Already Six Months Old

Penelope is 6 months old today.  I find it hard to believe that it’s been six months since she arrived and joined our family.  She is an unbelievably happy and sweet baby.  She rolls everywhere, and has been going up on her hands and toes and trying to scoot forward.  Unfortunately, she’s just moving backwards now, but I’m sure one day she’ll make it forward.  Penelope can sit propping herself up for a good 30 seconds, and I’m sure that she’ll be sitting up all by herself soon enough.  Penelope enjoys “talking” and trying to be louder than her brother and sisters, which is no small feat.  We have a very loud house! 

Penelope also loves socks.  She enjoys taking them off her feet and chewing on them, and she enjoys finding the kids’ socks that are left laying around and chewing on them.  It’s a little weird, but then our family does have some pretty strange habits, so I suppose she fits right in. 

Penelope wakes up around 7:00 or 7:30 each morning and usually takes a morning nap, an afternoon nap, and a short nap in the late afternoon.  She nurses when I’m around, or if I’m not takes about a 6 ounce bottle of breastmilk, 4-5 times a day.  She loves eating solids, and eats solids for breakfast and snacktime with the kids.  So far Penelope has had sweet potatoes, butternut squash, avocados, bananas, and pears.  She loves it all, but she really LOVES pears.  She has storytime with the big kids each night, and goes to bed around 8:00 or 8:30 each night.

Penelope woke up sick on Sunday.  She had some horrible chest congestion and sounded really awful.  That night she got up 3 times in the middle of the night (I gave her Tylenol and nursed her back to sleep each time), so on Monday morning I took her to the pediatrician.  It turns out she had a left ear infection and got her first round of bubblegum medicine, which she loves.  Monday night she only got up once, and then returned to her normal sleeping habits.  She is feeling a lot better now and barely has any congestion left.  What is amazing to me is that even though she clearly felt sick, she was still such a sweet baby.  She would lay her head on my shoulder, and then look up at me and grin, then just lay her head back down.  I really was feeling sympathetic toward her because I found out on Tuesday that I have an ear infection, too (playschool germs are going to be the end of us).  I’m feeling a lot better now, too. 

Today was supposed to be Penelope’s 6-month well baby check-up, but we had some snow this morning so Penelope’s 8:15 a.m. appointment time was moved until 11:30 a.m., which didn’t work with our schedules today.  Unfortunately, I can’t get her in for a well baby check-up for 3 weeks, so we will have to wait until then for her official statistics and percentiles.  She was weighed on Monday, though, so we know that she is 15 pounds 13 ounces!  She weighs almost as much as Rosemary did at her one year appointment  Wow!! 

I have photos to post and more things to say, but that’s enough for now.  Happy Half Birthday, sweet Penelope!!