Emma is SIX months old...half a year!!

I can't believe she is already 6 months old! Where has the time gone?!? She is changing so much each and every day! We started solids the week before she turned 6 months. My parents were in town, so I wanted to have a veteran mom around :) Emma made the funniest faces. She wasn't a big fan. We also tried sweet potato, which she didn't really enjoy either. I am sure she was wondering what we were trying to put in her mouth, haha. Since then, I have tried bananas and apples. She has eaten both, but not really too interested.

She is now sitting. She can't sit up alone, but if I put her in a sitting position she can stay like that for a long time. She is a crazy crawler. She crawls where ever she wants to go. I put under her Baby Einstein play mat today and she managed to roll all the way over to her tummy time mat, which was across the playroom. It's so cute! She can grab everything. I have to be careful what I have in my hands when holding her. She still hasn't cut a tooth. I could swear she's been teething for a while now, but no sign of teeth.

She is really so fun now. She is talking like crazy, laughing all the time, and really smiling at us. She loves to be on her legs. She tries to jump and can even hold her weight on her legs. She loves her Baby Einstein stand up jumper that grandma and grandpa bought her. She also loves her doorway jumper.

She did so good with her shots. She barely even cried this time around. She is 18 pounds, 2 ounces (85%). She is 26 3/4 inches (also 85%). She is starting to slow down on the growth scale, and I'm sure that will continue now that she is becoming more and more active. She wishes she could crawl, but still can't completely lift herself off the ground. She can either lift her butt or her chest, but not both at the same time.

We LOVE her new daycare. Everyone who works there is so nice and they love Emma. I can log on and see her from work and she is always playing, or being read to, or working on mastering her new milestone. I think they really helped with her sitting up. There is another little girl there that is her same age and they are usually both sitting on the floor together playing with toys. It's so cute!

Emma is FIVE months!

Wow! I can't believe our little princess is FIVE months old already! Time sure does fly by! Every day is a new adventure with her. I love every day more and more because she changes so much! She is now rolling BOTH ways, tri-pod sitting, grabbing EVERY thing, laughing all the time, smiling, and loving peek-a-boo!! Her personality is really starting to come out! :) She is all smiles when daddy gets home from work now too. She is already trying to be a daddy's girl! She is starting to have stranger anxiety bad. If someone comes up to her when we are out that she doesn't know, she'll start crying. She is sleeping so well in her crib now (finally!). She is starting daycare. There are so many things happening, it's crazy!

Rolly-Poly!!!

On August 13th (a day before she turned 5 months) Emma rolled from tummy to back!! Now she is rolling BOTH ways. It's funny...she is loving her new skill so much that she does it ALL the time. I was trying to rock her to sleep and she was trying to roll in my arms. I was feeding her...and she was trying to roll. It's so fun to watch her roll to get a toy! :)

New Daycare

We decided after a week and a half that we weren't happy with Emma's current daycare location. The lady, who ran the home daycare, was very nice and really tried to help Emma adjust. The other three kids are all over one and mobile. Especially in the beginning, Emma needed a lot of attention and love. It was hard for the lady in charge to give Emma all of attention she needed while taking care of three other toddlers. I know that she cared for Emma, but I felt Emma needed more. Also, she believes in the "cry-it-out" method, which I'm not a big fan of. In the end, Tom and I think it was a good decision.

We found a daycare in Land O' Lakes, where we live. I was hesitant at first because that means Emma will be at daycare longer, because my school is 30 minutes away. I was trying to find something close to school, so I could get her sooner. Although, I think she will be really happy at this place.

They have an infant curriculum, they rock the babies to sleep before putting them in their crib, and they have a web cam where I can log on anytime and see the infant room. There are 12 infants and 4 teachers, which is a 3:1 ratio. They have so many toys, a swing, bouncers, they do tummy time/developmental stuff with them, and even an infant only outside playground. Everyone we met was so nice. I really think it will be a positive move. They even have the parents make a collage of pictures to put on the baby's crib so the first thing they see when they wake up is mom and dad. Also, they said that they realize infants are on a schedule of their own and don't expect them to nap/eat at certain times. At the other place, Emma was expected to nap at a certain time and I knew she was beyond tired by that point which probably is a reason nap time didn't go too well.

The only problem is I officially go back to work Monday, and they couldn't start Emma until the 23rd. (thank goodness it's only a week). Tom's mom is going to watch her M-R of next week. We are so grateful that she lives close and doesn't mind watching Em. We still aren't sure about Friday. I can't take off because it's week one of work. We'll figure it out though :)

Please pray that this daycare really is as good as we think it will be. It's a little more expensive, but I think it's worth it.

Update

Emma started daycare on Monday. It was the HARDEST thing I have ever done to drop her off. I don't officially start work until the 16th, but I wanted to ease Emma (and myself) into daycare. She only went three hours on Monday and has gone from 10:30-3:30 the rest of the week. She has been taking her bottles like a champ at daycare. Naps were a little tricky at first, but she's already getting the hang of it. The lady puts her down awake and expects the baby to fall asleep, and I've always spoiled Em and rocked her to sleep. The lady will let them cry until they fall asleep, but won't let them get too upset (thank goodness). She's been a little clingy with the lady. She cries when she puts her down, but she is adjusting. It has to be hard for her to understand where she is and why :(

It's been VERY hard on me. I miss her so much when she is away. The best part of my day is picking her up. I wish I could just win the powerball and stay home with her every day. :)

We went back to the doctor on Thursday and it seems that the dairy/soy allergy was the problem. She is doing much better. She is 17 pounds, 3 ounces. I love my little chunky monkey!! She's finally sleeping well in her crib--yay! She is still waking up 2-3 times a night, but much better than every 30 minutes.

Here is a picture of Em's latest milestone: tri-pod sitting :)

Emma

Wow, she is really changing every day! She is such a talker now. She does this new talking where she doesn't really open her mouth--it's so cute! She is also starting to make the "m" sound, which I keep waiting for "mama" even though she won't really know what she is saying yet.

She laughs and smiles all the time. She is fun to interact with and definitely knows her mommy and daddy. When daddy gets home from work, she is all smiles.

We've transitioned her to the crib all night. It was really hard for mommy to have Em out of the room. We started just putting her in there for the beginning of the night, but then moving her back to our room when we went to bed. However, I don't think she was very comfortable in the pack and play anymore. The first couple nights were not fun. She was waking every 30 minutes. She was in a new place and had trouble putting herself back to sleep. Last night was night #4, and she did much better. She still woke up a lot more than in our room, but it's getting better. Yay! At 5 a.m. I heard her on the monitor talking and playing. She is such a happy baby~! :) I also am to the point where I can sleep and not stare at the monitor all night, haha!

She is grabbing EVERYTHING! I have to be careful what I have around her or in my hands.

She is tri-pod sitting, where she can sit but has to have her hands on the floor in front of her. She has rolled back to front a few times, but isn't doing it all the time. We are still waiting for front to back rolling.

We've let her try to drink out of a sippy cup for fun. Yesterday, she actually held it herself and managed to get it in her mouth a couple of times. Even though she was just biting it, it was cute to see her hold it.

We got her a new car seat that is convertible. She is 16 pounds and it was hurting my back taking her in and out with the infant car seat. She loves the new seat!

I can't believe tomorrow she is 20 weeks old! Time is flying!

Diet

It has been really hard being on the dairy/soy free diet, but it's definitely worth it. I never realized how many foods actually have dairy proteins and soy in them. I can't eat normal bread or really any processed food. I am so glad that we have a Whole Foods near by. I found dairy/soy free butter, which actually is pretty good. I tried rice cheese, which wasn't very good-LOL. However, we did find some shredded vegan cheese that actually tastes like cheese---yay!! I found dark chocolate that is delicious! Also, we tried coconut milk mocha almond fudge ice cream, and I think it's better than regular ice cream. I made some peanut butter, oatmeal, and chocolate chip cookies yesterday that were yummy. You use apple sauce and canola oil instead of butter, and get special chocolate chips. Here is a picture:I also found a coconut milk coffee creamer. It's not the best, but will work. We are still working on dinners. We usually just have meat, rice, and veggies. A lot of sauces have soy in them, but we are making it work.

Emma seems to be getting better. Not as much spit up, and her diapers seem to be getting better. We have a check-up on Thursday at the doctor.