And just like that, our little miss Ella is six months old. Half a year. Crazy.
Ella at six months:
- Weight: We have her six month visit on Friday, so we’ll know for sure then, but I know she’s at minimum 15 pounds 6 ounces – that’s what she was at her last sick visit (more about that in a bit)
- Length: We’ll find out on Friday!
- Big baby blue and light brown hair. The older she gets, the more I see in Chris’ features in her face – her eyes are all his. Abbie has mine (I get all squinty when I smile and she does too), but Ella’s are definitely bigger and not squinty!
- I’ve officially switched her to all 9 month clothes and I have the 12 month just about ready to go. I remember that Abbie went through the 9 month clothes faster than any other size, so if Ella follows the same curve, we’ll be out of them really fast. I grabbed some supplemental stuff for her at a consignment sale last weekend, so I’m hoping between that and her hand-me-downs, I’ve got enough to last her all summer.
- We have seen the doctor more in the past two months than ever. Remember how Ella had the flu in March? Well, that sucker lingered in her lungs forever. I ended up having to take her back in for another check of her lungs that ended with a second inhaled prescription in the nebulizer. We’re finally on the tail end of that and weaning off the medicine. Her nose is still a bit congested, but nothing like it was before. That snotsucker of ours has definitely gotten a workout with this girl.
- I can’t believe it, but we have made it to six months of nursing! It has definitely not been easy, but I am so incredibly proud of being able to provide milk for Ella for this long – with Abbie I ended up stopping around now. She nurses morning and night during the work week and drinks around 18 ounces of milk at daycare. On the weekends, I nurse on demand, usually around 6 times a day.
- We started to introduce solids a few weeks ago and she loves them… to the point she sometimes eats a bit too much and it’s hard on her tummy. She can eat an entire pouch of squash, but after some tummy trouble at daycare on Monday, I’m limiting her to half a pouch for a while.
- We went through a leap the past month or so and Ella was getting up about once or twice a night… occasionally three times. Let me tell you, it’s so hard to do that when you’re back at work! Thankfully, she goes back down pretty easily and can usually put herself to sleep if she’s tired. We stopped the swaddle weeks ago and have been using the Zipadee Zip. It keeps her snug and comfortable while allowing her to move and it’s been a great transition piece for us. She also started rolling to her side and belly while she sleeps this month and I’m totally not surprised – I’m a belly sleeper myself and I think Abbie did that at her age too. She goes down anywhere from 7:30-8:30 and sleeps until we wake her about 6:15. She’s out of the leap now, so the past week she’s slept through a few times or only gotten up once.
- She freaking loves her toes and grabs them every chance she gets. I also discovered that just like Abbie, she’s ticklish (not surprising because I am too). The best giggles, ever.
- Ella is a rolling machine and has recently started scooting too. She can be halfway across the living room floor in just a few minutes and it’s crazy that we’re at this stage already. We’re going to have to teach Abbie to put her toys away more often or Ella’s going to be grabbing them!
- We officially moved up the rise in her cloth diapers since she’s getting so tall. We had to use disposables over the weekend because we forgot the diaper laundry (oops) and those size 2s are definitely too small. Time to pick up a small package of size 3s for our backup!
- We just switched her from the infant seat to the convertible and girlfriend seems so much happier. I think she was getting cramped in the infant seat and she’s happy to have more room… and be able to see Abbie a bit better in the car. Sometimes she and Abbie go back and forth making noises at each other and it’s the cutest thing.
- She is still the biggest Momma’s girl. When I pick the girls up from daycare I always go to Abbie first (she gets jealous if I don’t), and the second Ella sees me or hears my voice, she’s reaching for me.
- Nicknames: Miss Ella, Ellabear, Ellabella, Miss Thing
Life with Two:
Things are slowly getting easier. Routine has helped a ton, and as Ella gets bigger, Abbie just adores her more. Ella loves to watch Abbie and reaches for her… and Abbie often gets right down on the floor with Ella and lays with her. Abbie doesn’t quite know what to do with all the rolling and scooting Ella’s doing though… so that’ll be interesting to watch. I love watching them learn to be sisters.
Postpartum:
This month has been worlds better for me in terms of my mental and physical health. My mom took me out for lunch and I’ve been able to talk to her more often, which helps a ton. I’ve been trying to go to bed earlier (even when it means no blogging), and I’m really concentrating on my eating. I hit my step goal of 7,000 every day in April, so I upped it to 7,500 for May. I’m hoping to slowly build my way back up to 10,000, but I’m taking it slow since I’m still pumping during the workday. I figure everything is one day at a time, and that’s all I can do, right?
Happy half-birthday to our sweet Miss Ella – we love you more than you know!
