holly b {6 months}

Stats

• size 3 diapers
• size 3-6 month clothing
• 15.2 pounds (32%), 26 inches (55%)

Notable events

• You met the whole Petersen family in an impromptu reunion! Haha the trip was not planned, but in a matter of 2 or 3 days, my three out-of-state siblings decided to bring their families to Utah! Everyone LOVED loving on you, which was kinda funny for me, because at our last everyone-family-reunion, Ada was about 10 months old, but she was one of FOUR babies, so she wasn't as hot of a commodity. But since you were the lone baby this time around, everyone wanted a turn with you, and while I loooooove playing and snuggling with you, it was also nice to be able to set you down and have about 5 different kiddos immediately entertaining you.

Tricks

• For a long time, you pretty much only rolled back to belly, over your left shoulder. But with some practicing in the last week, you can now roll back to belly both ways with no assistance. No belly to back rolling though!
• You also started doing little push-ups. You're so strong 😜
• You're very interested in toys now! You like to grab them and put them in your mouth for the most part. Plastic rings, plush animals (especially ones that jingle or rattle), and a teether are all big hits for you.
• Along those lines, you're also interested in books now. You look at the pictures and you smile and mostly, you try to get the books to your mouth 🤣
• We've done a few taste tests -- banana and apple (only let you suck on one). With Ada I was all in on Baby Led Weaning from day one (and when it didn't work out, I went straight to purees for a couple months), but this time around I found a different approach I'm going to try out, more based on watching your progression with certain skills. It makes sense to me to do it this way :)
• We started putting you front-facing in the stroller! Which means we can more easily use our double stroller now, which means we've been outside more! :)
• You're more engaged in your bedtime books -- you get excited and you look at the pictures :)

Favorite things

• Ada adores you. She loves to cuddle you and kiss you, and she loves to make you laugh. She says you're her best friend (and so is mama, daddy, grandma, and Taylor 🤣). She says, "No!!!" every time we say it's your naptime. You also watch everything Ada does, and you're content hanging out nearby while she plays. You two are going to be such good friends, and I love seeing that friendship develop! (We won't talk about the times when Ada randomly hits you with random objects . . . it makes no sense because it's not in times when I'm paying more attention to you or because you're bugging her or anything . . . it's just random!)
• Your smiles, laughs, and sweet little squeals and coos are still the cutest things. 
• For a while, when I'd feed you at night, you would be pretty alert through the whole thing, and still awake after I fed you, so I'd lay you down awake. But now (I think we've got your schedule down better), you fall asleep toward the end of the feed, and then I just get to hold you, asleep, on me. Gah it's just so fun to hold my precious little sleeping baby 😍

Random tidbits

• You splash like CRAZY in the bathtub. You love it! And I love the big smiles and squeals :)
• A few times lately, there's been a noise loud enough that it scares you into crying. It's so sad!
• You can't keep your arms still while nursing. You're either grabbing or swinging or waving them around. I try to hold one hand, but I can't hold both, so I often end up getting scratched.
• You've started sucking on your bottom lip when you don't have anything else to suck on 🤣
• When you lay on your tummy, you tap your toes. Sometimes just one foot taps.
• Your hair is seriously falling out. Like, Ada's fell out around this point, too, but not THIS much! It feels like you've got mostly peach fuzz, with a few long hairs. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but not much! 🤣
• We're no longer exclusively breastfeeding, because I was getting sick of doing two nightfeeds and having you be cranky so often during the day. I hoped adding in more formula would help with both these issues, and I think it has. You only have one nightfeed now, plus five dayfeeds, so I supplement three of your dayfeeds (every other) with a 2-oz bottle. So it's not a ton of extra formula, but it seems to be helping. Maybe. You definitely spit up more often now, so sometimes I wonder if this is the right route 🤣
• Sleep is so weird! Yesterday you had a PERFECT day, and then today was a joke. I'm doing pretty long waketimes with you (discovering different sleep people with different sleep philosophies so I'm feeling a bit torn now that I know so many different ways of timing things!), and I think it's the way to go. I typically wake you at about 7am, you have three naps, and then you go to bed around 7/7:30. Your nights seem much smoother since I increased waketimes (previously, you were waking early for your first night feed every other night or so; you would have frequent (brief) nightwakes; you sometimes stayed awake a very long time before falling asleep (like an hour!); you were starting to fight your third nap; and you sometimes woke too early in the morning). Now you're going much longer stretches before your first nightfeed (7-8 hours compared to 4.5-5.5) and typically sleeping in until at least 6:30am (but usually longer). Your current waketimes are 2 / 2 / 2.25 / 2.5.