7 Months

Dear Linnea,

Wasn't I just writing your 6 month post?! The months are just flying by, and you continue to amaze us with all you can do! I can't believe you are closer to turning one than you are to being our brand new baby. Time flies! You continue to delight us each day with your sweet personality, and sunny disposition. We've had another big month!

You ate solid food...
Shortly after you turned 6 months old (on February 19th), you had your first taste of "solid" food - solid in quotes because it was pretty soupy to start! You had rice cereal to start with, which was so so. Since then you've added avocado, oatmeal, peas, and banana to your list.

You make the funniest faces when you eat! No matter if you like the food or not, your first bite is always accompanied by a sour looking face. You look at us like "what are you giving me??!"

Although we've been a bit slow to get started, we are gaining steam. Every day you seem to be enjoying the food more and more. We are making food for you (although Magna provides your food for daycare). It's been really fun to choose what to make you, and then make it ourselves to feed you. We are looking forward to making you more and more yummy things in the months to come.

You started "talking"...
It started with "raspberries." You use it as a universal expression - you make it when you are happy, sad, angry, etc. It's really cute. You scrunch up your face, and buzz your lips really hard.

Soon after you started blowing raspberries, you started saying "da." Daddy was thrilled - even though we know you don't know what you are saying. You just babble on and on... "Da da da da da." You also make sounds like, "Hi, Da!" Again, you don't know what you are saying, but Dad always responds, "Hi, Linnea!" I try to get you to say Ma, but you're not quite there yet. Soon enough.

You are very very VERY vocal. Whether it's raspberries, da's, or one of the many other screeches, squawks, etc. that you make, you've always got something to say!

You moved to the big tub...
You've gotten so big, you don't really fit in your infant bath tub anymore! It became quite a mess when we tried to bathe you, because you love to kick and splash. Water would go EVERYWHERE. We got a little blow-up duck tub that sits inside the big tub. It allows you a bit more space to splash and have fun. I've also taken a couple baths with you, which is really fun. It's fun to snuggle up (as much as you'll let me) in the tub.

I look forward to when you can just sit in the big tub on your own - you just aren't dependable enough with your sitting skills to do that yet. :-)

You've grown and changed a lot too...
You are growing like crazy!!! All of a sudden, you grew out of some of your 6 month stuff, and we had to pull out 9 month clothes! Holy buckets! Daddy and I are having fun "refreshing your wardrobe" by pulling out this stuff. Not to mention that it's been close to 80 degrees, so we're bringing out a fresh season of clothes too! You just moved up to size 3 diapers in the last week or so.

I'm sure that you are over 18 pounds by now, given where you were last month. You are very quickly growing out of your infant carrier/car seat. You are getting very heavy to carry around in that thing! We will be buying a "big girl car seat" very soon.

You continue to be a very happy little girl! You smile and "talk" to strangers, and charm all our family and friends. We keep waiting for "stranger danger" to kick in, but it hasn't seemed to yet. You ARE starting to hold tighter to me and Daddy, which we love. You light up when we come in the room, or when you wake up in the morning. It's wonderful. We love that we make you happy like you make us happy! :-)

We have enjoyed adding solid food to your eating repertoire. It's going pretty well. It's basically incorporated into your previous eating schedule. Magna gives you food for breakfast at daycare. We sometimes give you food for dinner, when we have time. We are enjoying adding new foods as often as we can.

Sleeping through the night is still touch and go. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. We are lucky that when you wake up it's just because you're hungry. You eat, and you go right back to sleep. Naps still go great at daycare, although you've shortened your morning nap, and then take a bit of a longer one in the afternoon. We still play it by ear on the weekends. It's a little tough, but you are so flexible, and you let us know what you need.

We love you more and more each day - we really do! Every day you give us more reasons - big and little - to be thankful for you. You are such a blessing, sweet girl!

With all our love (and then some),
Mommy and Daddy

6 Months

Dear Linnea,

You are halfway to 1!! This month it hit me more than months previous...you are growing up so quickly! You hardly seem like a little baby anymore. You are changing and growing by leaps and bounds! This month we have seen some of the most significant advances. You change on a daily basis, and we are continually amazed at how much you are capable of, and how much you are learning and growing. You have developed SUCH a personality. You are a happy, content little girl. You are curious, and persistent. You love taking the world in, and are fairly easy going. We have so much fun with you, and have loved all that this month brought with it...

You started crawling....
Near the end of January, you started "inch worming" - you would pull your knees up, and stick your butt way up in the air and then push forward, burying your head into the floor. After a week or so of that you moved on to army crawling! You started slow...moving several inches to grab a toy...but within a week or so you were quickly crawling across the floor. You get better by the day - you amaze us at how quickly you are improving. Your favorite thing is to knock down your cup tower. We stack your plastic toy cups into a tower. We can barely get it stacked before you come over and knock it over. Clever girl! You also love crawling over to Luther.

You can pull your knees up to your chest, but don't quite get to all fours yet - you usually tip over before you can get to that point. :-) We better start baby proofing, because we are pretty sure this whole moving thing is going to keep up!!

You started sitting up...
Like some of your other skills, this one seemed to develop overnight. At the beginning of February you were starting to sit up with minimal assistance - but we needed to keep our hands close because you tended to be pretty tippy (Magna used the phrase "weeble wobble") :-) But then just like that, you were able to do it on your own! Now you seem to want to pull yourself up to sitting. You do what we call the "fitness pose." You prop yourself up on one forearm and push up. Too cute. It looks like you are doing Pilates. I think you like the view from sitting up...laying on your back is your least favorite position these days.

You made friends with Luther...
In the middle of January, you very quickly became enamored with Luther! You would see him across the room and bust a gut! You reached for him when he got close, and would squeal when he came near you! Now that you are mobile, you crawl towards him whenever you get a chance. You love Luther so much! Right now Luther is tolerant of you, but doesn't seemed thrilled with the love. We talk often about how much Luther will love you when you can genuinely play with him - especially by throwing his ball!

You gave your first Valentines...
Obviously, February brought your first Valentine's Day! Now, your mama has never been the biggest fan of Valentine's Day, but I think it might change with you. We talked about starting some sort of fun family tradition when you get bigger...nothing decided yet, but hopefully we'll come up with something fun to focus on the love we have as a family.

You had a party with the kids at daycare. At the last minute we made valentines for you to give. We cut out hearts, and added your footprint with the message "I like you from my head to my toes!" Super cute.

You've grown and changed a lot too...
We had your 6 month well baby check-up today. Once again, it was so fun to "show off" how well you are doing, and how much you've learned in the last 2 months. You crawled all up and down the exam table, and smiled and squawked at the doctor. You are such a charmer!

You continue to be right on track with your growth. You were 17 pounds, 5 ounces (74th percentile) and measured 28" (98th percentile). It made us giggle because in the doctor's report they said you were 2' 4" tall :-) Such a big girl! You got four shots, but did very well - no tears until the 3rd shot!

Like I said above, you have really developed your own personality in this past month or so. You are happy and easy going for the most part. People often comment on how content you are. You "go with the flow" so to speak in most situations. We are thankful for a happy and laid back little babe. I'm glad you seemed to have gotten your daddy's calm nature!

You continue to be a pretty good eater and sleeper. You nurse once in the morning, and once before bed. You consistently have 4 bottles at daycare, each between 4 and 6 ounces. We are planning to start you on rice cereal this weekend - I can't even believe it's time for that already! I hope it goes well. We are looking forward to introducing you to all sorts of yummy foods. You are definitely ready - you stare us down when we eat. I think you can't wait to see what this whole eating thing is all about. :-)

Ever since you started making so much developmental progress, sleeping through the night is touch and go. We are blessed because when you do wake up you eat and go right back to bed. You are not one to just be fussy at night (knock on wood). You nap GREAT at daycare - 2 naps, each 1 1/2-2 hours. Weekends are a work in progress...you usually sleep later (which is great), but that throws off your schedule. We are getting better and predicting what you'll do...and because you are so easy going, you do just fine. You sleep when you need to sleep, and are happy and content otherwise.

You have been very "true to size" as far as clothes go. You are mostly wearing 6 month clothes, but can fit into a few 3 month stuff still - but you're also getting into some 6-9/9 month clothes. Daddy and I are looking forward to having fun with your summer wardrobe - baby shorts, sundresses, and swimsuits! What fun! You are still wearing size 2 diapers, but I'm sure you'll be moving up to size 3 pretty soon.

I really can't express how much we love you. These last 6 months have gone so quickly, but at the same time it's hard to remember what life was like before you. Thank you for being a joy in our life. You are incredible, and enrich our lives every day.

We love you SO much, Sweet Pea,
Mommy and Daddy