Happy Half-Birthday Lil' Gem!

March 20, 2011

With how fast the time is flying by these days, and how little it feels like I can get done in a day, I sometimes wonder if I somehow slip into some strange unconscious state for half of the hours of my day or something... I remember when Clara was 6 months old, it came faster than I had hoped, but also felt like it could be six months of time. With Janie's milestones, I feel like we are living in warp speed and I am just getting over the fact that she isn't a newborn anymore and like that, she is HALF OF A YEAR OLD... no way!

While the past 6 months with Janie have been busy, we all adore our sweet little baby girl. When she is well-rested, fed and being held, Janie is the happiest and most content baby. She loves to be snuggled and held all of the time. Sadly, we cannot hold her all of the time and this month she has made some great strides in the area of self entertainment. She really enjoys her exersaucers, playing with toys while she is in the soothey seat or hanging out under a baby gym. Janie LOVES toys! She has a few favorites that always make her smile and it is so cute to watch how interested she becomes in touching all of the different textures or listening to the different sounds shaking or biting them makes. We are entertained just watching her curiously explore. Her interests are starting to extend beyond her toys to ANYTHING she can get her hands on. Her blue eyes widen when an item catches her eyes and she quickly bats at it and tries to bring it toward her. After feeling it several times she likes to get it to her mouth for further investigation.

Our Janie Bug is still not a fan of tummy time. She can be distracted into a few minutes of it at a time, but when she realizes she's on her tummy she quickly escalates and gets mad. We thought that this dislike would provide enough motivation for her to roll over, but that is not the case. Once she is mad, all her energy goes into letting us know she is mad, so at six months, Gem Baby does not roll over. She easily gets close to rolling from her back to her tummy, but it is almost like she stops herself knowing how much she despises being on her tummy. She has gotten a lot better at sitting up in the past week and a half. She is pretty steady unless bumped or lunges out to get a toy and once her balance is off, she often tips over.

Janie loves being around other kids. Big Sister Scout is the best form of entertainment. Clara can get Janie giggling by making faces, playing peek-a-boo, or making silly raspberry sounds. We also go to playgroup and now that Janie is so interested in kids, she loves the songs during circle time, especially the ones with hand motions like, All the Fish, Wheels on the Bus and Tick-Tock. When Jane is fussy, sometimes singing the first line of one of these songs will bring a smile to her face. It is so precious!

Janie continues to be a Mommy's girl, especially at night. She has been known to give her poor Daddy a tough time when mommy runs out for a little while, just like her Mommy was known for as a baby! Daddy and Clara have occasionally given her some rice cereal and will soon be starting with veggies. Janie gave up the bottle for the moment and so we have started to introduce a cup. She loves to play with it, but seems to still think of it as a chew toy as opposed to really drinking out of it. Yesterday we diluted down some pear juice to put in the cup and when she sucked just right and got a taste, she seemed to enjoy it.

Janie was such a great sleeper at first, then went through a phase where she wanted to eat, and sometimes be awake and play at night, so now we are finally getting back to sleeping more frequently through the night. It has been weeks since she slept in her bassinet as she has transitioned to her crib in the nursery pretty well, with the occasional night in the swing or even our bed. Kevin still is not a fan of this, but occasionally we have loosened up a little on our "rules" in order to get some sleep.

We are SO in love with this sweet little face (that looks more and more like Uncle Ryan all the time), her cute giggles, silly baby babble, and nighttime snuggles. And probably one of the best things about this current stage is that we are starting to really feel the adoration back from Janie. She knows that she belongs with us! And while it felt like she was born just a few weeks ago, having sweet Janie as part of our family unit feels so right, that it is becoming harder and harder to recall how it was to be just a family of three.