a tiny girls half birthday!

6 months! 6 months! Our tiny girl has been out here with us for half of a year and we are in love.

At 6 months she:

Chews on everything... ferociously. Not sure if it's just teething or what, but the girl can't keep blankets, sleeves, toys, Christmas tree branches, etc out of her mouth.

My favorite thing she does now is she smiles at me. It's different than the smiles she did before because I don't have to work for them. She'll just look over at me and smile that big gummy smile and it's the best thing in the whole world.

Hasn't really started eating solid foods yet. I let her chew on a hard bread crust or piece of an apple sometimes (which she loves), but that's basically it. I gave her mashed bananas one time, but then she was stopped up for like two days and I felt so bad I stopped trying until sometime after 6 months.

Sweet girl is a loner. When there's too many people right in her face trying too hard to get her to smile it takes her about 5 minutes to freak out. I figured this out when we were taking family pictures. She woke up from her nap, I fed her, then immediately Chloe (the photographer) and I started trying to make her smile and laugh. It lasted maybe five minutes, then she got grumpy and I suggested we try to lay her down for a minute. She was totally fine the moment I set her down alone. Then it hit me- she recharges by being alone. I almost started laughing when I made the connection, because Jay and I are both that way. I love people, but when I need a little time to recharge I need to be alone.

Regardless of that, the girl has been partying with us like a champ. A couple weeks ago, we let her nap then kept her out several hours past her bedtime to party with us at a wedding reception and a Christmas party and the girl was a CHAMPION. Seriously, stealing hearts and taking names. She cuddled, and let everyone take a turn holding her, and gave big smiles all night long. (she also may have stuck her entire hand in someone's plate of food. oops) But really, it's nerve racking to take your child in a new situation at a time that interferes with their schedule, but as long as it's not more than a couple of nights/days in a row, Rory has always impressed me.

Just barely mastered rolling over- both ways! It took her forever, but once she figured out how to leverage her head with those massive cheeks she was set.

Speaking of swaddles, the girl still loves her swaddle and won't sleep without it. She loves to have her face right against the mattress (a side sleeper in the making!) and a couple times has gotten a little overzealous and rolled over, which she hated and I panicked about. The first time it happened I tried training her to sleep without a swaddle and it just wasn't ideal, so I watched the baby monitor like a hawk to make sure it didn't happen again. She must have learned her lesson because she's been flat on her back ever since. Let's pray it stays that way.

Has stretched her bedtime out to 6:30 post daylight savings, but refuses to budge another inch. I really don't mind though. It's actually kind of nice when we want to go on a date (since we are still getting 100% of our food straight from mom), though all our friends would rather actually babysit her than watch her on the monitor while she sleeps. Someday. Someday.

Loves Boo. I have finally gotten brave enough to let Boo play with her on occasion, because I feel like Rory is a little less breakable nowadays, and seriously it makes Boo's world go round. Last week I was finishing Rory's stocking and turned around to see Boo lying across Rory's legs and licking her face. Really, that sweet puppy doesn't really bark or chew my things, or pee inside, and she doesn't really even jump anymore, but licking remains her cardinal sin. Drives me nuts, but it doesn't bother Rory a bit. Rory pets her and grabs her fur and her ears and her mouth and Boo thinks it's the greatest thing ever. I have at least 4 videos of their little play-dates on my phone and they are our go-to videos to watch in bed at night after Rory is asleep.

She's so happy and learning how to do so many things it seems like all at once. She is so cuddly and sweet and still very bald as well as still off the charts in length! We could not possibly love her more.