Jillian's Six Month Update

Last month was a big month for her! She:

• Learned how to roll from stomach to back
• Is able to sit up unassisted
• Ate solids for the first time
• Slept through the night (6:30 PM - 7:00 AM) two nights in a row

She's had rice cereal (loves), oatmeal (likes), bananas (HATES) and sweet potatoes (likes). She normally eats four 6-8 ounce bottles/day... at 7:30, 11:30, 3:30 and 6:30... and one bottle in the middle of the night, usually between 1:00 and 4:00. I give her "solids" at 5:00.

She's in the middle of teething right now, poor thing... she's drooling like crazy, chewing on everything in sight (including her own tongue, LOL!), runny nose, sleeping poorly and is kind of cranky sometimes. I hope for her sake that those darned teeth pop through soon so she can have some relief. :(

As far as sleep goes... it's kind of up in the air right now because she's teething, but like I said, she slept through the night two nights in a row recently!! That was so nice, but as a second time mom, I knew not to expect it to last. ;-) Typically she wakes up once a night for a bottle and diaper change, which I certainly don't mind... but last week she was up every two hours. I'm praying that little "stage" is over, since she only woke up once last night.

Naps... she usually takes two naps a day... at 9:00 and 1:00. I'm working on getting her to go down on her own. ;-) A lot of times I end up going in to pat her back or rub her forehead for a couple of minutes to settle her down. Then she'll sleep anywhere from 1/2 hour to 2 hours. I'm hoping as she gets older her nap lengths will get a little more consistent. All I know is that if she sleeps for a 1/2 hour she wakes up still tired and cranky, but if she sleeps more than 1 hour, she wakes up happy and refreshed. Makes sense, huh?

Jillian is hitting all of her milestones early... or at least earlier than Matt. I don't think it'll be long until she's crawling, actually... I've already seen her hoist herself up on elbows and knees so that her belly is completely off the floor. Then she rocks back and forth like she's trying to propel herself forward. LOL! The best she can do is turn around in circles.

Her favorites:

• Song - Santa Claus is Coming to Town (the only song that'll calm her down when she's worked up).
• Food - Rice cereal
• Drink - formula (duh!)
• Toy - Her butterfly teether
• Activities - talking to herself and playing with her toes, watching Matt, taking a bath, playing in her exersaucer, falling asleep while I rock her.
• People - Matthew, Me, Daddy (Mark), Auntie Kate

Even with the teething, she's like a different baby now. She's a lot more content, happy, secure and calm compared to two months ago. She's such a little cutie. Her sweet little smile just melts you. :)