6 Months Old!

WOW! That's all I can say about the last month and about the fact that Grace is now 6 months old. I am loving this stage. So I'll keep it as short as possible and try to keep things in categories to summarize this last month.

Eating: About a week ago I decided to nurse Grace every 4 hours only 4 times a day due to a dropped nap and earlier bedtime (see sleeping) which put her last 2 feedings about an hour apart. It made sense to drop a feeding and it has been going really well. Monday morning we gave Grace her first taste of rice cereal. She loved it from the start. She was even opening her mouth for the spoon. We'll add another serving of cereal in the evening next week and the week after introduce sweet potatoes.

Sleeping: Sleeping had been going pretty much the same until a week and a half ago. All of a sudden Grace had no interest in taking a 3rd nap. So, I decided to just go for it and drop it. This moved her bedtime a little earlier to between 7 and 7:30 which is what I expected. It is kind of nice because it frees us up to do more things in the late afternoon since she doesn't have to get home for a nap and since I'm nursing her less often.

Teething: Last Monday I was at the church office working on some stuff and my friend Jenna asked if Grace was getting a tooth and I said nope. But then on Wednesday Matt was playing with Grace and noticed that she did indeed have a tooth that had broken through her gums. I'm pretty sure that Jenna noticed Grace's tooth before her parents even did:) As of today she has 2 little teeth on the bottom that have broken through and are growing quickly.

Rolling/Sitting/Crawling: Grace is not crawling yet but I put it in this category because she gets up on all fours all the time. She has also started rocking back and forth on all fours. Who knows how long she'll be content just sitting this way but she is in the go position...maybe by her 7 month post. She still loves playing on her stomach so she always rolls to her tummy and sleeps on her tummy. Every once in a while she'll roll both ways to transport herself but she seems pretty content just doing weird pivotal scoots all over the blanket and floor. She is also a superstar sitter and really loves playing from the sitting position. I think about a week after she was 5 months old I felt like she had this skill mastered.

Our Schedule: These times are approximates but we don't usually stray by more than 15 or 20 minutes on either side.

7:00 - Wake-up and nurse
9:00-10:30 - Nap time
11:00 - Nurse
12:45 - 3:00 - Nap time
3:00 - Nurse
6:30 - Nurse, get ready for bed, take bath, play quietly
7:15 - Bedtime

We cannot believe that Grace is 6 months old already. The time has flown by so quickly. She is such a joy and we are so blessed to have her in our lives!