She is chock-full of personality now. She's almost always smiling or has some silly expression on her face. She giggles and squeals and "talks" to her toys. Claire is old enough now to really take an interest in toys, and I've had a lot of fun shopping around for age-appropriate things for her to play with. She'll stare at new things and move them around; it's so neat to see her little brain working to try and figure things out. What an incredible blessing to have the opportunity to be her mommy. I think it's safe for me to speak for Devin and say he feels the same way about being her daddy. I have to go off on a little tangent here and talk about what an amazing father Devin is to Claire. When he comes home from work, he can't wait to kiss her and hold her, and it melts my heart to see her break into a huge grin when he walks in the door. I know I'm always talking about how I want time to slow down, but I kind of can't wait until she's big enough to waddle/run to him with her arms up going "Daaaaaadddddyyyy!!!" Ugh, that'll make me cry for sure. Anyway, Devin is more than I could ask for in every sense, and I thank God for him at least once a day. I am so blessed. But, enough of the mushy emotional junk and on to more cute baby stuff. That's what you're here for anyway, right?
Claire rolls over both ways and now that we've unswaddled her, she's mostly a tummy sleeper like her daddy. She's almost sitting on her own! She can stay up unsupported for 20-30 seconds before toppling over one way or another. She's so strong though, and I think it won't be too much longer. When she's on her tummy she'll push up onto both hands and move her legs back and forth like she wants to crawl but can't quite figure it out. I think once she works it out, she'll be a whole new force to be reckoned with! No teeth have emerged yet, but I think it'll be any day now. Here in the last few days she's been up a few times at night crying because her gums are bothering her, and she's taken to chewing on her pacifier and sucking on her bottom lip. She had a few weeks of horrible sleep that were really rough on both of us, but before she started teething, she was back to sleeping from about 7:30PM-7AM with only one night feeding at around 4:30. Even with the teething though, she's usually only waking up one additional time. Most of the time I can just nurse her and that comforts her enough to go back to sleep, but there have been a few times where she's just inconsolable in pain and I've given her Tylenol. It seems to do the trick and she goes right back to sleep after it kicks in. Hearing her cry like that though breaks my mommy heart.
At her six month check-up on Friday she weighed 15 lbs. 5 oz. and is now 26 inches long. She's in the 75th percentile for height and the 40th percentile for weight. Her doctor gave us the green light for solids (purees) twice a day, so we're doing pears at breakfast after her first nursing session/bottle and then a veggie for dinner after her last nursing session. So far she's had avocado, sweet potato, green beans, carrots and pears. Claire loves pears and green beans. So far, those are her favorites. When we first started with avocado, she really liked it, but now that she's tried other things, it seems like avocado has taken a back burner. Maybe she's not my child afterall! I've been trying my hand at making her baby food. I'm adding in store-bought stuff that's out of season (pears) but want to try and do as much as I can myself. Turns out it's something that I really enjoy doing! Finding good produce this year has been a little more difficult after the heavy winter freezes in some growing areas and then this insane drought we're having. We'll see how it goes though! We got her convertable car seat last week and she's done really well in it. She seems more comfortable in it than in her infant carrier, but we still use that for our other car and for when she's at Devin's mom's. We went with Britax, due to its outstanding safety and user ratings. I also found the cutest print that looks like cowhide. The print is called cowmooflage, which tickles me every time I say it; pretty clever. To get the full visual, here's a picture of it:
I can't say enough about how much I love this little girl. She has changed our lives in ways I never thought possible. Claire has taught me so much about myself; I've learned that I am fiercely protective of her and her needs. When that "mama bear" instinct comes out in me, it always surprises me in how strong it is. She fills me with such pride when everyone tells me how happy she is and how she's such a good baby. I know I don't have too much to do with it, but it makes me feel like maybe I'm not a total failure as a parent. I feel really thankful that most of this whole mommy thing has come very naturally to me, but I know that I still have so much to learn. I can't wait to see the little person she becomes! I'll try and get pics done and added in tomorrow.
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