09 May 2010

Verity's 6 month checkup

Verity Claire is 6 months old already! I can't believe how time flies! Here are the stats:

Weight: 15 pounds even (~30th percentile)
Height: 26 inches (50th percentile)
Head circumference: 16.5 inches

Verity has fallen off her curve of being in the 50th percentile for weight. I got a stern talking to about making sure she gets enough to eat. She only will drink 12 ounces while at day care from 7:30am - 5pm and that just doesn't seem like enough. It was tough to get her to drink that much and I wasn't that worried - just thought she drank a little less than Maddox did and was catching up when she was with me. I am still breastfeeding and up until recently, she was still getting up in the middle of the night to eat. Since she has been sleeping through the night, maybe she isn't getting as much as she used to. I feel just terrible! She doesn't act like she is starving or anything, and she doesn't look it - she has very chubby thighs! She is clearly not as fat as Maddox was at this age, but every baby is different. I have instructed day care Mama to step it up and get her to drink a little more. And, I have added a bottle of formula to the evening ritual. I have been cutting back on pumping lately and she is now getting at least 3 bottles of formula a day now. The nurse said some babies plateau at this age - I can totally see that - Verity gets distracted very easily when eating - she doesn't want to miss a thing!!

Other than that, Verity is doing great! She is such a sweet happy baby. When you look at her and smile or talk to her, she gets very excited and smiles from ear to ear and kicks her legs. She is such ray of sunshine! She is able to sit up for short bits before slumping forward or falling back. She is grabbing at everything nearby and putting it directly in her mouth. I sat her on the counter last week and she reached over, grabbed my orchid and ripped the whole stalk with the flowers on it off the plant and proceeded to munch on it. I was stunned and thought it was so funny! I took it away from her and she leaned over and started grabbing the leaves and pulling the plant near her. Needless to say, I don't put anything within arms reach of her now! She loves to suck and chew on her toys and especially loves Sophie the rubber giraffe. She gets a little upset when you take something away, which Maddox likes to do. We are working on her sitting up for longer periods so she can move into her tripp trapp chair for eating.

Speaking of high chairs, we started her on solids last weekend. She started out with some rice cereal which she wasn't too keen on for a few days. She finally figured out how to swallow it and not spit it out on the 3rd day. She loves the spoon though and grabs onto it constantly. On Thursday she got some peas and really liked them! She was smiling and swallowing pretty good and ate quite a bit. She now will open her mouth when the spoon is coming and seems pretty happy about eating! Next she will get green beans, then carrots and sweet potatoes. We will move onto fruit after she has conquered all the organic veggies I can find.

On Friday, she started saying a new consonent sound "da da da da". She is just talking up a storm and loves to babble on and on. She isn't moving around too much yet - she can push up her chest on her belly and spin a little. She also rolls very easily from her back to her front. Doesn't roll too often from her belly to her back, she likes being on her belly a lot and sleeps that way every night.

I still need to get her official 6 month pictures, but here are some recent ones I took in the last week.

Here she is sitting up, just for a few seconds!

Holding Mama's hand for balance - see Rudy and Maddox back there?
Snuggling with Mama

Kissing Mama
Eating rice cereal for the first time!
Looking way too cute for words
Holding her own spoon!

Happy Mother's Day!

I was awoken at 6am by two very awake babies - Maddox handed me a singing card, it was so cute. Something about me being "amazing" and loving them even when they are bad. Maddox wanted to carry that card around he loved it so much! Dada did a great job of picking out cute cards, he always writes the nicest things too. I just have to quote part of it: "... Great moms also love their kids uncontrollably and unconditionally, make their kids laugh, teach them important lessons and silly things too. Great moms sing and read to their kids. They give lots of hugs and kisses and smile a lot. They're always there. Yup, you're a great mom alright... we're so lucky to have you." Thank you my darling husband Rudy, and thank you Maddox and Verity for making my mother's day special!

Happy Mother's day to my Mama - You are a wonderful Mama and I miss you today!