She sleeps about 12 hours and either wakes up once or doesn't wake up at all. Her naps are still only about 45 minutes, but I've tried everything and I can't change it. I realized the only thing I could control is her bedtime, so she just goes to bed early. But since she's sleeping so long at night, I think she is getting enough sleep in a 24 hour period.

People - she has gotten very wary of people she doesn't know, especially men. When I was younger I used to be scared of men. If my Uncle Bruce or my dad's friends looked at me, I'd start crying. I think it's because I was sensitive, and Avery is very sensitive too. I think men are just loud and big.  When we were in Wichita Falls, Uncle Colby talked to her and she started screaming crying (well who wouldn't? haha). She also did it to my dad a couple of times but then she warmed up to him. She wouldn't cry but she wouldn't smile at him either. She just gave him her poker face. She has also started crying when cashiers at the grocery store and my neighbor talked to her.

She is finally big enough to sort of enjoy her exersaucer -

I am so thankful God has allowed me to be her mommy and that I can stay home with her!