First Word

Cecelia at Six Months

My baby is six months old today. Oy! Where did the time go? And what happened to my little newborn? She's a thing of the past, that's for sure. We head to the pediatrician next week for her six month check up. I'll update this post with her weight and height numbers then.

I can't believe how active Cece is. She is BUSY! She is rolling, rolling, rolling around these days. She can roll 10 feet in a minute, I swear. You can't leave her alone for long or else you might find her under the table. She loves to slide around on the hardwood floor, spinning circles and "crawling" backwards. Hilarious. I think she'll be officially crawling by our next update...maybe even by next week at this rate! She's been a solid sitter now for several weeks. It's nice to just plop her down and walk away knowing she's not going to topple over. Makes grocery shopping and bath time easier too. She's also standing on her own now, as long as she has something to hold on to. So cute to see those big old thunder thighs out in the open!

The biggest milestone this month was eating her first solid foods. We were going to wait until she was exactly six months but Cece let us know that she was ready about a week and a half ago. Girlfriend loves to eat! Her first official food was avocado. After that we tried yams, sweet potatoes, blueberries, carrots and broccoli. I've been making the food in our baby beaba and so far it's working out great. I only wish it was a little bigger so I could make larger batches of food to freeze. The clip below shows Cece eating broccoli for the first time.

Cece is making lots of noise these days. A lot of screeching, babbling and giggling. Her favorite "word" is gaga. She says it over and over and over. Sometimes it sounds like she says dada but I'm still undecided if that's her official first word. If it was an occasional "mama" there would be no question though, haha. She's also responding to her name too. Well, her nickname anyway. We hardly ever call her Cecelia. We're also working on our sign language - mama, dada, doggie (or Summit), milk, eat, more, all done. It will be nice when Cece can communicate better with us. Still have a few more months before that happens, I think.

A few other fun things about six months -

• Cece is totally, 100% infatuated with Summit. She coos and babbles at her. She could stare at her for hours. In fact, when Cece's a little cranky, I make Summit lie down next to her and it often helps calm her down. Summit might not admit it easily but I think she digs Cece too. She's often camped out in her room or guarding her door after she goes to bed. 
• Cece also loves music. We listen to oldies and dance around the house together almost every day. Lately she has also been drawn to the TV when it's on (which isn't often). You can just see her falling into the TV coma when her little eyes lock onto it. Sigh.
• Lately Cece has not enjoyed playing on her own. She does best in active environments where there is a lot to look at or other kids to play with.
• Cece does not like to nap unless she's in the car, stroller or jumperoo. She has only slept straight through the night twice (8 pm - 6 am). On a good night, she only gets up once to nurse and then puts herself back to bed. There are always exceptions to that of course. 
• Lately Cece's also been really into her daddy. Her face lights up when he comes into a room or when she hears his voice. So cute. She's turning into a daddy's girl for sure. 
• A lot of people have commented on her necklace. While I suppose it is "cute", it is actually a Baltic raw amber teething necklace that supposidly helps to reduce the pain and inflamation assoicated with teething by releasing healing oils containing succinic acid from the amber into the skin. Who knows if it works but people swear by them. Figured it couldn't hurt although Cece is not actively teething yet.
• Cece's starting to grow more hair. She has a peach fuzz factory on the top of her head but it's still pretty barren on the sides, with the exception of her rat tail patch in the back. Business in the front, party in the back. It's still very light strawberry blonde.
• Two other firsts - drinking from a sippy cup and "swimming" in the lake at nana and gramps' house.

Want to see how much our little bean has grown in six months? Check out all of our monthly posts on the Cece Updates page.

Daddy's Girl

Happy First Father's Day, James!

The First Supper.

"Who likes avocado? This girl."

 

A Day in the Life...

Just a typical Tuesday in 100 iPhone photos or less. Get ready, this life is so glam.

5:45 AM. Cece's up. I go get her from her crib. Sniff diaper. She pooed again. Second of the night. Change diaper and bring her into our bed. Nurse and both of us fall back asleep while James' alarms start going off.

He hits the snooze a few times before getting up. Cece and I sleep through most of it. Before I know it he's hovering to say goodbye to all of us. Bye love. Have a happy day at work. Cece, Summit and I all fall asleep again.

7:30 AM - My alarm goes off. I ignore it.

8:10 AM - Crap! I slept in too long. Need to be at work in an hour. Go, go, go! Summit keeps Cece occupied in bed while I get myself dressed.

Good enough. Didn't even brush my hair. Awesome. Also, I need to clean that mirror.

8:15 AM -  Get Cece dressed. Changing table days are limited. She rolls too much. Look at that booty. We pick out daddy's favorite outfit...her "geekling" onesie.

8:25 AM - Summit's turn. Out for a romp, potty and then back in for breakfast. Looks like it's time to mow our grass weeds again.

8:30 AM- Put Cece in the Jumperoo so I can have two hands to get ready for work. Summit keeps her entertained. Lots to do before I can get out of the door. Set up my "hands free" pump system and pump while preparing bottles, diaper bags, work bags, pumping supplies and a lunch for the day.

8:50 AM- Everything and everyone is packed up and ready to make the 30 second trek next door for daycare. We arrive at Mandy's at 8:52. Amazed I got out of the house on time.

9 AM - Swap Cece for my niece Aubrey. Will drop her off at preschool on my way to work.

9:10 - I'm at work! Sit down for a morning of emails and reporting. Annual merit review is tomorrow. Also, I get in my first sip of coffee. Yes.

11:15 AM - Pumping break. Catch up on my celebrity gossip and words with friends.

11:30 AM - Back to work for a bit and then head out for a working walking meeting with colleagues down by the Connecticut River. Love this place.

12:30 - Work, work, work and then another pumping break around 3:30. I didn't take many pictures of the actual work, but I promise it's in there.

4:35 PM - leave work. Pick up Cece at 4:42. We get home to a wild Summit greeting. Can't get her on camera because she moves too fast. Is she that excited to see us or does she just know dinner is coming?

4:45 PM - Speaking of food, I'm starving. I check the fridge and see last night's quinoa leftovers. I enjoy it with some homemade ice tea. Yum. Meanwhile, the kids are rolling around on the floor.

5:15 PM - We head out for a 5 mile run jog. I swear more than half of it is uphill. Lucky for Summit there's a lake a the top of it. We stop for a quick dip.

6:15 PM - We find daddy waiting in the driveway when we get home. Yay! After a quick discussion we decide to have dinner after Cece goes to bed. That means a late, low key meal. James has a few things he needs to do to prepare for his company's open house tomorrow.

6:30 PM - Cece and I go inside and spend a little time on the floor stretching. Summit's out on the deck. Stinky wet dog.

6:45 PM - We wander down to the workshop to see what dad's up to. He is getting grandpa's tractor ready to take to the open house car show tomorrow. Cece gets a ride.

7:00 PM - On our way back up to the house we check out the frog pond and new peach trees. We also stop to water my flowers. Roses are doing awesome!

7:30 - Bath time. Cece loves her bath. Lots of splashing. Lots of cute baby buns. Fun until it's not. Cece's getting cranky, bed time is quickly approaching.

8 PM - Operation fill Cece up is in full effect. She feeds herself from extra milk pumped earlier and then I feed her to top off the tanks. James comes up to say goodnight. We cuddle and she falls alseep while I'm nursing her. Guess it's just one of those nights. She's pooped. Me too.

8:49 PM - Sound asleep before she even hits the sheets.

9 PM - James starts the grill, makes us veggie burgers for dinner. I jump in the shower then wash my pump parts and bottles from a day of feeding. Finally, we sit down together for the first time all day. Cover the basics (how was your day, what did Cece do today, what are we doing this weekend). James needs his shirt ironed for the open house. I make a deal and do it in exchange for him taking the dishes. Done.


10:30 PM - Check on Cece before heading to bed. So tired. Hope she sleeps well tonight. Snap one last picture. James is not pleased to be in it.

2:07 AM - Cece's awake! Not crying. Yet. Aaaand...then she is. I get up and nurse her in the rocker in her room. We both snooze a bit before I call it and put her back in her crib.

2:42 AM - I put her back to bed awake. It takes her about 10 minutes to fall asleep again. No crying though so I'll take it. I head back to bed too.

5:42 AM - Check on Cece. She's still sleeping.

6:30 AM - Up and at 'em! I go and get Cece and we start our morning routine all over again. Love this kid.