6 Months!

Dear Linzo Bean,

I think we have enough nicknames for you to write you a letter a month for 10 years!  Ha ha!

So the big 0.5! (as Grandpa would say).  I cannot believe you have been with us for over half a year already!  This past month you have gotten so much more interactive, and life with you is becoming more and more fun all the time. :)

You've really started exploring a lot more with your hands over this past month.  You grab our faces and laugh when we are holding you.  You love to grab my necklace, earrings, watch, rings, shirt, hair, etc...  Whatever you can reach, you grab for.  Hence Mommy's new hair cut.  You still try to grab my hair, but now you can only get the tips.  Ha ha!  You also love to clap your hands, and hold hands with whatever baby you may be hanging out with (either Luca or Carley).  It's so cute!

Your hair is really starting to come in now, though we are still unsure of what color it will be.  I'm thinking a light brown.  Your eyes definitely seem to be turning brown. 

We went to the doctor for your six month appointment this morning and here are your stats:

Weight: 16 lbs (50th percentile)
Length: 27 inches (90th percentile)
Head circumference: 44 cm (85th percentile)

You are Mommy and Daddy's tall girl!  Weird thing is, when they measured you, they said 25.5 inches.  I was thinking in my head "Wasn't she 26 inches 2 months ago?"  Then on the paper they wrote 27 inches.  Hmmmm.  When you wake up from your nap I am going to measure you again to get an accurate length.  (I measured you, and you are indeed 27 inches exactly.)

We started giving you rice cereal a few days before your six month birthday and you get so so excited about meal time.  Though I don't think you end up with much of it in your belly at this point.  ;)  We are going to start giving you cereal twice a day now instead of just once, and then we will gradually start adding other foods too.  Maybe in a month or so we can drop one of your nursing sessions.  You eat 5 times during the day and once at night.  (And you still spit up A LOT.)   I think you know the word "milk" because whenever I ask you if you want it, you get super excited!  Ha ha!

At night, you are a great sleeper, but Mommy and Daddy are going to try to eliminate that night time feed soon. Don't make it too hard on us, OK? You go to bed around 7:30PM and wake up around 7:30AM, which is fantastic, but you still get up between 4-5AM every night to eat. You always immediately fall back to sleep after I nurse you, which is probably why I haven't been in a huge rush to stop doing it.  I'll say it.  It's easier to just get up and feed you than it is to lay there and listen to you cry.  Because if I know you, and I think I do, we'll be in for some rough nights once we finally bite the bullet to get rid of the 4AM feed. 

One part of life with you that is always a struggle is naps.  Addy, you are a napping nightmare.  I am so schedule driven that I just want you to be semi predictable with your nap lengths, but you keep me on my toes.  Sometimes your naps are and hour and a half, sometimes they are 25 minutes.  We just never know what to expect.  And you almost always cry before falling asleep.  Sometimes for less than 5 minutes, sometimes for 30 minutes.  I hate to hear my baby girl crying, but I leave you alone because I know you will fall asleep eventually, and you need your sleep.  We are still going with about 3 naps per day.  Daddy says I need to relax, because you are a very happy girl; barely ever cranky.  So maybe short naps are all that you need and I just need to accept that.  I'm still gonna try for longer ones though ;)

You have been a lot more interested in your toys lately, so Daddy broke down and bought you some pretty cool stuff a few weeks ago.  It's really fun to watch you play.  You get this intensely focused look on your face when you are playing with/examining something.  Wild Eyed Marie comes out in full force.  Maybe you will be a scientist someday!

You also still love rolling around on the floor under your activity mat.  Though its still just back to belly.  You are taking your good old time about rolling the other way.  I will say that you have done it.  Daddy and I have seen the end result.  We just haven't actually witnessed the belly to back roll yet.

You have started to be able to sit up by propping yourself up with your hands for a short time.  Then you slowly topple over.  It's so funny to watch! 

And you are definitely a thumb sucker!  You really started doing that a lot this past month, and you are starting to figure out that it soothes you, which is great!

The babbling has begun!  You have been making cooing noises for months now, but this past month you started really making distinct consonant sounds and you're first babble is "ba ba".  You say it over and over and then we sing "Ba Ba Black Sheep".  I'm working hard to make "ma ma" you're next one, but why do I have a feeling that "da da" will come first? ;)

I thank my lucky stars every day that I'm able to spend so much time at home with you.  Working one day a week is the perfect amount because I don't feel like I am missing too much time with you, and I know you and Daddy are having lots of fun on those days that I work.  He is the most amazing Daddy and he absolutely adores you.

You and Mommy were up in Philly visiting Aunt Tina and Uncle Jay for your six month birthday, so Tina took the place of Daddy in the photo this month.  And, get this...I forgot to get a video!  So unlike me.  But don't worry, there are many, many videos of you Addy Marie.

About to get that thumb!

You and Holly Heinnickel

You promptly pooped on your outfit (and Aunt Tina and Uncle Jay's couch :( ) after our photo shoot, so here you gals are before we got you into a new outfit.

       
When Aunt Tina and I planned this trip we purposely didn't tell your grandparents that we were coming, so we drove to Allentown on your six month birthday and surprised them!

At Applebees with Grandpa

Visiting Grandma Beth at work

Hanging at Grandma D's house

Then we drove back to Philly and kept you awake until Uncle Jay got home from work so he could hang out with you too!

Just got done with your bath

Our trip was so much fun, and you were a trooper on the airplane!  Not as easy as our flight to Florida because now you want me to entertain you the whole time.  And naps on the plane?  I think not.  Too much to look at for you to bother yourself with a nap.  But, all in all, it was a great trip and it was so much fun to surprise everyone.   You have a lot of family members that miss you like crazy little girl!

Well, there is your sixth month in a nutshell.  I love you more than I ever imagined that I could, Adilyn. I love walking into your room when you wake up to have you flash me that huge toothless grin when you see me coming. It's the absolute greatest feeling in the world! You are my little princess, and in some ways I just want to keep you as my little baby forever, but in other ways I can't wait to see what you'll do next!  These past six months have been amazing.  And I know you are having just as much fun as Daddy and I are!

I will end this letter with my favorite photo of you and I so far.  I think I might frame it!

I love you to pieces Linny Linny Linzo Bean!

Love,
Mommy