6 months old and Some ballet

June 11, Ella's half birthday. Where did the time go for my baby to be half a year old? It seems as if each day passes faster than the last.

Ella is now sitting up on her own. Not totally 100% of the time, but can hold herself up for short periods of time before she folds over or falls over. The other night I laid her back against a pillow on the couch and then she used those ab muscles and went straight into a sitting position. She still hasn't rolled over yet though. She really has no interest in trying. Here and there she will sleep throughout the whole night, but generally she's up at one point during the night, mostly around 4 or 4:30am. Hopefully she starts sleeping all night soon, because once she is able to pull herself to sitting from laying she won't be able to sleep in the cradle anymore, which means she will have to go to the crib in her room. That makes me nervous.

She had her 6 month checkup today. Looks perfectly healthy. He was impressed with how well she was sitting and the strength she had to pull up to standing while holding his hands. I think he thought I was being a bit dramatic when I told him about her being a Momma's girl and rarely let's me put her down, even just going to go to the bathroom. I also learned that it is now considered safe to introduce high allergen foods between 6-8 months so long as there is no family history of allergies or previous reactions. Apparently it has been decided that the delayed introduction of these foods could indeed be the culprit of the increase of children with such allergies. At this point though, Ella has only ever had breast milk, so I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. Interesting. I also learned that sounds baby makes while learning sounds are the same in every language a baby is exposed to. Essentially, they "all" (as in generally speaking, each child is always marches to their own drum) will start babbling the same sounds in the same order. The sound of M typically being on of the last independent sound made. Thus, explaining why a lot of babies will say dada before mama. Ha! I knew there was some sort of logical explanation! ;)

Ella's 6 Month stats:
15lbs 8oz (50%)
26.25" tall (75%)
17" head circumference (75%)

Comparing to Addi and Alyse at 6 months old:
Addisyn: 14lbs 10oz, 27.5" tall
Alyse: 19lbs .5oz, 28.5" tall

And, holy cow! Can't believe Alyse was pushing 20lbs at this age! Also, looks like Ella has my height genes at slightly above average instead of being ginormously tall like daddy.

Last week, Addi and Alyse had appointments at the dentist. It was Alyse's first trip and she did so well! She wasn't nervous at all and let them just do their job. Addi was the seasoned pro and showed her little sis just how it was supposed to be done. Hopefully trips to the dentist stay this sweet and easy in the years to come!

On Saturday (June 8), Addisyn had her ballet recital. This year, she tapped for the recital even though she was in a ballet/tap class. It was so cute watching them tap their little feet. Her little gold costume was adorable and she was beyond excited to get to wear her stage makeup. The recital is really so much fun for her, and I'm just glad that she gets to do something that she enjoys. Next year, Alyse will get to be in the recital too, although it will be in a separate show. The whole time watching Addi, she kept saying "I can do that!" Such a stinker!

First and last days of school!

Last Wednesday, was Addisyn's last day of school. She doesn't quite understand the whole summer vacation and then moving up to a new class. I believe she's under the impression that she will be going back to her three year old classroom. It will definitely be interesting with the start of the year with all four of us being at the preschool. Ella has just this short amount of time to learn to let other people take care of her         and to take a bottle! Worried a bit about that! I know she'll be in good hands though and I'll be at the school too, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal!