6 Month Stats and Photos

Nora finally had her 6 month pediatrician visit today.  She weighs 14 pounds 4 ounces, measures 24 1/4 inches long, and her head is 17" around.  This means she's gained a little over a pound and grown a little under an inch since her 4 month visit.  She's on the small end of the scale, but she's very proportional and growing well, so our ped confirms she's doing great!  She had her next round of immunizations, so although she'll go back at 9 months for a physical examination, she won't have to get poked again until she's a year old!

The other exciting development is that he gave us the go ahead to continue with our plans to using the "Baby Led Weaning" approach to introducing solids.  Nora has been feeding herself safely shaped bits of food for the past week or so, and she seems to be really enjoying it, so we just wanted to make sure our pediatrician didn't have any reservations about this choice.  He told us to follow our instincts because Nora is growing well and we know what's best for our baby.  I follow a few parenting groups on facebook and see plenty of stories about unsupportive and/or confrontational pediatricians, so every time we visit ours and he puts my mind at ease, I feel thankful that we found a doctor who is such a good fit for our family.  A couple of days ago I snapped a photo of Nora focusing hard on eating sticks of bread, banana, and flavored corn puffs.  It is fascinating to watch her reach for different food items, manipulate them around in her hands, and get them into her mouth.  A lot of the food comes back out or ends up on the floor (which Oscar is enjoying) but I am surprised at how much she is actually chewing and swallowing already.  We bought her a little chair that clamps onto the table, so in addition to the joy she takes in experimenting with food, she seems to love sitting up by herself at the table with me and Billy.

Loading this photo onto the computer from my phone reminded me that I have quite a few pictures I haven't shared via the blog yet.  I joined the smartphone revolution in January, and though I do enjoy having internet capability on my phone for a variety of reasons, the great picture quality of the iPhone 4S is definitely the best feature.  Nora likes to listen to music, so I normally have my phone nearby while we're hanging out at home, and this means I have a chance to capture a lot of our simple moments.  Here are plenty from the past month or so.

Getting ready for Orioles Opening Day!  I think this hat makes her look like an O's teletubby. : )

Showing off how good she is at rolling and looking all around while on her belly

It's amazing how good she is at mimicking our actions now.  She wants to try doing everything we do.

Her eyes look especially blue when she's wearing certain colors, but they definitely have some brown streaks in them.  Our pediatrician says they're likely to stay this way, but only time will tell!

Checking out the weather with Dad on Daddy/Daughter work from home day

Modeling the t-shirt Aunt Vickie brought back from Uncle Nate's brew pub in Bend (Oscar's never far away!)

She sure enjoys riding in her carseat these days!

We don't feed her from the bottle when I'm around, so although I'd heard from Patti and Billy that she had started holding her own bottle, I hadn't seen it in action until a few weeks ago when Billy happened to be feeding her as I walked in the door.  She's also taking more control when she's nursing these days.  Until recently, I had to help her a lot to establish a good latch, but now she can latch herself on pretty well most of the time.  This is a good time for her to develop this skill because she's so curious that she wants to look all around, even when she's nursing.  Today she even used her hand to help the tech while he gave her the rotavirus vaccine that is administered orally!

Our few days of having an extremely sick baby back in November make us extra thankful that she has been so healthy ever since.  We know we are fortunate to have a beautiful little girl who is growing and developing well.  We just love her to pieces!