Letter to Lizzy- Six Months

Dear Lizard,

This weekend, you will be turning six months old, and I have to say, this has been the most interesting month yet. All of a sudden, you are doing tons of new things--sitting up all by yourself, trying to feed yourself, getting up on all fours and rocking (you are SO close to crawling), and swimming.

We haven't been doing the Mommy and Me swim classes as much this past month since your nap schedule has changed a bit, but I try to take you to the pool here or at Grandma Joyce and G-Daddy's house at least once a week. You love to be in the water, and are really brave about being dunked. Yesterday at Grandma and Grandpa's, you apparently decided that you wanted to go underwater while I was holding you upright, and flung yourself face-first into the water. I thought you'd be upset, but you were quite pleased with yourself. You're also doing really awesome with trying to blow bubbles, and are really starting to be into splashing.

We've been trying to be really good with a bedtime routine during the week--at promptly 8pm every night, we try to start of the 5 B's--Bath, Boob, Book, Bear, Bed. It has helped you get to sleep tremendously. Some nights you still fuss, but not for hours on end like you sometimes would previously. And you really seem to be enjoying story time recently. You love for your dad to read "Pout Pout Fish", and I love to read "Very Hungry Caterpillar".

You're also really, REALLY into food, and so far you've loved everything that we've tried. You get really upset if I am eating in front of you and don't give you something to eat as well. While we do sometimes do purees and baby food, we've been moving more and more towards Baby Led Weaning, or basically giving you table foods. So far, I've been trying to do each--purees and Baby Led Weaning--at one (different) meal a day.  In terms of the Baby Led Weaning, we experimented with giving you pieces of toast last weekend, and you loved it. We've also tried giving you steamed baby carrots, but you had a harder time getting those into your mouth. I tried banana, but you wanted to take HUGE bites of that, and ended up gagging a lot. I'm thinking about doing a lightly frozen banana next time, which also might help with your teething. And no, there's still no sign of actual teeth, but you continue to act like you're teething, so I'm not sure what's up with that baby girl.

Some days are hard--last night you screamed for two hours straight, and nothing I tried (nursing, changing, burping, putting you on the floor, bicycling your legs, walking you around, putting you in your crib, giving you Sophie, rocking you, and lastly giving you Tylenol) seemed to make any bit of difference. I get frustrated when you're obviously hurting and I don't know what to do to make you feel better. Sometimes, it gets to the point where all I can do is sit, rock you, and sing to you. Lately, I've been singing you a lot of JJ Heller, but also a song by a band called Sidewalk Prophets. The last chorus goes:

Be strong in the LORD and never give up hope.

You're gonna do great things, I already know.

God's got his hand on you so don't live life in fear,

forgive and forget but don't forget why you're here. 

Take some time to pray, and thank God for each day.

These are the words I would say.

More than anything else, THAT is my wish for you baby girl. Know that you are loved--we love you more than anything (even ice cream). 

Forever and For Always, 

Mom