Air Force Wife Life: 6 months

Lena is now half a year old. Another half a year and we will have a 1 year old and a 3 year old! Where does time keep running off to?

This month has been chalk full of fun and challenges. We've been working on sleep issues and so far it seems to be paying off. Lena now sleeps in her own crib at night. On a good night, she's only waking once for a feed. But on bad nights, there's a lot of stress and crying. From myself and Lena! She's a great little napper! Naps 8:45-11 and then 12:45-3 everyday! I feel like she sleeps a lot. But I guess growing babes need lots of it. It's been great to start feeling like myself and more rested each morning. I'm even getting more one on one time with Elise which I know has been lacking lately. But I would be lying if I said I didn't miss Lena most of the day!

Lena now pushes herself backwards, not what I would call crawling, but moving for sure! She loves to grab her toys and bang them on the nearest surface just to hear what sound it makes. She mimics us and our speech and sounds more and more each day. My husband has noticed also that Lena turns to look at you when you say her name! At 6 months old, she knows her sweet name. This time last year, we were only just picking out what it would be. Life can be pretty amazing. She loves to swing in her new baby swing outside and go for rides in her stroller. She doesn't mind shopping with mom in her Ergo either! Lena is about as close to sitting up by herself as she can get! I usually just need to hold her right thigh down a little for support and she can handle the rest. It won't be too long before she won't need me for that either!

Lena still seems to have dark blue eyes, but there's much playful debate over what color they will wind up being. She also still has plenty of brown wispies on her head, but underneath, there's the slightest bit of gold shimmering, ready to come in. Whether or not she will be a lighter brunette or a blonde remains to be seen! We are having a great time trying to guess though! We both just kind of expected our kids to have my darker features since they are the more dominant genes. Honestly, I think as adults they probably will, but for now, we will enjoy the guessing game! Another fun memory for our family to look back on someday. She's still as chunky as ever, despite being in the 20%s for both height and weight! Big surprise, our kids are petite! We aren't exactly big people either! We love playing with Lena's sweet chunky rolls though! I know when she starts to move and walk they will disappear too quickly!

With Lena's sleep changing so much, it's only natural that her feeding did as well. Our goal with sleeping wasn't easy because she wasn't able to string together her sleep cycles on her own. And she associated nursing with sleep. So she required nursing to sleep each sleep cycle or two. Roughly every two hours. Once we were able to show her she didn't need the breast to sleep (which was hard for me to give up at first but mama needs sleep!), she figured it out pretty quickly. Anyway, now she nurses after naps instead of before. She usually feeds first thing 7am after waking, after her first nap, and then after her second and once more around 5 before going to bed at 5:45. She usually wakes to nurse at night between 12-4. She goes right back to sleep which is nice.

I'm pretty excited having made it to 6 months of breastfeeding with Lena. This journey has had its own trials and triumphs, but again, I couldn't be more pleased with how it's been going! Breastfeeding is just one of my favorite things about being a mom. I have now breastfed my girls for a total of 20 months. One of my favorite accomplishments, for sure. I definitely have to say, I could NOT have done this without the incredible support I've received from my husband. I love breastfeeding, but every road has its bumps, and I would never have weathered mine so well without him cheering me on. He's been just as determined as I am that the girls be breastfed for a full year. I love him so much for that.

This week we start solid foods, so that will likely be on the next blog. I'm sure it will come all too quickly like the previous months. This week, we celebrate our first Thanksgiving as a family. All four of us. I'm still in denial that this is happening. Seems way too good to be true. I know next month will be even stranger in that respect. But I can't wait. I've never been more excited for a Christmas approaching. It will be the best one in our entire lives by a long shot, no doubt about that.