emmalyn jane at 6 months

Our sweet Emmalyn Jane is now 6 months old - half a year!

emmalyn jane

First, it is incredible how long the last 6 months have felt. The first 6 months are hard in so many different ways. We have struggled with lack of sleep, issues with a lip tie and nursing, postpartum anxiety, and sickness. But, the first months have also been amazing. They have also been a beautiful time of growth, so many firsts, joy, family, friendship, and relying on our God to give us the strength to survive.

Emma is a doll. Her hair is getting quite a bit longer. We don't think we can put it back with a barrette quite yet, but it is getting closer. She still has round pink cheeks and heart shaped lips. Her eyes are bright and blue and have the same shape as mom, Clara, and Edmund's. She has an ivory complexion that very easily turns pink. She still has her strawberry blonde hair, despite us thinking it might change color. While being quite a bit lighter in features than Clara, they do have a lot of similarities at the same age. It will be interesting to see if they look alike when they get older.

Emmalyn got her first tooth just a few days shy of turning 6 months (March 7). It is her bottom right central incisor. She had been drooling and chewing on her fingers for a while, but wasn't particularly fussy. Mom found it on accident when she was giving her Vitamin D drops. She is still drooling up a storm, so the other bottom incisor is probably coming soon.

She has started rolling from her back to her tummy. She does it pretty much anytime you lay her on her back. While she rolled from her tummy to her back before she turned 4 months, she refuses to do it again. We think she doesn't like the feeling of it. Instead, she will fuss when she is tired of being on her tummy and we will eventually help to turn her over. In good news, it means mom doesn't need to enforce tummy time. Emma does it all by herself.

She has recently started sitting. She doesn't love it. Mom puts her in the position and she leans forward really far and supports herself with her hands. She is working on it and slowly falls over when she is tired of it or starts to eat her feet.

Emmalyn loves grabbing things. She especially loves grabbing the different toys hanging in her play gym. She swings at the them and talks to them. She also has a color changing rattle that she loves to bang on the floor and watch it change colors. She gets really excited when she does it and kicks her little feet back and forth. She also really loves grabbing on to people's skin and pinching it. We try to make sure her nails are kept short to save ourselves. 

Emmalyn is a thumb sucker. She loves sucking on it when she is tired. She puts her thumb in her mouth and keeps the rest of her fingers straight. She uses it to help herself fall asleep. We sort of cringe thinking about all of the germs that are going to come once she starts crawling and how many times we are going to have to make sure we wash her hands to keep her healthy.

As far as sleep, Emma is a pretty good sleeper. She goes to bed around 9 pm and wakes up around 8 am. She is sleeping through the night, which is awesome. Mom just needs to stop pumping in the night. She is taking about three naps a day. The first one is really short, around 30 minutes. The second nap is typically around 2-3 hours and is in the middle of the day, around 12 pm. She then takes a final short nap in the evening, at around 6 pm. The naps seem to be shifting a bit since some days her middle nap has been shorter, which then makes her evening one longer. She has to be flexible because we have to get siblings from school, run errands, MOPS, and other activities. She does a good job with it all. She is still sleeping in the pack and play in Mom and Dad's room. We will move her into the guest bedroom shortly since we have a crib set up in there for her. It has been nice having her close by so that mom can keep tabs on her. 

For feeding, we did it! We made it to 6 months of pumping! Mom can't believe that she made it to her goal of exclusively pumping for 6 months (plus obviously supplementing with formula). Emmalyn struggled to nurse efficiently due to a lip tie, high palette, and a slight tongue tie. We had the lip tie corrected, but it didn't help that much. Our pediatrician recommended us to not get the tongue tie fixed since it wasn't considered significant. Nursing struggles caused so many tears, so Mom eventually decided to stop and pump instead. She pumps around 3 hours a day. It has been hard. Even though a second round of thrush and a sickness caused her supply to dip the last half of this past month, she is going to try to continue until the summer.  

Emma loves people. She especially loves her siblings. They are always giving her more attention than she probably wants. They are pretty good with her though, talking with her, holding her, play with her, and entertain her. They all adore their baby sister, but sometimes are a little too rough with her. Luckily, she is sturdy and tolerates it all well. 

sisters

This month has had a few firsts for Emmalyn. We celebrated Emma's first Valentine's Day. We went to Nathaniel's preschool for his Valentine's Day party. Emma hung out in the Ergo carrier the entire time and was a peach. She took a nap and enjoyed watching everyone. We also went to our first Metro Parks program on spring animals at Blendon Woods. Clara made a cute umbrella craft and Emma enjoyed looking at the different animals they brought out. We also had play dates with friends, Clara's gymnastics class, MOPS, the carnival at Edmund's school, and bible study to go to. She has been a trooper going with the flow to all of the different places a family of 6 need to go.

siblings

Another highlight was Emmalyn's story of healing was published by Stand for Life. Mom wrote about the healing of Emma's brain while she was in her tummy. It was a privilege to be able to share her story with others and encourage them that life is important, no matter what.

And on her first day of being six months, we gave Emma her first taste of food. We gave her oatmeal and she seemed to enjoy it. She did a pretty good job swallowing a few spoons. She also spit some out, which is normal. So excited to move forward with feeding her and seeing what things she likes and dislikes to eat!

oatmeal

We are so looking forward to the second half of the first year. There are so many milestones that will happen in the coming months. We are excited for warmer weather and enjoying the spring with our littlest girl.

-Eric & Anna