Half a year old! We seriously can't believe that this little sweetheart is 6 months old. Although she is still a baby, she doesn't really seem like one anymore. Whenever I see newborns, I marvel at how much she has grown since she was in that stage.
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| big girl |
Clara's looks are about the same since last month. She is all big brown eyes and pink apple cheeks. She has a small turned up button nose and heart shaped lips. Her overall complexion and hair color are darker, more close to her dad's. Her hair seems to be growing a ton lately. It's weird how baby hair grows. It's not a uniform process. It's longer in the back on top and in the front on top. The sides really haven't grown much so she's going to have a mowhawk soon.
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| little pursed lips |
The biggest milestone this past month is that we just started solid food a few days ago. So far, she has had carrots, brown rice cereal and we are starting sweet potatoes this weekend. She is not so sure about it. She does eat it but she also pushes some of it out of her mouth with her tongue every time she takes a bite. She also doesn't open her mouth very wide yet. Mom forgets what a learning process it can be since this is all new for Clara.
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| apple cheeks |
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| what is this stuff? |
Clara is an expert roller and she loves to roll. She can use this skill to get pretty much anywhere she needs to go. You can tell when she wants to roll because she raises the opposite arm in the air and away she goes. She has recently started to try kicking her legs when she is on her stomach. She looks like she wants to crawl, but she isn't quite ready since she hasn't even gotten on her hands and knees yet. If we place her on the floor in the kitchen she pushes herself backwards using her arms and her kicking leg motion. She thinks it's pretty funny and cackles the entire time.
Clara also loves to grab things and put them in her mouth. She loves her sophie and a few softer toys to chew on. She loves pulling on her play gym and continually knocks it over to suck on the dangling toys. She also loves pulling on mom's hair, mom's face, and scratching mom's neck while she is nursing. Mom makes sure her finger nails are kept pretty short. She is teething, so that's part of the whole grabbing thing. No teeth have popped through yet. We are hoping they will come soon so she will stop sucking on her shirts and sleeves.
Clara is sitting on her own for short periods of time. We have to set her down in the pose so she will sit. She can't move into the position on her own yet. Eventually, she will get tired or lose her balance and will slowly fall to the side or fall forward and start to suck on her feet.
Clara loves people. With faces she knows well, she eagerly waits for you to smile at her and beams her big smile back. With strangers, she often looks at mom first to determine what she is supposed to do and then will often smile at them as well. She always has smiles for her brothers, who love on her all the time. They adore their baby sister and love to hold her and play with her, sometimes a little too roughly. Luckily, she is sturdy and tolerates it all well. She has started squealing at things that are exciting and cackles more than giggles when she is amused or tickled.
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| natty loves clara |
As far as sleep, Clara is a pretty good sleeper. She is now going to bed at around 9:30 pm , which great since it used to be 10:30 pm. She will then sleep until around 6 in the morning. She has been waking up at around 5 a number of times this past month, which is a bit too early for her parents. She sleeps through the night at this stage and takes two naps a day that add up to around 3 hours. She still sleeps in the pack and play in mom and dad's room. We will move her into her crib in the nursery as soon as the boys learn to settle down a little bit earlier at night. The rooms share the same air return vent so mom worries they will wake her up now that the boys share a room together. Baby steps.
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| mom and the kids |
We have been enjoying the warm weather this past month has provided. We have made it out to a couple of metro park events with the boys. Clara will take her morning nap in the carrier, which is a huge help. She loves going on walks in the evening with mom, and pleasantly sucks on her shirt and chats to herself. She also is good at self entertaining in her play gym and rolling around with her toys on the screen porch while mom and dad work in the yard.
We love this little girl so much and are so excited for many more days to come with her.
-eric & anna
