Happy half-birthday, sweet pea. You’re a whole SIX months old!

Each stage has been filled with growth and change…but the last 3 weeks have been HUGE for you: you’re now eating solids (yay!!!) and can sit up unassisted (yay!!!).

We’ve had a few fun adventures, including a big trip to Birmingham, Alabama to spend a long weekend with Ashley and Bryan Leath. You were amazing during the 9-hour road trip and handled the time change really well. Ashley and Bryan spoiled you rotten (as usual!), and you became best buddies with their furry baby, Scout (the most well-trained pup we’ve ever met). We visited a local brewery while we were there, and you fell asleep in Daddy’s arms on the tour. Such fun!

One particularly bright spot of our Birmingham weekend was introducing you to SOLIDS, a wonderful milestone for our curious kiddo. Since food before age 1 is only for fun, we’re following a cool plan that lets you feed yourself, freeing Mommy and Daddy up to take your picture! You’ve explored more than a dozen foods already and seem to absolutely delight in the process. (I’ll do another post soon with a video of your messy mealtime playtime — it’s hilarious!) Our hope is that you’ll learn to enjoy a variety of foods, and have a flexible palate.

In the last week or so, you’ve also learned to sit (pretty much) unassisted. We like to put a pillow behind you in case you get excited about a toy and lose your balance…but you’ve been spending up to an hour at a time sitting on a quilt playing with toys. My goodness, you’re a curious girl. (And we absolutely love that about you!) You take the time to inspect each toy, tasting it, shaking it, and then throwing it down and searching for another. 

Our new pediatrician (whom we adore) suggested we start child-proofing the house. You aren’t making the motion to crawl yet, but when you make up your mind to, we think it’ll be quick. In the meantime, though, we’re loving every minute of 6-month-hood, and are trying to savor this bit of calm before you’re truly mobile.

Here are some other highlights from your sixth month:

Weight: 18 pounds (90th percentile) Length: 27 1/4 inches (90th percentile)

Eating: You’re still nursing every 2-3 hours while you’re awake (and I hope to keep that up til you’re 1), but solids are most certainly your new best friend. So far you’ve tried tomato, cucumber, avocado, pear, sweet potato, banana, oatmeal, broccoli, green pepper, and much more. We have you join us at mealtime, and it’s fun to eat as a family. You still haven’t cut a tooth, but I keep thinking we’re close. Surely in the next month or two!

Sleeping: With the exception of a few weeks when you were battling a terrible cold (and a couple one-offs when you didn’t eat well before bed or heard a loud noise outside), you’re still blessing us with through-the-night sleep from about 7 p.m. to 6ish a.m. Thank you, thank you, precious Claire!

Daddy is now putting you to bed a couple nights a week to accommodate Mommy’s race training program (thanks Daddy!), and we’re glad that you’re flexible enough to drift off with a bottle and Da-Da snuggles.

Naptimes are still fairly inconsistent. You typically take one in the morning for about 45 minutes, and another in the afternoon for about an hour. These depend greatly on our activity level, though. You love, love, love busy days when we’re out and about…but the fact that you come home and crash makes us think you may actually have a little of Mom and Dad’s introverted-ness in you too 😉

No matter when you sleep, the how stays the same: on your belly, oftentimes sucking your thumb. It’s simply adorable.

Playing: Baby Girl, you are in luck — Babygarten and Library Storytime are back in session for the new year! I think you missed interacting with the other babies (and Mommy missed the social time, too). I’m looking at enrolling us in some other activities around town now that I’m wrapping up a big work deadline. You really seem to thrive in new environments, and since you aren’t in daycare, I want to be sure you’re getting all the good stimuli we can squeeze in!

The Exersaucer and Johnny Jump-up are still hits, but you’re also becoming fascinated by stacked blocks (especially knocking them over). Your feet trump them all though, and toes-in-mouth is still your favorite!

Daddy and I can hardly believe it has been half a year since we first met you, Claire Elaine. Thank you for being such a bright spot for our whole family. We can’t wait to see what adventures you have in store for us this next month; we’re loving every minute!