Half-Birthday

Today is Esperanza's 'half birthday'! She's 6 months old! When I was in grade school, I remember a girl in my class that had 2 birthdays. I don't think it was ever explained to her or anyone else how it was possible to have 2 birthdays in one year. As a little girl who probably knew more about birth than the average little girl my own age, I actually remember thinking to myself ' but how can someone be born twice'? Looking back on it now though, it all makes sense. That girls real birthday was probably in the summer (like Esperanza's), so she had a 'half birthday' to be able to celebrate during the school year (thats my theory anyways). Though we are several years away from Esperanza being school age, and I don't plan on making it a big deal in the future, I can't help but be excited that it's her first half birthday!

We took Esperanza in for a check-up last week and she weighed in at 15 pounds. As far as her development and behavior goes, she's right on for her age. We were however 'warned' that unless we're content with her current sleeping pattern, we might want to start trying to change them sooner than later since she's developing habits that will likely continue. I won't go into detail about her bedtimes and wake times, but I will say that we are definately NOT content with her sleeping habits right now. So, our challenge is to figure out how to make a sleepy baby stay awake at times and a not so sleepy baby sleep at other times. Ha, easier said than done!

Other than the sleeping issues, life with a 6 month old is so much fun! The fussy 2 month old we used to have has been replaced by a giggly and happy baby girl. She is actually ticklish now and it's so fun to make her laugh. She also laughs and enjoys it when someone plays peek-a-boo with her. And we're having a great time introducing new foods to her. While it takes up a lot of what little free time I have, I enjoy making baby foods for her. Other than brown rice cereal, she's experimented with a few different winter squashes, pears, prunes, avacado and carrots. So far she loves everything. Every 4 or 5 days I introduce something new to her and I use a neat site called Wholesome Baby Food, advice from my midwives and friends/family as well as good old fashioned common sense to determine what to introduce when.

Last weekend Esperanza had her first fever. I'm not sure what brought it on but it it got to 101. She is still teething but no teeth have actually broken through yet (or again I should say). Maybe the teething caused the fever, not sure. She hadn't had anything new to eat so it wasn't that. She was mostly quiet and cuddly the entire weekend, and only wanted to be held by mommy or daddy. The temperature went down after the second night with no worries. Now, she's back to her happy self and life is good.

Here's a couple pics and a short video I took just before bed...