6 month check up 6/25

Zealynn turned 6 months on June 21st and had her 6 month check up on June 25th.  It's definitely bittersweet for these check ups.  I love to see how much she's grown, but it is really sad to see her get shots.  My niece, Jordyn came with me.  Z was emotional from being tired.  She got one oral and 3 shots.  It was so sad.  She's cried before, but this time was a scream where nothing comes out. It makes me sad thinking about it. BUT on a brighter note...our baby girl is growing!! On 6/25 she was 28 1/4 inch 99.52% for height, 16.1 lbs 49.11% for weight, and 17 inch 76.57% in head circumference. She is our tall and skinny babe...with all the rolls and chubs in the right place! :)  

Also, you know how I said she was waking up every 2 hours or so plus, her naps were like 45 minutes almost always.  We tried at 5 months to let her cry out and then every 20 minutes we'd go in there and rub her back and leave.  Well when we did that, she would get all excited and start laughing and kicking and swinging her arms.  Then as soon as we left, she would scream bloody murder.  This would go on for 2 hours.  My theory with sleeping is this...my baby will only be my baby for these next short years.  If there are days that I want to hold her through the night while she sleeps or naps, I'm going to do so because I won't be able to in a couple years.  This is the only time I have with my baby, so I want to take full advantage of loving EVERY moment with her.  So I don't feel bad that we didn't start earlier with her sleeping on her own because for me and Kev, those memories of holding her when she napped are forever engraved in our minds.  We do want her to sleep good though because I know it's good for her to have long stretches.  So the week before she turned 6 months, I talked with my mom and she said to try to just leave her and not go in.  I think it gets her hopes up that you will pick her up.  So that's what we did....we started with her naps.  It took her 45 minutes of screaming, but eventually she fell asleep.  It's so cute to see how she falls asleep now.  She cuddles up to the bumper and uses it as a pillow! :)  Then the next nap was 35 minutes, then 18, then 10, 8, 2 and now sometimes she doesn't cry, just talks a little and falls asleep.  It's so nice when she does that.  Plus, now she only cries for a short amount of time so I know when she cries longer then 10 minutes that something is wrong....still hungry, diaper change, just need to be held for a little bit longer, etc.  Ever since then, her naps have become 2 hours each time.  She usually takes 2 to 3 naps a day.  It's nice to be able to count on that.  Usually if she takes a 3rd nap it's about 45 min-hr.  She usually goes down at 10pm.  I put her down at 8pm one time for good and she woke up at 5:30am ready to play. um. no.  She usually wakes up between 8:00-9:30am and I love it because I just hear her talking and "barking" and she'll do that for about 45 min if she wakes up at 8:30.  I also love that even though I can count on her schedule, she is extremely flexible.  We can be out and about and she rarely makes a fuss.  Especially if we are outside, she will be able to just go with the flow and enjoys looking at everyone and everything around her.  Although I miss her as a newborn (where the heck did that time go?!) I feel we took every ounce of it in and enjoyed everything about it so we are loving every stage she goes through!