Sweater / Bow c/o / Monthly Milestone Cards c/o
I actually cannot believe that six months has passed since Amalia was born. I still feel so new to motherhood, but I suppose with every age comes new lessons and challenges so maybe it just feels that way forever. We are completely head over heals for this little girl, and I’m shocked every month to learn that I can love her more and more. At this point it’s bordering on obsession but I try to contain myself at least in front of other people, LOL. Her big blue eyes, her big cheeks, and her big personality make me smile from ear to ear every day of the week!
She’s now sitting up, eating solids like a pro, loving daycare, and “talking” constantly (lots of Bababa, Dadada, and Mamama). Anything within reach goes into her mouth (per this photo) and overhead lights are her new best friend. Read more about what she’s been up to this month below.
Milestones this month
New teeth: Her first two teeth are coming in right now which has been a fun little lesson in teething (more on that below).
Sitting up: She started sitting up on her own and now can do it without falling at all! Seriously, proudest mom moment yet. I don’t know why, but the first time I saw her sitting on her own, I felt like she had really grown up.
First cold: Like clockwork, a few weeks after starting daycare, she got her first cold. I had no idea how awful it would be to see my baby in pain. In theory you know, but then it happens and it is truly heartbreaking. I wrote more about how we survived it here. Thank you for all of your tips, they were so helpful!
THE BIGGEST LESSON I’VE LEARNED THIS MONTH
I had a nasty commenter on my daycare post and shared it on my Instagram stories a few weeks ago. I received hundreds of stories from other moms who have been mom shamed for one decision they made or another, and it broke my heart. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but as long as a parent isn’t hurting their child, why do you care? Every family is different, every baby is different, and moms need to be lifting each other up and supporting each other instead of tearing each other down.
The lesson in all of this is to block out the noise and continue doing what’s best for my baby. I know that she’s happy and healthy and I know that I’m making the right decisions for us. I will no longer let hateful comments affect me. BTW I’m always down for new opinions, I love learning new things about parenting… Just not when they’re nasty!
HER SCHEDULE
Below is an ideal day which happens probably 80% of the time.
7:00am- She started waking up 15 minutes earlier, and we’re not sure why!
7:30am- Feed 1 (8 oz plus probiotics and Vitamin D)
8:00am- Playtime. I’ll put her in the bouncer, read some books, or she rolls around on her mat.
9:00am- Nap 1 (If it’s a day care day, she heads to school and takes her first nap there.
10:30am- Wake up and hang out/play.
11:00am- Feed 2 (6-8oz)
12:30pm- Solids (1/2 a pouch)
1pm- Nap 2
2/2:30pm- Wake up and hang out/play/go for a walk until she gets hungry.
3pm- Feed 3 (6-8 oz)
3:30pm- Playtime on mat or in her bouncer.
4:30pm- Optional nap 3 depending on how much she slept during the first two naps. It’s clear when she needs a third one, but isn’t everyday!
5:00pm- Solids
6pm- Bath/massage
6:20pm- Feed 4 (9 oz), then right to bed
6:45pm- Asleep
HER DISPOSITION
She’s still a happy happy girl, always smiling, laughing, moving, and shaking. I love her endless supply of energy (I’ll kick myself for saying that once she crawls) but also love that she can sit and read books with me for 30 minutes or sit in the car calmly for a four hour road trip. She has a nice balance of excitement and focus. Per usual, you wouldn’t know it from the photos here. As soon as the big camera comes out, she turns into her alter ego, “Straight-Up Steve”. We put away the camera and she starts giggling. I swear she knows exactly what she’s doing… I’m screwed.
Her favorite foods
We started her on sweet potato and it’s far and away her favorite solid to eat. I make it with a dash of ghee and a touch of salt and it’s so so yummy. When she was sick, we gave her a lot of steamed pears because my acupuncturist told me it was good for her lungs, and she loves that too. She’s not so much into avocado still but we’re going to keep trying because I know it’s so good for her.
We also discovered that she gets more excited and eats more when it’s out of a pouch. We pretty much only buy the ones by Earth’s Best Organics and her favorite flavors are Carrots & Broccoli (no idea why, it’s gross), Butternut Squash & Pear, Pumpkin & Spinach, and Sweet Potato & Apple.
I really want to try and make as much of her food as possible because it’s way more affordable and makes me feel good to be cooking for her, so last week I bought her these so that she can hold it herself but I can put in whatever I make.
A lot of people have asked us about baby cereal and we skipped rice because our doctor said she preferred oat and multi-grain for babies’ tummies. We tried the Earth’s Best Whole Grain Oatmeal Cereal mixed with some purees, but it made her super constipated. I tried a second time a week or two later and the same thing happened. We’re staying away from grains for now but will try again in a month or two.
The other exciting food we tried was eggs. I made a soft scramble with ghee and it was so delish. She was not into it though so we’ll try that again in few weeks too.
Yesterday she had her six month check up and our doctor said at this point she can literally try anything except for honey so meat and yogurt and whatever else is fair game. We were so surprised by that! Now the real fun begins… She said she should be eating twice a day (which she does already) and just keep feeding her until she wants to stop each time.
For peanut butter and other potential allergens, we should just try them in the morning on a day when we’ll be with her all day to watch out for any sort of reaction. I’ll keep you posted on when we try new and exciting foods!
Day Care
Day care is going so so well! As soon as we get there, she reaches her arms out for her favorite teacher and doesn’t even care about me anymore. She still has trouble sleeping for longer than 30 minutes at a time because it’s so loud (I think?) but they’re working on it. We decided to up her days to 3x/week because 2x just wasn’t cutting it. I felt so overwhelmed trying to get work done and would end up staying up late every night to get my posts done. With three days, I feel a little more on top of my game and instead wake up 30-60 minutes before her so I can bang out any last minute things before our day starts.
HER FAVORITE THINGS
Her “Office”– Like last month, she loves to sit in her office, playing with her phone (see below) and other toys. Because she can sit up on her own now, it’s easy to just have her play with toys on the ground, but she still loves the office jumper so we put her in it a few times each day.
Little Nomad Play Mat– My friend Amanda had one of these gorgeous plat mats for her baby and I fell in love. They’re non-toxic and look like a beautiful rug, not an ugly kid’s mat. We ended up turning our dining room into her playroom but this blue mat makes it look almost sophisticated. I’ll be sharing photos of the space soon!
Her “iPhone”– Jackson used to love his Baby Einstein toy phone so he gave one to her for Christmas. She could play, bite on, and look at the thing for hours. I have no idea why but who cares!
Books– She loves reading books with us before her naps but she also likes to hold them and play with them as toys. Her teachers at school tell us she prefers them to regular toys which is random but great. Maybe she’ll be my little book worm!
Sassy Wonder Wheel– I mean the name of this toy alone is amazing. This one is great because it suctions to her high chair or a table when we go out with her so it doesn’t fall on the floor. She loves grabbing at it and spinning it.
Teething
Everyone warned me about teething but I had no idea! She had been pulling on her ears and fussy when she was sick so I thought she might have an ear infection (doctor checked and said no), but now I realize that she was just teething which can put pressure on babies’ ears. It all came to a head last Saturday night when we were up in New Hampshire and sleeping in the same room as her. At 2am she started screaming uncontrollably. I picked her up to soothe her and then put her back down which does the trick 99% of the time but she wasn’t having it. She was up crying for almost an hour which is not like her at all. Finally I put her in bed next to me and sang to her until she fell asleep.
The next morning we felt two tiny teeth poking through and realized she was in pain from that the night before. Since then if she’s clearly in pain before bed, we give her Tylenol (only twice so far) and are using a homeopathic teething medicine daily too. That mixed with a teether that we keep in the fridge seems to be helping a lot. We haven’t had any more incidents since then!
WORST MOMENT
On her fourth day of being sick, she woke up coughing so hard that she could hardly catch her breath. I brought her into a steamy bathroom to break it up, but she couldn’t seem to kick it. In a panic, I drove her to our pediatrician’s office hours just in the knick of time to find out that she was ok and it was just a nasty cough, and nothing worse but I thought for a minute there she might have bronchitis or something. And just seeing her in so much pain was terrible.
BEST MOMENT
There were so many good moments this month, it’s almost impossible to pick just one! But I think my favorite moment was the day her cold really cleared up and she was finally herself again. I hadn’t heard her really laugh hard in almost five days and to see the light back in her eyes and hear her magical laughter was beautiful.
Read her one month, two month, three month, four month, and five month posts.
She is too cute! Seriously considering that little nomad mat for our living room/playroom. How do you think it will hold up with Amalia playing and Boots around? A year? A few years? Totally indestructible? We have two golden retrievers and a baby, so in theory it would be perfect, but we’ve had foam mats that have peeled in less than a year,…so frustrating!
She is your mini me…You may want to try an amber teething necklace during that stage.
Try avocado pureed with banana! My girls always loved that. It sounds weird but its delicious. As for eggs, mine started to like them when I could make them a cheese omelet (I usually chopped up spinach and mixed it in with the egg before cooking) and then cut it up (cooled obvs) for them to pick up and self feed. They never liked them scrambled when they were babies. Take lots of pics during the sitting up phase. Once she starts crawling it gets even harder! Enjoy. Its the best.
Thank you for sharing your experience as a mom. I love reading your monthly post on Amelia. She is such a cutie! After reading this post, I was curious do you give her a bath every night or just every other night? Also, what were your thoughts on the pouches for feeding? Do you like the reusable ones you got?
She is so cute! And I’m glad you finally got a couple of good photos (although I’m sure the ones where the sign isn’t visible are even cuter). That is so funny about the camera though! You are such a good mom!
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She is just adorable and I love following along on your journey as my youngest is about to turn fifteen. The best teething advice I got was from my dentist (who is also a mom) and that is to use a wet baby washcloth and rub and massage the baby’s gums each night at bathtime. It really helped all three of my boys with the teething process and made it less painful for some reason. Do you have any of the Sandra Boynton board books? I still have some of them memorized!
Her little ponytail is just the cutest thing ever! I have a 19-month-old in daycare and the first six months were brutal in terms of getting sick, but it has gotten so much better so hang in there! You just have to get through the hump. As hard as it is to see them not feeling well, it’s at least helping them build up immunity, which will mean less sickness later on!
She looks like Cindy-Lou-Who in these pictures! 🙂
She is absolutely adorable!!! You are doing a great job with her!!