Half a Year!!

Showing how well she can stand - well, kind of.

Today Emma is 6 months old! Half a year! I can't believe it's been so long. The time has flown by eventhough there were many times when I thought it was moving at a snail's pace. Everyday I think she turns more into a little girl and becomes a little less of a baby. It's exciting to watch the change and I just keep looking forward to the things that lie ahead.

Emma LOVES her Daddy!

Emma is doing a few new things. She is a very talkative little girl! She make all sorts of sounds with her voice most of which make us laugh because the seem very un-baby-like. I only wish I could describe the sounds in a way that did them justice. Her favorite new thing is blowing raspberries. When we were home for Christmas, she was only able to produce the bubbles. As the days have gone by since then, she's learned to make the sound to go along with them and today actually got her tongue out while doing it. It's very cute, although makes her shirt and face very wet! She also likes to gasp at various pitches, as well as doing this high, raspy whine (with her tongue pushed against her gums) that is sometimes very loud and sometimes almost a whisper, but always very fake! She has definitely learned to manipulate us using her voice! We're on to her though!

Tummy time is still a struggle. She doesn't enjoy it at all. She will tolerate for a few moments if Jeremy and I lay on the ground with her or if I read to her and set the book in front of her. She was rolling tummy to back before her surgery, but hasn't done it since. I think the surgery made her a little weaker, so we'll have to keep working on it. Today, I put her in Tummy Time while she was on her changing table before getting dressed. She just sat there kicking her legs which reminded me of a teenage girl seeming all too bored with the whole process. I filmed it and included the video below!

We're working on sitting though it's not going well. She can't roll yet either so I guess it's not too much of a surprise. She does very well while sitting on my lap and can sit up well against the back of the couch, but holding herself in a tripod makes her mad and usually leads to a face plant (obviously, I catch her). Today we practiced with the Boppy pillow and she actually did quite well. I heard somone say once that she sat her daughter in front of her play gym to help her sit up. It was a new view of toys she loved. I decided to try it today with the Boppy for support and low and behold, she loved it! Well once she stopped trying to push her heels into the ground to make herself either stand up or lay down. I'm sure either would've been preferable to sitting in her opinion.

Here she is sitting up in her Boppy. Not too bad! Just don't take the Boppy away!

I've been trying to tell myself that she didn't need the extra month she's allowed for develoment because of her prematurity, but I think she does, at least for her gross motor skills. Oh well, she'll get there!

Finally, we took some pictures today for comparison and some of her playing with her 3-foot-tall Pooh bear! She was quite intrigued!

Here is the 4 month shot.

This is 6 months. What do you think?? Looks older for sure!

Here she is tackling Pooh and probably trying to stick his leg in her mouth.

Just hanging out in a diaper. Such a skinny little thing! Certainly doesn't take after me!

Trying to figure out just what this giant thing is.

I took this picture to show how much she has grown. This was one of the first outfits she wore, but it kind of still fits, so it's not quite the impact I hoped it would be. It's definitely a little short though.

Here it is at about 1 month.

The thing I love most about Emma at this age is the smiles she gives us when she sees us. She really knows us now and is genuinely happy to see us. Her smiles melt my heart!