Happy 6 Months, Katie Bug!

Today Katie turned 6 months old! (Oh, and hi. We're still here. Sorry for disappearing from the blogosphere. Everything and everyone is well. I'll update more later, 'cause this post is about The Kate.)

Like everyone who has ever had a baby, I cannot believe that 6 months has already come and gone. Katie is doing so many things, so I'll list a few here:

• plays with anything she can get her hands on
• sucks on everything she can get her mouth on (no teeth yet, though--and I'm OK with that!)
• does "raspberries"
• has made the sounds "dada" and "momma", but not in connection with Dave and me; she usually says the mom ("om") sound when she's whining and hungry, though, so she might just start associating it with me one of these days! ;)
• loves to SCREAM (very loudly, I might add); she and Grace have a ball taking turns screaming, and by the end of their session my ears are none too happy!
• sits up (and reaches very far--she'll probably be crawling soon!)
• rolling (both front-back and back-front)
• can put her pacifier in by herself, and even does it upside down sometimes--and keeps it that way for quite a while
• still a great nurser - a couple of weeks ago she weighed in at just over 16 pounds, and she's 24 inches long! :)
• LOVES Gracie, and never gets impatient with Gracie's endless "loving," even when it gets a little rough :)
• enjoys the SuperSaucer, and even kinda dances to music when she's in it

Katie is very social (like her big sister), and we get compliments about her from pretty much everyone who sees her. Part of the reason people notice her, though, is that she notices them first and seeks out their attention. I know that seems impossible for a baby who can't talk, but it's not. For example, during all the hours she and I spent in the waiting room while Dave got chemotherapy, she would notice every person that came in the doctor's office. She would then proceed to stare at them until they looked in her direction (sometimes this lasted minutes). Then, when they finally looked in her direction, she would smile and become very charming, sometimes even nuzzling into my shoulder (playing "hard to get" maybe?). Anyway, it worked every time, and she made many, many friends.

You'd think that wanting all that attention would make her a high maintenance kinda gal, but she's really not. She is almost always very happy and only cries when she is hungry or overtired. Dave's doctor dubbed her "the most well-behaved baby I have ever seen!", and we have to agree. She sleeps from about 9 pm to 7 am, waking up once to eat during that time. She naps well during the day (although I still need to train her to get herself to sleep--something that hasn't been possible yet with our crazy schedule) and loves to play with toys during her awake times.

She has been reaching for our food for the last month or two, but I wanted to wait until 6 months to start feeding her solid foods. So, today she got to try her first taste of "real" food (oatmeal baby cereal), and she thoroughly enjoyed it! Here are some pictures and a video of the big event:
before (so ready!)

during


after - she LOVED it!

(This is her first time eating, but not her very first bites. That video was too big and never uploaded. :( This one is cute too though!)

I did a little amateur photo shoot with her today. Here's the little diva at exactly 6 months old!

See? I told you she's sneaky!

(Note: I think she looks a lot like my dad in the above picture--whatcha think?)


ready to crawl! yikes!

when she's really excited or happy, she smiles with a nose crinkle that is precious; here are a couple crinkles I caught on camera


Sorry, the cheeks aren't actually edible. We've tried. ;)

Posing with the cutest, sweetest big sister ever!

Katie is the sweetest, most content baby, and she brings so much joy to our home. We are so grateful for her and are excited to see what she does next!