6 Months!

Time with my sweet Sammie is just FLYING by! Last week she officially turned 6 months old. I was waiting to post about her half birthday until her doctor's appointment today. Her stats are: 18 lbs. (85th percentile) and 28 inches long (off the charts). The doctor told me that she is the size of the average 10 month old. She is two inches away from being too big for her carseat. Yeah, my Sammie is a sumo. She's a big girl. I love it.

The doctor told me that, while she is not obese and her weight and height are very proportional, her girth is making it difficult for her to use her muscles the way she should be. Justin and I have been concerned for a little while now because it's becoming more and more obvious that she's behind. She doesn't roll well (and she never rolls from back to front), she doesn't support her own body weight with her legs, and she doesn't sit up on her own well. These are all things she should be doing by now but she's not. We figured it had something to do with how big she was but it was a relief to hear the doctor agree with me. Sammie has good muscle tone, she just doesn't use it very well right now. So Sammie has a First Steps consultation coming up. Basically, First Steps is like physical therapy for babies. I'm hoping that with a little work we can have Sammie caught up in no time. If she has to slim down a little to use her muscles better, I'll be sad about loosing all these delicious rolls but glad that she's catching up. Check out those squishy legs. I love those rolls!

Other than that, our Sumosam is healty, happy, and perfect. She eats like a champ (hence all the chub), sleeps better than any baby I've ever heard of (ever), is happy and content nearly all of the time, and only cries if she's hungry, tired, or all alone in a room (a.k.a. - bored). She loves watching her siblings. They love to lay down next to her when she's on the floor and talk to her and she eats it up. She smiles for her brothers and sister so easily, I love how sweet they all are together. She is also becoming increasingly fascinated with the dog. She stares at him when she's on the floor and, if he sits too close to her, she grabs him. I can tell it hurts (baby pinches are no joke) but he's a good dog and never nips or gets angry with her, he just moves out of the way. This is the best picture I could get, but Disco loves to sit next to her (I'm assuming that it's usually because I put her down on a blanket and Disco thinks that any blanket on the floor is automatically his). She was distracted by the camera here, but after I put it away some major tail grabbing ensued.

One of the ways that we've been trying to help Sammie use her legs and core is putting her in the Johnny Jumper. We've had this thing since my baby shower with Clayton and all my kids have loved it. Sammie was unsure at first because she wasn't using her legs so she just sat there like a big lump of unhappy pudding, but over the past few weeks she's started jumping in it like she's supposed to and she loves it! She's not the enthusiastic jumper that Noah or Josie were, but she's doing it and it can only be good for her so yay! (We put it in the doorway to the toy room, so she just jumps and watches the kids play. It's the best!)

Sammie has been pulling out her headbands a lot lately. I remember when Josie started doing this and it bummed me out because those headbands are one of the fun things about having a baby girl and to not be able to use them is kind of sad. Now that Sammie has way better control of her hands (one way in which she's right on track), headbands are fewer and further between. So just for funsies the other day we made piggies!!! I died. So cute.

Sammie loves her daddy. She's so easy going and good natured that it's hard not to love and squeeze and dote on this little princess. Justin is becoming more and more wrapped around her little finger.

We sure do love our Sammie Sue and are so grateful every day that she is a member of our family. A few of my favorite things about her: her chub, her big blue eyes, her easygoing personality, her belly laugh, the way she looks when she's concentrating to grab something (my necklace and earing wearing days are temporarily over), the way she gets SO excited when she sees something she wants to grab, and the way she lights up when one of her big sibs gives her a little attention.

Check out those gorgeous blue eyes and that big toothless smile! My kids don't usually start teething until about 8 months. I'm glad because I know I'll miss this toothless smile when it's gone.

I thought it would be fun to do some comparison photos. So here are some that Kerstin took of Sammie when she was two weeks old:

 (I know these are almost identical but I love them both so I put them both in...so there.)

And here she is at 6 months (yes, Kerstin's pics are better, but we're looking at the baby here, not the photography):

 Those cheeks, that chin. My goodness my fingers are itching to squish that face right now!

Happy six months Samantha, I love you more than words can say and I'm really glad that you're mine. You complete our family, you always brighten my days, and we simply cannot get enough of you. We're addicted to you.