The Dotsons: Aubrey is 6 Months Old!

Aubrey turned 6 months old on January 29th! I can't believe half a year has already passed since she joined our family! I think her first 6 months went by even faster than Caleb's did. I feel like she was just born yet at the same time, I feel like she's been here much longer than 6 months. I think I can now finally say, after 6 months, that most days I do not feel like I'm drowning anymore! Having two kids (especially with one being 2!) is a challenge every day, but I feel much more comfortable in my role as a mama of two! I think we really hit a turning point around 4 months, but now things are starting to click even more. We're finally in a pretty good routine, so I think that helps. Now, if I could just figure out how to manage two kids AND keep my house clean AND keep up with the laundry AND get a hot meal on the table by 6:30pm every night - ha! I never said I had it all figured out....just that I am more confident in my abilities to juggle the kids! The rest just kinda happens when it happens. Please don't ask Rhett to speak on my house keeping abilities, ha!

Anyway, I wanted to wait until we had her 6 month well-child appointment to do this post so that I'd have her stats. Her appointment was this morning. I don't typically have a lot of questions or things to discuss at these appointments, but today I had several things I wanted to address. One is her weight gain and how much milk she's drinking (or not drinking, rather). I also asked about her every 3 day (or so) pooping issue and her flat spot on the back of her head.

So, at 6 months old...

* Aubrey weighs 13 lbs 15 oz (10%), is 26 inches long (50%) and has a head circumfrence of 16 inches (5%). She's dropped down a little on the weight curve, but pretty close to the same track as she's been on all along. She is gaining weight but very slowly. The girl just doesn't care much about eating. It is crazy (more on that later). We are going back in 6 weeks for a weight check.

* She's still wearing size 6 month clothes, but most of her 6 month sleepers are getting a little too short for her. I think my dryer, even on the "low" heat setting, just shrinks stuff! She's still wearing size 2 diapers during the day and size 3 at night. She finally wore a pair of shoes and they were a size 1...small feet!

* She still mostly just drinks 4 ounces of milk 6 times a day. Actually, a lot of times she will only drink 2-3 ounces at a time. It is so frustrating trying to feed her! She is usually so fidgety and it's like wrestling an alligator trying to keep the bottle in her mouth. She takes both breastmilk and formula but doesn't seem to prefer one over the other. Also, if there is too much going on (or anything really) she will not eat. I have to sit in her room with her, turn the lights down low and turn the fan on for noise...and set Caleb up with an episode of Mickey or Handy Manny so he won't come in the room. Even then, she is still a bear to feed!

* She has completely stopped nursing. I think it was right around when she turned 5 months old. For a couple weeks, she would at least nurse first thing in the morning but now she won't even do that. So, now I am just pumping. I try to pump 4 times a day, but some days I only get in 3. To say that I am tired of pumping is an understatement, but I really want her to get at least some breastmilk...especially during this cough/cold season so she can get my antibodies. Honestly, I doubt very seriously that I will keep this up until she's a year. I don't have any specific goal in mind, though.

* She's still only pooping like every 3 days or so. I can tell she gets uncomfortable after not going for a few days. I wish we could resolve this issue. I'm hoping that as she starts eating more solids, that will take care of it. You know this has to be documented...it's part of having a baby - you worry about how much they are pooping!

* She's still a great sleeper!! She takes 3 naps a day and sleeps well at night. Her morning and afternoon nap are 1 1/2 to 2 hours and her early evening nap is more like 1 hr to 1 hr 15 mins. She goes to bed around 7:30-7:45pm, but I still wake her one more time for another bottle. She usually wakes up on her own between 7-7:30am. I honestly do not know if she'd sleep straight through without that extra feeding, but I guess eventually we will have to try that. I would LOVE for her to, but not ready to drop that last feeding just yet.

* She STILL has a flat spot across the back of her head. :-( When we go back in 6 weeks for her weight check, we will also re-check her head. I've been reading stuff on the internet (bad idea, I know) and from what I'm reading and the pictures I've seen, I am like 95% sure she will have to do the helmet thing. I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for it and sometimes I feel like "ok, let's do this!" and other times I just want to cry thinking about it. I know it is not THAT big of a deal in the long run, but she's my baby so it feels like a big deal.

* She does not cry much at all. She really only cries when she's super tired and ready to go to sleep or if you leave her in her crib for too long after she's woken up.

* She is SO easy to take places. She is content in her car seat and either sleeps (less and less, though) or just looks around and smiles. She also never fusses in the car.

* She LOVES her hands still. I mean L-O-V-E-S them! She is always moving them around, playing with them, staring at them, chewing on them - you name it. She did discover that she has arms beyond her hands, though. She does this thing that looks like a cheerleading move where she extends her arms away from her body and brings them back in....over and over and over, actually hitting herself in the face at times. It's pretty funny!

* She also sticks out her tongue all.the.time. One sign that she is very excited/happy is an ear-to-ear smile with her tongue sticking out. It is so stinking cute!

* She won't take a bottle from the ladies in the church nursery. I have to go get her and attempt to give her a bottle myself in the "nursing mothers" room. Yes, I'm the only one in there not actually nursing their child. If it's too noisy in there (which it often is b/c they play the sermon and music on a TV and also all the moms chat), then she will barely eat anything. I am lucky to get her to take 2 oz while in there. However, 2 oz is better than the 0 oz she'd take from the nursery workers.

* She gives me the saddest look when I drop her off at church. I don't think she's very happy to be there and away from us. She doesn't seem to want to chill on the floor or play with toys. She just mostly sleeps. She is SO happy when I go pick her up!

* She still thinks that Caleb is the funniest and most entertaining little guy ever. Seriously, no one can make her happy and giddy like him! Her favorite thing is when he just jumps up and down and act goofy in front of her - she can barely contain herself! She doesn't really laugh, though. She just makes this "happy noise" as I call it and of course is smiling and sticking her tongue out!

* She's not rolling consistently yet and not sitting up. She is content to stay where you put her!

* She seems to like it when I sing to her...poor girl, has no idea what good singing sounds like - ha! She especially loves "This is the Day" (Psalm 118:24) and smiles SO big when we sing that one.

Well, that's all I can think of at the moment. Here are some pics!

Aubrey's first New Years!

Cheers (with milk) to the new year!

Don't you just wanna squeeze those cheeks!?

sweet, sweet face

our little thumb sucker

When she's ready to go to sleep, she just rolls over and goes to sleep

this monkey is one of her favorite toys

all smiles!

adorable strawberry butt!

How cute is she in her leg warmers and matching bow?!

This is the face she makes when Caleb makes his weed-eating/leaf-blowing noise, LOL

sweet girl and the pups

Roux just came and laid down next to her. Is that not the sweetest thing?

precious girl!

Through a blog I follow, I found out about a local Etsy business that needed babies to test out their clothes on. The lady who owns it is just getting started and wants to test the fit and size of her hand made items before selling them. I thought it'd be a fun thing to do and maybe Aubrey can get some free clothes out of it. This was the first (and so far the only) thing we've tried but it was all kinds of wrong - ha! She definitely will not be re-wearing this one. We gave the shop owner our feedback and I was glad to help her out.

hanging out in the garage with Caleb and Mama one warm afternoon

Most mornings, Aubrey helps me wake big brother up.

this is his way of giving her "sugars" - tapping his head to hers. have to watch him and make sure he doesn't all-out head butt her....which he does do.