Let the Teething Begin!

So, I can't actually see any teeth about to break through but Amelia is definitely teething. She went from maybe having a sore mouth to really pissed off and screaming and attacking the ice cube as if it deserved to be gummed to death by a toothless mako shark. Plus, I gave her Hyland's Teething Tablets and she stopped screaming almost immediately afterwards. This is my highly scientific evidence that my daughter has *officially* started teething.

This weekend was pretty uneventful. Amelia is always happier when Erik is around. Not only is he much more interesting than me (because, well, I'm still technically an extention of her self) he is more fun and makes better faces. And he lets her play with grown up books.

Sleep is slowly starting to improve. Kind of. She is definitely moving towards a morning nap (if I weren't so tired, I would be jumping up and down for joy). And she went down pretty early tonight at 7:30pm, which means I should stop blogging and go get some sleep before she wakes up again!

On the food front, rice cereal is still has little appeal. She gags when I hold up the spoon. She sucked a wedge of nectarine dry last night (again, in the teething basket) and she mouthed a piece of apple at dinner tonight. With the nectarine, she alternated between sucking vigorously on it, gagging, and making the "I just sucked on a lemon" face. She mouthed on the apple for a couple of minutes before deciding it was not to her satisfaction and communicated her dissatisfaction until I took it away from her. At which point, she promptly stopped screaming. Go figure.

Probably the cutest thing of all time: the big, open-mouthed, slobber-fest kisses that she is now gives me and Erik. She was kissing Erik's forehead yesterday afternoon when after a few generous smooches, she decided that his eyebrow was good for biting. She stood on his lap and chewed on his forehead.

Marathon Morning Nap

Amelia is in the midst of a marathon morning nap: going on two hours! I think this might be the start of a regular morning nap. The only bummer is that it is 11 am and our friends have been out walking at Greenlake since 10:30 am. We'll be lucky to catch the tail end of the walk.

Amelia is now sitting up like a champ, as if she's always done it. She is starting to raise her butt in the inchworm style in preparation for crawling...though she only does it while on our bed. She prefers the soft mattress to the hard floor.

Sleep is improving just a bit. She has slept four hours three nights in a row for her long sleep. Erik took her for an hour this morning so I could get a little extra sleep. Bless him.

Melz is off at L&C and it sounds like she is having a blast. I'm so happy for her. I just wish it wasn't so far away so she and Amelia could see each other more often.

Six Months and a Day

Amelia had her sixth month birthday yesterday. Dad and Susan threw a six month/going off to college dinner for Amelia & Melanie. Above are two great pics from tonight.

Amelia's going to town on the developmental milestones: sitting up (woohoo!), moving objects from hand to hand, babbling "ba ba" and "da da", scooting on her tummy, and the clincher: not sleeping anymore!

She has gone from sleeping 5-8 hours for her first long sleep to sleeping only 2 -3 hours and then nursing every hour or two until morning. My only consolation is that all of my girlfriends with babies the same age are doing the same thing. Caffiene is my friend. I've made the move to the dark side: from tea to espresso.

Asleep at 5pm

This is Susan holding Amelia while she sucks on Susan's beer bottle. She liked the cold condensation.

Jeanie, Erik's mom & Amelia's Grandma, was here for a visit. We had an awesome family barbeque on Thursday and Amelia had her first solid food: Rice cereal & breastmilk. Yum!

Amelia's sleep cycle is crazy. She's been only sleeping in three hour stretches at night...the last couple of nights she's been nursing every 2-3 hours. Today she hardly napped during the day and then fell asleep at 5pm! I thought she was napping but at 9pm she appears to be down for the night. Erik went to sleep early so could wake up at 4 am with her and hang out while I sleep. Bless his heart.

Ann Kepler, among many other baby experts, believes this is an indicator of disequilibrium, which can often mean that the babies are in the process of acquiring new skills. I have to give these folks credit: they certainly seem to know what they are talking about. Amelia is now rolling around like mad, is almost sitting up on her own, understands the sign for milk and is able to make it, and is drinking from a sippy cup. Pretty amazing stuff. Plus, she's just so much fun to be with.