SIX (actually seven) months

Ok…I am slightly behind on this post because at the moment, you are 7 months old.  Better late than never.  I want to remember all the little details.  It’s hard though because I don’t write a lot down and this is my only document…and I’m behind on that. :(

I am going to try to remember the highlights!

• Larkin’s 6 month stats: weight: 14 lbs 11 oz, length: 25.5 inches, head circumference: 42.3 cm
• Okay…some people would disagree with this statement but here it goes:  you are a pretty laid back baby.  I will explain before tomatoes or eggs are thrown at my house!!!  As far as you can miss a nap and be okay: you are laid back…in fact, you are pretty much perfect as long as I am holding you!!!!  Sometimes…actually A LOT…you like for me to be standing up which is okay because I am rarely sitting anyway!  NOW, as for going to other people, you have gotten pretty clingy. For the most part though, I’d say you are a good baby….maybe that’s because you have been good today!
• You LOVE, LOVE your brothers. And, more importantly, so far you are tolerant of their behavior!
• You are still in LOOOOOOVE with your thumb.  We all KNOW how much I am in LOVE with your thumb also!  I am convinced that that is the reason that you sleep so good at night.  You do not take a paci anymore and haven’t for a long time.  We still have them around because you love playing with them and chewing on them but you don’t use one for comfort.
• TEETH:  You got your first tooth (bottom right) at five months and your second (bottom left) at 5.5 months.  You have another one that we just discovered at about 6.5 months but it has NOT broken through yet….I bet you will never guess which one it is?!?!  Top right, FANG tooth.  YEP, JUST LIKE Trigger, Campbell, and ME!!!!  Crazy!!!  Maybe you will be a little more like Campbell and get your other top ones fast and you wont have the vampire smile like Trigger did.
• You started sitting up a little later than we expected…at 6.5 months.  I am fairly confident that this is because of your lack of “ground time” since you are carried around or are in bed for most of the day!
• Your brothers love you so much.  They are constantly trying to kiss you and hold your hand.  Trigger told me today that if Campbell tried to hurt you that he wouldn’t let him.  I’m pretty sure you are going to have some great protection in the future!!!
• Clothes:  I have JUST now put away your 3-6 month pjs and you are wearing 6 months or some hand-me-down 9 months pjs.  You pretty much wear all 6 month clothes.  You probably could wear some 9 month bubbles but I haven’t put those on you yet. 
• SLEEP:  You are THE best sleeper!  If we are home all day, you will take two good naps…maybe even three.  Then, for nighttime, I feed you, no rocking, and put you straight in bed around 730 (earlier if I can get everything done in time).  Sometimes you are asleep and sometimes you aren’t.  Either way, you just drift off to sleep.  You sleep until around 730 (sometimes 8-830) in the morning.  It is awesome.  Last week you had a runny nose and you woke up at 10pm crying…I was kind of panicked wondering what I should do…I realized that it had been about 4 months since you had woken up at night….and you have probably only woken early in the morning (4am) around 5 or 6 times in the last four months SOOOO, I would say that you are an AWESOME sleeper!!!!   Oh and you do NOT like being rocked.  When you get tired, you just want to be laid down and you suck your thumb and might cry a little and go to sleep!!!!
• FEEDING: I just started rice cereal when you turned seven months.  PITIFUL but we had to get the clear from the neurologist and also you had been having some major stomach issues with some dairy that I had eaten.  You only get fed once a day (at night)….and you only get about a tablespoon in your tummy because you spit out or spit up most of it!  We have also just tried peas.  You are OKAY with peas and rice cereal but aren’t just loving it yet!
• BREASTFEEDING:  I am still exclusively breastfeeding you…LOVE It!  Let me just say though, breastfeeding is NOT for the weak or for the selfish.  I literally can’t be gone for more than an hour and a half (2 at the MAX) so Larkin literally goes where I go!  She nurses about 5 times a day….she only nurses about 7-10 minutes each time…IF THAT!  I am still pumping at night before I go to bed.  I had slacked off quite a bit and wasn’t even storing the milk until Larkin’s head injury.  Then, I panicked and started freezing it because I was scared that she would need it if she was hospitalized or had to have surgery.  I can usually pump around 7-8 ounces  at night.
• NEURO- We took you back to the doctor in JULY.  The neurologist said that your skull fracture is starting to heal.  It is nowhere near healed and she said it is because the fracture was so big.  We did get to see the xray.  The fracture is from behind one ear up the side and all the way to your soft spot.  On the other side of your head, you have a fracture that looked to be in the shape of a horseshoe.  We will go back in September for another xray and appointment.  She is hoping that it is close to healed by the time we go back.  However, she said she wouldn’t be surprised if it was not healed completely.   Our only instructions were to look for pulsating in the cracks between the skull and to be careful with you.   When I put you on the ground to sit up, I have to make sure you have extra padding all around…and we have to be careful with who is allowed to hold you.
• MEDICINE- You are still on Zantac.  We took you off of prevacid around 6 months…I did this because prevacid with long term use is not good for calcium absorption.  You still spit up BUCKET LOADS a day but maybe that will get a little better now that we are adding food.
• Everyone says that you look just like Trigger (who apparently looks just like your daddy).  I see some of Campbell in you too.

We are sooo in love with you!!!!!  and I am so thankful that God surprised us with a sweet little girl!!!!