6 months old!

Allie turned 6 months old on Sunday.  A half of a year seems like a long time to me, I'm amazed at how fast it's flown by.  And to think that in the same amount of time from now we'll be celebrating her 1st birthday, that's just crazy talk.  But don't worry, the wheels are already spinning with birthday party ideas.   We had professional pictures done on Sunday that I'll share when we get them back, but for now, here are some pics I took of my half year old little girl.

We had her 6 month checkup this morning and everything looked good, minus the four shots.  That didn't go over so well....

She actually did surprisingly well with the first three, just a little scream here and there.  But then I had to remind the nurse that she forgot her flu shot so she had to go get one and come back, that ticked Allie right off!  

She weighed in at a little over 18 lbs., putting her in the 92nd percentile for weight.  And before you go all "what are you feeding that baby?" on me, the Dr. said she's well proportioned since she's also in the 75th percentile in height.  She's just a big girl, and I like her that way.  

I have bad news for Allie this month, the Similac is slowly getting weeded out of her diet.  Shhh, don't tell her, I'm trying to break it to her gently.  She's moving on to mostly baby food, which she actually does really well with now.  So far I haven't found a food that she dislikes, she's even warmed up to carrots.  

Her favorite toys right now are her crawl ball that she got last week from Nana & her glow seahorse (the modern day version of the 80's glow worm) that she likes to hold onto during nap time.  She also still loves books, especially soft ones, but she uses them more as a teether then for pleasure reading.

Now that she's more alert and aware of her surroundings and strangers, she's developed an aversion to men (mostly men with facial hair) and dogs.   She usually screams when she sees either.  So if you're a man, or a dog, don't be offended if Allie screams for help when you hold her, or look at her, it's not you....it's just her daddy's voice in the back of her head saying "boys are bad, boys are bad."  If you remember from my post when Allie was born, those were the first words Jeff said to Allie when she came into this world, and apparently she took it to heart.

Other exciting stuff at six months include rolling over (video posted last week), waiting impatiently for those top teeth to come in, grabbing everything in arms reach, and wiggling out of my arms to grab things not in arms reach, & highchair racing around the house with daddy (don't call DCS on us, as Jeff says "but she likes it!").

I've really loved every minute of being with Allie since she was born, but this is definitely my favorite stage so far.  She's so fun and happy all the time (well most of the time), but not yet able to crawl/walk away from me or talk back...it's perfect!  I'm going to cherish this time as much as I can because I know it won't last long.  But I am excited too for her next stages, I love watching her learn new things.

Allie first: Rolling over!

You have no idea how excited I am about this.  Allie will be 6 months old on Sunday, and she hasn't rolled over on her own yet, which is a little behind.  I have been frantically trying to get her to roll over for weeks now, and she just wasn't interested.  She started sitting up pretty early on so for her, rolling over was old news. She didn't like to lay down and she hates being on her stomach.  I was about to just call it a day and give up.  But this morning, as I was working on the computer, I looked over and there she was rolling over on her own with no coaching!  I wasn't quick enough with the camera so I had to catch her second roll over on film. Check it out, I'm a pretty proud momma right now.

In other Allie news, she also decided she wanted to start sucking her thumb today.  She's been 'biting' her thumb for awhile, but it was just something to relieve her teeth pain.  But today she's actually sucking on it.  I'm gonna try to keep her from making this a habit, because I know first hand how hard of a habit it is to break, but I of course had to take a picture before I made her stop.

As much as I don't want her to be a thumb sucker, how stinkin cute does she look with that little tiny thumb in her mouth?!?!

Sweet 30!

Jeff surprised me yesterday with a NEW CAR for my 30th birthday!!! I feel like I'm 16 all over again, but I think this might top my green Honda civic (sorry mom & dad, as much as I loved that car at 16, I sure hope I have a better driving record with this one).  My birthday isn't until March 15th (mark your calendars), but he got it early and didn't want to hold onto it until then.  I'm usually not one to brag, but I feel like this is brag worthy, or at least my husband is brag worthy right now.  He has been very sneaky lately, getting off the phone when I walk in the room, turning his phone so I can't see what he's looking at...very suspicious!!  But don't worry, he doesn't have another girlfriend, he was just working very hard on this wonderful surprise.  

I won't lie, I wasn't easy to surprise yesterday, I almost didn't let it happen.  It was my 7th day of being sick, and I was feeling pretty bad. I had just left the doctor and gotten home to take a shower.  Jeff called and said I needed to come to his office right away to switch cars with his mom so she could get my mirror fixed.  As much as I appreciate it, I was not happy.  I was soaking wet, felt like I was gonna pass out, had a splitting headache, and had just taken Allie out of her car seat and didn't want to put her back in.  But I bit my tongue and scurried around trying to get dressed and get Allie changed and out the door, on my way out the door I spilt an entire bottle of COLD water all over Allie and had to run back in and change her clothes.  By the time I got there, I wasn't a happy camper.  Jeff told me to park by his car around back. I called him and in a not so nice tone said "I don't see your car!"  He said it's on the end on the left.  As I drove down, there it was, my beautiful new car with birthday signs all over it!  I was in shock, and immediately felt better.
Allie loved her new car too, she helped me pull it into the garage...

Thank you to the best husband and daddy in the world for the best. birthday. present. ever.  


I love it, I just want to drive around all day every day.  But gas is too expensive, so for now I'll just admire it in the garage.  

Allie's first V-day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  I am a lucky girl this year, I have TWO valentine's.  I happen to think this is the cutest valentine I've ever had.  And Jeff is a very close second of course.

Video - High fives

Jeff taught Allie how to high five last week.  We're still working on rolling over...but who needs to roll over when you can high five? It's a much more useful skill, don't you think?

5 months old

**Warning: Extremely long post, it's been awhile**

Five months.  That's almost half a year.  That's a long time if you think about it.  How do I have a five month old baby?  The thought is still very surreal to me.  But the older she gets, the more I love being her mom.  I feel so lucky that I was chosen to love and take care of such a wonderful little girl.  She's the sweetest, cutest, most lovable little creature I've ever known.  I'm not biased or anything, she truly is the greatest.

10 facts about Allie at 5 months old:


1. Similac is still her one true love. You'd think she'd grow tired of it at some point.  But nope, her love for Similac is still going strong.

2. She loves peas.  She wasn't a fan of carrots at all.  Hated rice cereal & oatmeal.  She grew to like sweet potatoes after a couple of tries.  But she literally lunged at the spoon when I fed her what I think is the most disgusting vegetable on the planet, Peas.  Who likes peas??? This girl does.  I guess it's a good thing, but man I couldn't even stand the smell when I was feeding them to her. And she loves sitting in her highchair, it's like her princess throne.

This is her "I hate carrots" face

3. She's apparently scared of dogs.  She just started noticing our dog, Kiki, and she wasn't a fan.  We let her ride on her cousin, Cooley, and it lasted all of 2 seconds before the waterworks began.
But I managed to snap a pic first.

4. She loves playing peek-a-boo.  She used to just look at us like we were stupid when we tried to play peek-a-boo but now she cracks up.  This girl is a tough audience though.  She rarely laughs at the same thing twice, so you have to keep adding to it and spicing it up to keep her interested.  By the end, a normal game of peek-a-boo has turned into a cirque du soleil act with Jeff jumping over the couch and through the play mat.  It's really exhausting...for Jeff mostly.  It's worth it though, there's nothing better in this world then seeing your baby laugh (or any baby for that matter), it really makes my day!

5.  She loves watching Mickey Mouse on the Disney Channel in the mornings.  I end walking around all day singing M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E, it's the Mickey Mouse Club house, come inside, it's fun inside.  No wonder I've started listening to hard core rap when I work out, it makes me feel like an adult again.  


6. Her favorite toys right now are her singing dog (don't know his name), her soccer ball that sings and makes noises, and her vtech noise maker (don't know what it's actually called either but it makes LOTS of noise).  She still likes her jumperoo but it doesn't keep her occupied for  very long.  I'm telling you, this girl is one tough crowd, and if possible I'm pretty sure she has baby ADD.  She loves books though, I hope this means she's going to be super studious. Her favorite book right now is her soft book "God Loves You."  It has pieces that come out of the book and she just thinks they're hilarious.

7.  She likes 'daycare.'  I started taking her to the childcare at the gym and she really seems to like it.  She's not even excited to see me when I pick her up.  There are usually about 20-40 kids running around screaming and crying and Allie just sits back with her paci and watches them act a fool.  She's mature beyond her months.


8. She's currently wearing 9-12 month size clothes.  Again, mature beyond her months.  She has been wearing a lot of 6 month stuff since she was 3 months old and she can still fit into some of it, I actually think her age might be finally catching up to her weight.  I love my little chunky monkey though, I'm not quite ready for her to thin out. 

9. She likes to sit up and play.  She doesn't like laying down unless she's sleeping.  If you lay her down, she strains herself to try and sit back up.  She almost does a full V sit, which I can't even do.  If she keeps this up she's gonna have a 6 pack by the time she's 9 months old.  She also likes playing with her feet, which she just discovered a few weeks ago.

10.  Her bottom teeth are fully visible and I think others are on their way in.  I think her little teeth are so adorable...but don't let them fool you, I almost lost the tip of my finger the other day.  They are way sharper then they appear.

Our family has been plagued with two illnesses lately, a stomach virus and then some type of cold/flu.  I guess it's part of the territory of having a child, but man it's awful.  Being sick and not even feeling well enough to take care of yourself and then having a small baby that is extremely ill and requires your full attention...mis.er.a.ble. All of you who have children and have been through this, know what we've endured. And for those of you that don't have children, I'll spare you the details. Just wait for it, your time will come.  But I do have to give Allie props, she handled both illnesses like a champ, much better then her mom & dad who were total wimps, I'm STILL recovering.  However, thanks to the stomach virus, I lost my last 4 pounds of baby weight. Thank you stomach virus. I owe you one. Now if I could just figure out how to get my hips back to their normal width we'd be good to go.