7 Months

We apparently need to take some more pictures of Joanna!  I don't think too much has changed in the last few weeks.  She is eating more/better, sleeping better, and moving a bit more.  I think the record is about 6 feet from where I left her so far.  But she is working hard to get places!  She loves to sit and play with her toys, especially when I give her a basket or bin full of random toys that she can empty.  She has started playing with some of the bigger toys, too, like Orrin's favorite drum or the book that talks and plays music.  She makes a whole lot of noise, most of it joyful.  When she starts to get a little crabby - 99% of the time she is just ready to sleep, or  maybe eat.  This week she must have been teething or something because she was quite crabby all afternoon for a few days in a row.  She would never let me put her down without throwing a fit so finally I put her on my back in the ergo.  She loved it!  She giggled for the first 10 minutes or so, then happily and quietly rode back there for at least an hour while I worked in the kitchen.  It makes for a good workout for me, too!  I'm glad she likes it, now I know I can use that for our walks to the park.  The double stroller is just about impossible to get through the woods and field. 

I think Joanna might be giving kisses now, too.  She likes to grab your face with both hands and pull it in to her wide open mouth.  Its cute and a little scary at the same time - those two little teeth are sharp!  She's still mesmerized by her brother, which makes it difficult to feed her if he is at the table.  She will crane her neck as far around as she can to see him and watch him eat.  She thought it was hilarious when he was pretending to feed her the other day (until he jammed the spoon a little too far down her throat and she gagged).  Although she was not amused when he teased her with her sippy cup of water.  She's a little possesive of that already.

I think this was green beans and/or squash or something.  She wasn't loving it, but I couldn't quite catch her disgust with the camera.

She is in love with Pooh.  And most other stuffed animals. (you can see these were taken right before bed, she looks like she has black eyes when she gets tired!)

 We get a lot of comments from people about her beautiful blue eyes!

6 months

Edit: I forgot about the stats - she was 17 pounds, 11 ounces (75th percentile), and 28 inches tall (95th percentile) at her last appointment.

Can you believe its been a half a year?! Joanna has been up to all sorts of new things in the last month.

She is sitting up on her own (although she still prefers to be standing), rolling, and working hard on moving around. She can kind of wiggle and roll to get around a little, and she kicks and squirms when she is playing on her tummy like she is wanting to crawl, but thankfully she doesn't get too far yet. Babyproofing again is in our near future.

She is eating solid foods regularly, although not very much. So far we've tried peas (gag), green beans (gag), carrots (yum), apples (yum), sweet potatoes (ok), peaches (ok), squash (gag), oatmeal (ok). We also have given her cucumbers to gnaw on which she loves, and puffs to play with and eat, which she promptly choked on when she finally got one in her mouth. So as you can see, the only two foods so far that she actually readily eats are apples and carrots. I keep trying new things but she seems pretty picky.

Her first tooth poked through on March 17, and the second just a few days ago. Of course she was miserable the week that Scott was away in the UK, leaving me to be up with her many times per night. He came home and she slept 15 hours straight and when she finally got up, we noticed the little tooth.

A few weeks ago she started making the "dadada" sounds. Before that it was all just her joyful squealing, which she still loves to do. She seems to be experimenting with volume at the moment.

She thinks that Spot is hilarious. When he is near, she loves to talk to him and grab at his face. Today he rode in the back of the van where she could see him being crazy and she laughed the whole way to the vet and back like she had her own personal comedian. I wish I had a tape recording of it!

She is a very happy kid now. She laughs at being tickled, and in general loves to smile and talk to us. Unlike Orrin at this age, she loves to play with toys and chew on everything she can get her hands on. She is figuring out the interactive toys like her radio that plays when she pushes a button, or the hanging toy that plays when she pulls on the handle.

She is still up a few times at night (only once to eat) but will usually go quickly back to sleep when the pacifier is replaced. But she is actually becoming a good napper. I can now put her down right when Orrin goes to quiet time and get an hour to myself in the afternoon. What a treat for me!

Can you believe that she was able to wear this outfit in March?? Crazy.

You can see a perfect hand print on her face here after her nap. :)

Modeling her new hat in one of her favorite places.

With all of the nice weather, we can't get enough of the gardens this year.

Practicing her new skills.

She loved the apples so much she needed to lick the bowl.

The obligatory carrots picture.