Brooke: 6 months

6 Months!  Thats a whole half a year.  Crazy.  Absolutely crazy. We were just looking at pictures from a few months ago and she doesn't even look like the same baby.  She has definitely filled out a bit and gets cuter every day.

Height: 24 inches- 5th %tile

Weight: 14 lbs 10 oz- 25th %tile

Head: 16.5 - 15%tile 

Brooke is still on the short side but she is packing on a few pounds and getting some official baby chub.  

She wasn't very interested in staying still and posing with her teddy bear. Instead she wanted to play with her feet and roll around.

I love this picture and am bummed I cut out her eyes.

There's those beautiful blue eyes! 

This month was a pretty good one.  

I'm happy to report that she is sleeping a little better!  I cut obvious dairy and leafy greens out of my diet a few months ago after suspecting they were giving her gas.  But things barely improved at all. This month I decided to totally change my diet and see if it helped.  I've cut out all dairy (even hidden dairy in breads/snacks/etc), eggs, all gassy vegetables, most grains (rice/oatmeal but she does okay with wheat), all tomato based things and even some fruits.  You may be asking yourself what's left?! Trust me, I often wonder the same thing.  I eat a lot of cereal, PB&J, and chicken with baked potatoes.  After a week on this diet she went from waking every 1-2 hours to sleeping 3 hour stretches.  It was amazing.  I decided to trail some greens back in my diet and see if she could tolerate them.  I had a soup I made with Bok Choy one night and then a simple iceburg salad the next night.  One night three she woke up every hour.  Needless to say, the veggies failed. We are slowly figuring out what works and hopefully soon I'll be able to eat more foods.  Its worth the longer stretches of sleep though.   Also she is sleeping in her own crib 100% of the time!  

In other news....

• Brooke loves reading her books in her jumperoo.  Although after a few seconds they usually end up in her mouth. 

• She also loves "reading" daddy's magazines.  She rolled herself over to his magazine one day and started crinkling it. She loves any and all paper so I let her play with it.  Before I knew it she was ripping the thing to pieces.  

• She loves "raking" things with her hands.  This isn't such a bad deal until it happens to your face. Here she is getting Uncle Dekker's eye.     

• She found her big toe one day and started sucking on it.  It kept popping out and so she would suck harder.  She really got going! 

• She is also good at sucking on her toys, including her monkey.  She is definitely in the stage where everything goes into her mouth.  

This picture shows the remote, one of her favorite toys.  One day she practically flew out of my arms reaching for it and since then every time she sees it she wants it.  It also shows her new "face".  She often can be found sucking on her lower lip.   

• Grandma Smith was in town and so Brooke got to drink out of a bottle again. She hadn't used one since christmas time but remembered exactly what to do and even held it up all by herself.  

• Brooke loves rough housing with dad.  She is still a mover and a shaker and is always going.  She often climbs all over us and loves when she ends up upside down.  

•  She loves kicking things and playing with anything fabric.  She loves playing with her blankets and our clothes. She also loves kicking the blinds on our back door.   

•  She still loves playing in the mirror.  We took family pictures this week and so I was testing out a few outfits on Brooke.  She was a great model!

•  Brooke still isn't sitting on her own.  Whenever we practice she decides she is more interested in whatever toy is closest and instantly lurches for it as soon as I let go.   

I don't have pictures to go along with these things but she also loves putting her hands/toys above her head, sucking on any skin that is showing, getting kisses and reaching for everything. She is very good at rolling around and getting herself to slowly move into the direction of what she wants.  She often uses her feet as a tool to get her toys closer to her hands also.  She loves anything that is not an official toy....this includes plastic cups, cardboard boxes, anything paper, water bottles etc etc.

She has great peripheral vision and always turns when I walk into the room even if she is facing the opposite direction and I try to be silent.  She will often play in her jumperoo and be content until she sees me and then she decides she is bored.  She doesn't usually want me to hold her, just come play with her.  She often pushes away when I try to give her something she doesn't want or will throw her toy when she is done playing with it.  She is starting to get distracted easily while nursing but we started solids this week and she is all about that (more about that in a later post).

Brooke is a little social butterfly and loves smiling at everyone who even looks in her direction.  She especially loves little babies and reaches for other kids when we see them. Often if she gets bored at church all we have to do is pass her off to someone else and she is content to study their face and play with a new friend.

I asked Brett if there was anything he could think of that I should write about Brooke and he said "that she is awesome".  I agree! We sure do love her!