6 months going on 21

Rachel here. Well, still no camera, which means... still no 6 month picture. AS SOON AS we get back that thing, don't you worry, I'm going to take enough photos to make up for all the days I've missed. :)

For those of you who voted for the cute baby contest... thank you... and I hope your email address is now not at the mercy of the SPAM gods. ARGH. If I had known what you would have to sit through, believe me, I wouldn't have even signed up. For those of you who may still want to vote... DON'T... it's a feat.

Now on for the Reesie update. Holy cow this kid has changed so much in just a few short weeks. Since starting solids, Reesie is now in love with: peas, sweet potato, avocado, and now mango. I'm having such a blast making it all for her. I've made some broccoli, pears, green beans and carrots, that are just waiting for her to devour them. That's what she does... devours. She loves them so much she now snubs her bottles (getting her to take it is more of a chore than it should be). She was beginning to disregard her cereal, but I try to mix in some of the purees as much as I can, resulting in her devouring her cereal. The kid won't stop eating. I think if I gave her fruits and veggies all day she would be as happy as a clam.

Since Reesie learned to roll over, sort of, we've been living an never ending adventure. When I say sort of, I mean she can still only roll from back to tummy. This is a great milestone and a great headache for us. We put her to bed and she rolls onto her tummy and then screams. We go up and roll her back over, and she is content. 5 minutes later, she rolls back onto her tummy. Bryan and I have been working extra hard with her to show her how to keep on rolling, so cross your fingers world.

Now that she is somewhat mobile, Winston is getting nervous. She constantly stares him down, and if you know Winston... that is an invitation for disaster. He goes up to her every once in a while, but she now wants to reach out and touch him. Occasionally he lets her, when he has no idea she is behind him, but the majority of the time he growls and runs away. Hopefully they will become lifelong pals, but we're not placing our bets quite yet.

Nap times and bedtime have become a how do we say... LIVING HELL. :) She used to be so lovely when it was time for a nap/bed. We would feed her, play a little bit, and after about and hour and a half... two hours maybe... she would rub her beautiful little blue angel eyes and yawn... sleep time! We would take her upstairs, put her little pacifier in her mouth, crank that mobile, and she was out. Lord how things change when you turn 6 months old! Overnight we've decided first of all to not drink our bottle, we only want to play certain things and frankly get bored and vocal quite quickly, and we've decided sleeping is a nonessential part of life. Now we go 3, 3.5, maybe 4 hours before we show we're sleepy, Bryan and I take her upstairs, put her paci in her mouth, and lay her down... she screams. Our little 21 year old doesn't want to lay down anymore... she wants to sit up (which she does quite well... sometimes a titch wobbly, but otherwise she can sit up for a few minutes without our help). FINE... so we put her paci in her mouth and sit her up. We have a couple of soft little toys in there for her to play with. She's content... for a while... until she falls onto her back. Then she wants to roll over... and we're up there rescuing her once again. We don't go into her room until she is wailing. Bryan or I will pick her up and she's just as happy and cute as can be. We've tied to feed her extra, given her warm baths, we've rocked her, we've rubbed her belly... it's a chore. Now what used to be a 5 minute bedtime ritual has turned in to a 30-45 min extravaganza of ugliness. We both realize she just wants to play with us and be around us, but bless her heart she's a mess. :)