Evie at 6 Months

*Disclaimer - Blogger is not letting me upload photos right now.  I'll post them in a separate post when I can get them to go through.  For posterity's sake, though, here is Evie's 6 month report.

My oh my!  How time has flown yet again!  I cannot believe that our precious little girl is now 6 months old!  We continue to be blessed in so many ways by Evie.  I absolutely adore her and feel so fortunate to be able to hang out with her all day every day.  I feel like she makes my job so easy, yet I do feel rewarded when people comment about how happy and content she seems and how "tuned-in" she is to the world.  Evie is definitely a joyful baby, and is having so much fun discovering the world around her as well as all of the cool things that she can do in it.  Here's an update on Evie at 6 months.  We are so proud of her!

First, the stats:
Length:  25.59 in. (59%)
Weight:  15.76 lbs. (59%)
Hed Circumference:  69%

Eating - Evie nurses 5 times a day right now - (4 or 5 am, 8am, 12pm, 4pm, and 7pm before bed).  She is increasingly streching that morning feeding closer to her waking time so I think that soon she will drop it and go down to 4 feedings, which her pediatrician says is fine.  She is also really enjoying solid foods.  We do a combination of homemade and jarred foods.  Right now she has tried oatmeal, rice cereal, bananas, avocados, sweet peas, squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, pears, apples, and peaches.  We are continuing to add to her repertoire every 4-7 days.  She has been eating 1-2 meals a day depending on her mood and schedule, but her pediatrician recommends giving her 3 meals a day now - with snacks too!  She has also started taking water froma sippy cup, but has yet to really master it.

Sleeping - Evie usually sleeps from around 7pm to between 6 and 7am, waking once in the early morning to eat.  She takes 2-3 catnaps each day, ranging form 20-40 minutes each.  I have tried everything, including letting her cry for 1 hour/nap to get her to nap longer, but she won't do it!  Her pediatrician says that this is fine and that she's really getting the 12 hours she needs at nighttime.  Ugh.  I think this means that Evie will be getting to do a little more "independent play" in her exersaucer and pack 'n' play because Mommy HAS to start getting more housework done, and naptime is just not cutting it!  At any rate, Evie seems happy all day and does not show signs of being overtired so I guess we'll just run with this for now.
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Playtime - Evie is doing a great job of advancing physically.  Here's a rundown of her achievements:

• spends lots of time babbling using ba, ma, da, ka, ga, etc.  She is also really excited about squealing lately.
• Still loves to stand, and can now do it while she holds onto something stable.  She just doesn't know yet that she has to keep holding on!
• Sits very well on her own, and pretty much only falls when she wants to get down on her tummy.
• She loves to play with little blocks and cups and can use her pincer grasp with them as well as pass them back and forth between hands.
• Sticks everything in her mouth!  She can almost always replace her pacifier when it falls out, even if it takes a few tried.
• She doesn't really mind tummy time now.  She's figuring out how to get her knees up underneath her to crawl, but isn't quite there yet.  She does scoot around sideways and in circles to get to toys that she wants.  She also pretty much sleeps on her stomach now.  We've tried turning her, but she always ends up back on her tummy.  We still always put her to sleep on her back, though.
• Sometimes in the car, I swear she tries to sing along to the music with me.  I am a HUGE car singer, and often when I'm singing really loudly she'll start squealing and babbling loudly too.  Maybe this is coincidence, though? 
• Evie loves Finlay.  There is no other person or thing on this earth that makes her as happy as he does.  She laughs at him and makes these big grunting happy sounds when he comes into her view.  She is learning how to pet him gently, quite a task since previously she thought that petting = hair pulling.