6 months 2/9/12

I can't believe that Natalie is 1/2 a year.  The time has flown by.  She is getting so big and she is so much more animated and interacting with us more.  She has started to enjoy some tummy time and has rolled from her stomach to her back by herself.  Any day now she will sit up on her own as well. 

This is Chris' new thing.  He pulls his hand back from her face and then towards her face.  She really likes it.

Here she is with the bear.  Now she grabs it and puts it in her mouth.  She is finally bigger than the bear.

Here is another photo of Mom and Natalie.  She loves looking at herself in the camera.  She will stare at herself for a long time. 

My former coworker Mary B. gave us this cute outfit.  I had to have her wear as it was 6 months and she is growing like a weed.

Last Sunday, we were up in Alton for the Super Bowl.  We were heading out for the night and I found a cowboy hat there and put it on her head.  So cute!

Friday was her 6 month appointment.  We were expecting to go in and to hear good news and be on our way but we got a little scare.  They kept checking out her soft spot on top of her head.  They asked a lot of questions about having a fever, throwing up, acting different which she hasn't done any of.  She is always checking everything out, tracks everything, very happy most of the time.  They said there was some more pressure at the top of her head so they wanted to get it checked out.  We had an ultrasound of her head and everything came out normal.  They said that she should get more fluids.  She has been going a lot longer between feedings and sleeping through the night so she is not getting as much milk as she was previously. They said to watch for the signs I mentioned before through the weekend and we go back on Monday to check it again.  So far, Saturday evening, she has been the same cutie pie as before. 

On a more positive note, she weighed 16.9 lbs (60th percentile) and was 25"(45th percentile).  Her head is still pretty large.  It is in the 90th percentile but they said she is still growing like she should.  The doctor really said that other than the pressure, she is really a healthy, happy girl and sometimes this just happens.  If everything is normal on Monday, she will most likely get all of her shots then.  They decided to hold off Friday so that they wouldn't adversely affect her situation.  

She had a pretty rough day because of the timing of the appointment so the rest of the day was a fun day with dad.  He took a few photos of the day.

Here she is chillin on the boppy with her favorite toy!

 

Bath time because we had so much goo on her head.

There's my smiley girl!!

Friday night, Chris and I attended a retirement party for a guy he used to work with at Fish and Game.  Chris' parents came over to babysit.  Grampy Dan was with her for about an hour by himself and they survived.  She was getting fussy and as soon as Grammy Jean showed up she was fine.  He was not impressed.   They did well for the rest of the night.

Today, we tried some sweet potatoes and the high chair.  If there was any doubt about this child being ours, this should seal the deal.  This kid has a sweet tooth.  She didn't really like rice cereal until cinnamon and applesauce were put in it.  She likes bananas.  Not so much for the bland avocadoes and peas.  Now sweet potatoes she absolutely loved.  She even took the spoon in her hand at one point and directed it to her mouth.  She ate most of the bowl.  It was a hit!  The doctor on Friday had mentioned that it would be a good time to start meat.  When he first said it, I thought he was joking.  MEAT!?! He said that I am not producing much iron any more so we need to supplement her diet with iron.  One way to do this is the rice cereal and the other is meat.  He suggested cooking up some chicken and adding it to sweet potatoes.  Had to try sweet potatoes by themselves and then maybe some chicken later on.  I am still not giving up hope on the avocado and peas so we will keep trying on those.  Life is sooo exciting around here. The little things make us so happy.

While we were taking her 6 month photo, Chris took her over to hang out with the dog.  She is getting really good at petting him although sometimes she grabs on to his folds, which he doesn't particularly like.  I have been trying to show her how to gently pet him and guide her hand over it as well.  She will get there.

My two babies!

Otherwise, everything else is good.  Chris had a cold this week that Natalie had last Saturday but he is much better than he was at the beginning of the week.  I am doing well.  Rocky's eye issue is pretty much gone.  He doesn't produce tears in one of his eyes so we have to give him drops.  We were bad parents for a couple of days and forgot to do it and scar tissue formed on his eyeball.  We got a cream to put in the eye along with the drops and now it is like he didn't have anything.  It is like he is a new dog.  He just got off a round of antibiotics so he is actually somewhat healthy for now.
Hope this finds all of you well.  We will update on Natalie's head next week.