Life as we know it - 6 month update

So I haven't updated this thing since maternity leave ended and I want to keep some kind of record to remember the adventures in parenting we are having so 6 months is a good milestone to document! And seeing her progress is a bit of a relief that some things have gotten easier!

Yep, I have a 6 month old baby. I'm still not used to referring to myself as "mom." My social conversations tend to get dominated by baby talk (either talking to Hailey or talking about Hailey) - though it doesn't help that most of my coworkers have babies now (including a 9 month old, a 6 month old born 3 days after Hailey, and a couple 4 month olds). I've made it to the class at the gym I went to religiously before Hailey was born all of 4 times since. I only watch the entire Ducks hockey games when they play in an earlier time zone - home games run too late for me to stay awake. To work 40 hours a week, I am in the office between 6:30 and 7 and work late or I try to start at home by 6 and some times work until 8. Our very small living room is even smaller now that the floor is covered with baby stuff. 

Even more than the little ways our life has changed is how much Hailey has changed - especially in the last couple of months. By the time Hailey was 4 months old (having been back to work full time for 2 months) I was exhausted. I had saved some family bonding time to use later and I used a week at that point (though I needed another break after that with all the family activities we had that week). Part of why it got so tiring at that point was that it was so exhausting trying to get Hailey to nap! Somewhere after 5 months, she started sleeping better at naptime and we did some sleep training and she is a much better sleeper now! She was always pretty good at sleeping at night though she had gotten a little worse. She got good at sleeping just in time for what was an unexpected tragedy in our family losing our little niece Zoe. Hailey sleep good at night even though we had no semblance of a daytime schedule for a while there. Now we can put Hailey down with her blanket and binkie, walk out the door, and she will go right to sleep - my mom was amazed at how we could do that when we visited my family. We are trying to get back to talking good naps now, but it will come. 

She doesn't have to stay on her tummy to stay asleep now! 

In the last couple of months, Hailey has been a much more agreeable baby. Not that she wasn't a happy baby before, but I think she felt lonely or left out if she wasn't constantly held. Now she has some control of her body and can move around enough to be involved in the world around her. That and she is actually interested in playing with toys now. 

Loved when Hailey started using this thing!

When I was pregnant and going to the pilates-yoga class at the gym, people would joke that the baby was gonna come out doing yoga. Well, they weren't completely wrong! In the past month, Hailey has learned to sit up on her own (still has an occasional tip over) and has an amazing ability to manipulate and move her body without actually crawling forward. She uses her hands to rotate in circles. She has started to lunge forward to get something. She doesn't spend much time on hands and knees - she likes to go on hands and feet. She will get on her feet with her feet completely flat on the floor! And she doesn't stop there - Hailey will get on her hands and feet and then stick one leg up in the air. If she understood the coordination to crawl, she would have no problem with having enough strength to do it! 

Hailey might have been trying to learn from my parent's dogs how to crawl

Size milestones for Hailey:

• Birth: 7lb 15 oz, 20.5 inches
• 2 Weeks: 8lb 6 oz, 20.5 inches
• 2 Months: 9 lb 13 oz, 21.5 inches
• 4 Months: 12 lb 3 oz, 24.5 inches
• 6 Months: 14 lb 12 oz, 26 inches

At this point, the pediatrician says Hailey is 25th percentile in weight and 75 to 90th percentile in height. Like we're all surprised by that or something... 

Random facts about Hailey: 

• She loves her bedtime book. It's just an ABC book I got at my baby shower, but it's her favorite book and has become part of her bedtime routine. Bath - Book - Bed. When we were up in Utah, she was acting super tired so I put her down after her bath. She didn't go to sleep. I got her up and read her book to her then put her back down. She went right to sleep. As an avid reader, I love that Hailey already loves her version of reading! 
• Her hair is super long and I should probably have it cut. I've had people say how their baby's hair changed after cutting it for the first time so I'm a little hesitant to have it trimmed. I love her dark hair with a bit of wave! And I love putting it in a cute "whale spout" (aka ponytail)! 
• She had her first encounter with cats at my aunt's house on Christmas Eve. The cats didn't see her as a threat and Hailey was only mildly interested when they walked by her. It will be a different story when she's mobile I'm sure. 
• She had her first encounter with dogs at my parent's house this month. She wasn't sure about the licking her face right off the bat, but those dogs sure made Hailey a happy girl! She would crack up laughing when the dogs barked at each other (every time they get hungry they kind of go nuts). Just seeing the dogs would cheer her up. She could be fussy no matter what I did to make her happy, but in walks a dog and suddenly she is in a good mood. 
• She already loves Mickey Mouse. Not Minnie or Goofy or Donald - just Mickey. Sometimes I will just play the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse intro for her. She smiles and laughs when Mickey is on the screen. This makes the Disney fanatic in me a proud mama. She also loves the puppets on the Baby Einstein videos. There is a dog on Baby Beethoven that she really loves. 
• She still loves bath time and is now starting to take baths in the big tub (she was starting to try and pull herself out of the infant tub)
• She has started sleeping all night with 1 or 2 wake ups that she can't get herself back to sleep (need binkie!) - and when I say all night, I mean 11 hours!! She seems to be getting more consistent with nap times and is actually napping places other than just her crib. 
• She started teething when she was about 3 months old, but no teeth yet
• I play peek a boo with the camera to get her to smile in pictures
• When she sees certain people she gets really excited and sometimes injures herself. One day while we are at my in laws house, Pumpa comes home and gets on the floor where Hailey was to say hi. Hailey gets super excited and pushed herself up high while lying on her tummy and didn't have enough control on the way down and hit her head (commence the bawling). 
• She will look at my computer expecting to see my mom on it. Hailey gets super excited when grandma shows up on facetime! 
• So far, she has eaten bananas, sweet potato, and applesauce. I have to put rice cereal in the processed food because she doesn't seem to like the thin consistency of baby food (we started her with fresh banana and a home made potato puree)

And the picture overload!!!

Curly wet hair

Snuggling her bunny

I love those blue eyes! 

Dressed up for the ward trunk or treat

Love playing with her hair at bath time

Halloween with the cousins

Game time with daddy

I couldn't resist getting that sweater! 

She seriously has the best bewildered look

She is such a smiley baby!

She was so excited about the activity saucer!

Story time with daddy

family selfie - Hailey already knows what to do with a camera in her face!

Christmas with Auntie E - looking at the snowmen

she loves all my aunt's singing/dancing Hallmark snowmen sets

yummy wrapping paper!

happy baby yoga pose! 

the swing was a little different for her

getting herself stuck under the couch since she could only back up

doing some planks

playing with her cousin Jackson who loved to hold her and play with her

she loves her grandpa and his beard!

we gave her a keyboard of her own

she likes to grab my legs and pull on my pants when she wants up

first encounter with Thumper

doggie kisses

first time trying applesauce

guess it's a little tart!

her reaction to applesauce was just funny - but she kept eating it!