Happy 6 Months Carys!

I thought these picture were fitting for her 6 month photo, lol. It pretty much describes Carys at 6 months. Obviously she has outgrown her play mat and it has basically become a safety hazard b/c she kicks on the bars so hard that it collapses on top of her. She definitely needs some new age appropriate toys!

She is 14lbs and 1oz and around 25 inches (its basically impossible to measure her so this is a guesstimate)...still teeny tiny but she is growing

So... this past month has probably been the hardest for me so far. As you can see from the pictures above and below Carys is truly on the move; she is all over the place...and she is not even crawling yet. Her mode of transportation is rolling, she rolls EVERYWHERE. It is fun watching her explore but at the same time it's frustrating for me b/c I can't get anything done. Yes she's a good baby (everyone feels the need to remind me of this) but she is a baby who needs constant attention... she does not like entertaining herself, or being alone for more than a few minutes. People have told me to just let her cry but that is not my parenting style... plus Chris and I tried letting her cry it out at bed time and it was a disaster. She works herself up so much that she practically starts hyperventilating... it was MUCH harder to get her to sleep at that point (that is a whole other blog post in itself)

Another reason things have become more difficult is because Carys has basically weened herself from breastfeeding from the breast (even at night). So I have been pumping every few hours so she can still have breast milk, however I can't pump enough milk (despite pumping often and taking supplements to increase my milk supply) so I have to supplement her feedings with formula. Now I know that most people will think that this is no big deal, but I HATE the fact that I have to feed her formula. I had it all planned out that I would exclusively breastfeed her until she was a year old... and well, Carys has changed those plans for me. It makes me really sad and I can't help but feel like a failure when I pump and get a whopping 2oz... even though I know it is not my fault at all... it's still hard. 

Anyway I have a million and one other things to complain about but I want to celebrate Carys turning 6 months... and I can blog about my gripes at another time.

Carys had her first veggie the other day... mmm squash! This squash came from a jar but I try to be as organic and natural as possible so I bought a kit that helps you to easily make your own baby food at home. I picked up some organic squash that I plan on making her for her next baby food feeding. *Side note: disregard her bib, it was a hand-me-down from her cousin.

of course she loves to chew on everything... which means she is a normal baby ;)

 stinky feet... seriously, sometimes her feet stink!

smile for the camera!

Chris calls this her "break dancing pose"

She is still very vocal... we hear a lot of gaga's and dada's all day long

I can't believe that in another 6 months my little girl will be 1 year old! Happy 6 months my love!

morning face

good morning! i wake my mama up so early it's not even light out yet!

new favorite toy

Carys has lots of fun toys and she has a new favorite.... want to know what it is??

if you look closely next to her left arm you will see what it is

it's these nasty tags on the side of the play mat! yuck! but she loooooves them. whenever i put her on her mat this is the first thing she goes for and she will chew and suck on them for as long as i let her. just goes to show you that you can buy a baby a million toys but they will probably like something boring and simple (and kinda gross) like these tags. oh well.

how did you get over there?!

i left carys alone for a few minutes and when i left her she was in between her play mat and blanket and when i came back she wasn't there.... 

i started laughing when i saw her...  i couldn't believe she rolled that far b/c normally she only rolls over once. the days of me leaving her alone (even for a few minutes) are going to be long gone soon!

I want to crawl!

notice a trend here? Carys loves rolling onto her belly... and she wants to crawl so bad! She does not like to sit still... as soon as she is mobile she is going to be all over the place!

outgrowing things...

i think she may be growing out of her little vibrating chair.... even when she is strapped in she can pull herself up to sitting straight up

Carys loves Grandpa

coincidentally Carys got to hang out with both of her grandpa's last week... on thursday she got to hang out w/ my dad and chris' dad and on friday Grandpa Bill came over again and played w/ Carys all day... and she loved every second of it!

here are some pictures of Carys and my dad 

yummy yummy!

Carys won't start eating "solids" until next month but I started giving her rice cereal and she seemed to really like it! Just like drinking out of a sippy cup, eating from a spoon will definitely take some practice... most of the cereal went all over her :) Every time the spoon was near her face she would open her mouth wide and try to shove it in her mouth herself.... it's quite comical

my little ray of sunshine

happy 5 months Carys!

 At 5 months Carys weighs a little over 13 lbs and is 24 inches.

Time goes by sooo fast! I can't believe Carys is already 5 months old. When she was a newborn it seemed like forever until the days she would do more than sleep, eat, and poop. I was literally counting down the hours until she could actually interact with us, and for me to feel like more than just a milk machine... and now look at her, she is growing into a little lady. Looking back, I sometimes miss the days when all she would do is sleep, eat, and poop b/c now Carys needs to be entertained allll day long and I am her entertainer! I find myself asking her "Carys, aren't you sleepy... don't you want to take a loooong nap like you used to?" :) But it's okay, I love taking care of her and watching her grow, and even though I have very little free time, I am happy to entertain my little Boo Boo Bear all day long. She really is so much fun. She gets smarter and more lively every day!

Last month I talked about Carys' diva personality... she's still feisty at times but for the most part she is a wonderful  baby. Usually when she starts getting upset now we can figure out what is wrong pretty fast so there is less screaming and crying :) She still smiles so much, and now she even laughs hysterically... I can already tell that she is going to have a good sense of humor.

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here are Chris and Billy with the babies... Carys and London, these two don't know it yet but they are BFF (Carys is so cute... she is trying to reach out to London to comfort her..aw!)

 this is Carys' crib which she hadn't really slept in until recently but....

here she is fast asleep in her crib! however, right now she is back in our bed sleeping next to me b/c i'm trying to maintain our nursing relationship (yup, after she started taking the bottle she doesn't like the boob as much anymore, which has left me devastated). She still wakes up at night to eat and when i have her snuggled next to me while we sleep she will breastfeed (during the day she pretty much only gets bottles). I am soooo not ready to wean Carys from the boob so I'm doing everything I can to keep at it... even if it means only at night.

the many faces of Carys

here she is drinking out of a sippy cup... most of the milk went all over her, but she did good for her first time!

she loves sitting here and playing with her toys

here she is just hangin out... playing with her paci of course

she is also getting much better at sitting up... pretty soon she will be able to do it unsupported

(sorry the pictures are kinda blurry, I'm going to start using a real camera as soon I get a new battery charger for it)