The Flergers!

You are the happiest, smiley-ist baby I've ever met.  Even when I can only see your eyes (while peeking out from under a blanket) I can tell that you are smiling because you smile with your whole entire face. You've begun to scrunch up your nose when you smile or laugh and you look a lot like I did when I was a baby when you do that. 

You are growing and changing so much. You are still crazy roly-poly on your legs (they haven't begun to stretch out yet) but you are healthy and happy and beautiful. We finally took the headrest out of your carseat because you don't need it anymore. You fill up the carseat so much that the headrest was really just a cumbersome piece of fluff that got in your way. 

We've discovered several tickle-spots that get you giggling and I LOVE the sound of your giggle. You are so comfortable on your belly and you like to spend time on your belly and you've even managed to scoot yourself off the blanket a few times. 

The two little tiny teeth that made their appearance last month are now full-on chompers! You learned quickly that biting Mommy is a bad idea and thankfully I haven't had to remind you more than a time or two. It seems like you've been trying to cut those top teeth for weeks now and though they have made your gums swollen they still haven't tried to cut through. (They have, however, made you drool buckets every day!) 

Your hair still has the strawberry-blonde hue and it has begun to get longer. The unfortunate side effect of this is that you have gotten some knots in the back because you like to swish your head from side-to-side which kind of makes a bird nest thing in the back. I've had to cut a few knots out when I couldn't get them to untangle. 

We decided to try a few solid foods with you just before you turned 6 months because you have been really curious about food--you are often reaching for things I'm eating or drinking and I thought it might be time to give it a shot. The first thing you tasted was garlic toast and you liked it! You didn't really eat much of it (more licked and gummed it) but you kept going back for more! Since then you've had avocado, banana, brown rice cereal with applesauce and raisin toast and all of these things have been fairly well-received, though you didn't really eat much of any of them. You made the best faces when we gave you banana--you really weren't sure what to do with it. 

Your coordination is getting better too. You are able to reach up and grab things that are in front of your face and pull them to you. You are doing pretty well at getting the food into your mouth too and at grabbing things that I put in front of your face. Its not exactly graceful, but if you pull your pacifier out of your mouth most of the time you can get it back in your mouth without help. 

You are working on rolling over but haven't quite gotten there yet. When I lay you on the changing pad you tend to turn yourself halfway over to try to reach for the lotion bottle. In general you are moving and scooting around a lot even though you aren't going far. On January 31st you woke up perpendicular in your bed instead of laying lengthwise across it like you were when I put in it. 

Your babbling is so musical and funny to listen to. You have a lot of different noises and sounds that you make and sometimes you will yammer on for over 20 minutes while sitting in your Bumbo or laying on the floor on your tummy. 

Your daddy turned 38 this year and we had a birthday/housewarming party. A lot of people got to see you either for the first time or for the first time since you were born, and it was nice having a house full of people to spend time with. You enjoyed all the arms that were available to snuggle you. 

As I write this I am sitting on the couch at home with you because you are sick. The day before you turned 6 months old you were diagnosed with RSV so you and Mommy have been spending the week at home together. Even sick, you are still the happiest baby ever. I can tell that you don't feel well because your "sparkle" isn't there but your big hazel eyes still look at me and you grin with your entire face. You haven't slept well because you have so much goop and drainage running down your throat that is making you cough. You fall asleep on my shoulder at least once a day and I won't lie--it is my favorite thing in the world right now. 

Here are some things that you've been up to since last month: