Audrey is 6 months old!

I am getting so behind on posts, so I thought I should just get this one going. I haven't had a chance to take nicer pictures of Audrey now that she is officially 6 months old, but I will soon!

Audrey has entered the toe-eating stage. As soon as I lay her down it's like there is a magnet in her foot to her mouth. I think she especially likes it when she has her little crib shoes on because they are nice to chew on:)

Audrey getting kisses from Daddy.

EVERYTHING goes directly into Audrey's mouth now. This is a little scary since it can even be your finger if you don't watch out! We also have to be very careful that nothing she can't have is around her and that Lily doesn't give her something she shouldn't have.

Audrey is still not really a roller, but she will pull herself to a toy using just her arms like a seal. I think it's called creeping or something. She just does not have any interest in flipping over. I'm not worried though since she is a strong girl and is sitting up fine.

I know this isn't a great picture, but it shows that she is a good enough sitter to play with toys while she's sitting. She doesn't need her hands to prop her up.

Again, everything in the mouth:)

I think Audrey prefers this type of tummy time.

Here is an example of her pushing up and working her way over to her camera toy.

Audrey has been a much tougher sell in the food department. I seem to remember Lily chowing down as soon as we started solids. Audrey is been much more resistant. However, about a week or so ago, she finally took off and is eating more. We do two meals a day now (with 4 nursings). She has had rice and oatmeal cereal (her favorite), green beans, carrots, pear, peaches, peas, prunes, and sweet potatoes (also a fav).

Audrey has had a lot of changes in her little world recently. Besides all of the new food and dropping two nursings, I have thrown her for loop in the sleep department. First, I got rid of the sleep positioner she was still using. Then she dropped her third nap, or should I say we dropped it. Her third nap was starting to either not happen or turn into a huge nap since I think she thought it was night time. Then we went cold turkey with the swaddle and now she sleeps in a sleep sack. During this time we also has Daylight Savings Time. So, things were a little mixed up for both girls for a little while due to that. She made it through all of that fairly well and is now sleeping on average 11.5 hours at night with two naps (each at least 1hr 20min). However, about a week ago, she started waking up at night again. She doesn't wake fussing, she just is awake and making noises. I never go in since I certainly am not going to start feeding her again. A few times, I found her feet all suck/tangled up inside of her footed pajamas which might have been a culprit those nights. She must move around a lot (with her new found freedom) and has been turning around 180 degrees in her bed by morning. She always puts herself back to sleep so her waking up again is just more of an annoyance than anything as I lay there listening to the monitor. Hopefully she'll work that out soon. I've heard that it is common for night-waking to resurface around this time for various reasons. Her naps still need work since she often times wakes up a time or two during a nap. Again, hopefully she'll start to work that out too. The last sleep thing we will change is moving her out of the Pack'N'Play into the crib. I just ordered a big girl bed for Lily today so in a couple of weeks, we can make the switch so Audrey can finally have a real bed!

I wouldn't say Audrey is babbling, but she has added a few new sounds. She says "ma" and "mom" more now and also gurgles a lot. The flipper/dolphin noise seems to be fading so I'm glad we got that on video:) Her two teeth are all the way in now and I'm keeping my eye out for the top two. She hasn't increased her drooling yet so it might be another couple of weeks. Audrey's fine motor skills have gotten so much better and that is partially due to her obsession with tags. It's funny to watch her concentrating so hard on trying to manipulate a tag on a toy into her mouth. I remember Lily also having that obsession so I wonder if a lot of kids do. Audrey also can blow kisses (if she's in the mood). If we kiss (the air, not our hands) she will make sort of a pucker and kiss back! How cute:)

Audrey's demeanor has changed so much since she was a newborn. It's like she is a completely different baby than she was those first couple of months. Maybe she really was colicky or maybe she was just getting used to the real world. She went from a "difficult" baby to such a sweetheart. She is so content and very inquisitive. Lily is her favorite entertainment of course:) She rides well in the car and really takes things in stride. When she is fussy, there always is a good reason why. It's so wonderful to see her personality starting to surface.

Audrey had her 6 month doctors appointment on Tuesday and everything was great. The poor girl got 4 shots! She let out one aweful scream, but recovered pretty quickly. She certainly gave the medical assistant quite a look afterward...pouty lip and all. Audrey is now 27 1/4 inches long (90-95%), 16 lbs 13 oz (65-70%), and her head circumference is 42.1 am (45%). I was amazed when I looked up what Lily's stats were at this age. Lily was 27 inches long and 18 lbs 11 oz...almost two pounds more than Audrey! Maybe that is evidence that Lily took to solids quicker or maybe Audrey is just going to be a tall slim girl. Either way, Audrey is still wearing the same size of clothes that Lily did at this age...12 month sized or 6-12 month depending on the brand. Lastly, Audrey's eye color seems to be similar to Lily's. I though maybe she was going to have brown eyes, but they are gray with a few brown streaks like Lily's. I guess maybe we'll just call them hazel?

I still can't believe that Audrey has been with us for half a year! She is such a blessing. Before she was born I couldn't imagine being able to love her as much as Lily. I even remember feeling a little sad as I said goodnight to Lily before heading to the hospital. Just like my mom said would happen, my heart just grew bigger:) Now, I can't imagine our lives without her. We are such lucky parents to have two such sweet and wonderful little girls.