Eliza at 6 months

My baby girl is moving and shaking! She had a month where she didn’t grow in weight, her doctor just suggested more consistent and maybe more quiet feeding times. It is a tall order considering she has two big siblings around all. the. time. But she is a very content baby, doesn’t fuss much at all. Maybe she just has her Daddy’s fast metabolism. She enjoys her own space, though she will happily look at you or coo to you but has been known to give people the stiff arm. (MeMe says this comes from me, and I saw it in Anna as well.)

She is making lots of progress now and is super healthy. She is my smallest infant hanging around 50% for weight and a little higher for height. She is average but that feels small after having my 95%+ Anna and 85% Isaac. My parents say that she’ll be our little point guard. To train for ankle-biting, apparently you begin with toe-biting.

But with small size comes increased mobility in babies. Eliza is already moving all over the place, she scoots forward with the army crawl. Lately she has been getting up on her hands and knees but isn’t quite crawling that way yet. Her favorite position is being on her side. It’s her “paint me like one of your french girls” pose. She is always on her side, looking around, it is her attempt at sitting up (which she is getting closer and closer to being independent there).

I’m glad she is getting bigger so that the kids enjoy holding her. I spoke in church in January and Anna held Eliza for me while I was dealing with Isaac but then Eliza fell asleep. Jacob was really confused when I came to the podium to give my talk and didn’t have the baby to hand off. He still went and sat with the kids but Anna held her and it was so sweet.

Eliza’s hair is getting longer, she looks so sweet with her bangs swept to the side but they often fall down on her forehead. They just don’t make barrettes for such a small amount of beautiful hair. We love her and think she is cute no matter what her bedhead looks like.

She is loving solids every meal. And just recently has started enjoying rice rusks. She is always putting everything in her mouth, she hasn’t cut any teeth yet so we are almost positive she is teething.

And her lack of fuss during the day is more than made up for with the rocking and walking we have to do at night to help her get ready for bed. Jacob sometimes even wears her in the carrier it can be so taxing to hold her without sitting like she likes. But we are grateful she can be contented and that we have the strength to take care of her.

Oh and Aunty Rachel introduced us to Snapchat recently. I pretty much just bombarded her phone with pictures of Eliza for a week.

I’m grateful we finished the kids room in December. It has a nice big carpet in there for her to crawl around and play on while the kids are playing. I just love being in there with all of them. They play on their beds or at the table and Eliza finds toys while I enjoy the rocking chair. I couldn’t have asked for a happier space for them. Eliza loves watching her big siblings and everything they do. We will put her in the car walker. She is just barely able to touch, my little average Jane. But she will watch them run around or love having them bring her toys.

We are all learning how to serve, be considerate, and even quiet sometimes *coughIsaaccough*. Eliza stretches us but is such a happy little girl she reminds us to smile every day with her giggles. I haven’t caught it on camera but one of our favorite things she does is looks up at us from our laps. Her whole body twists so she can make eye contact and when she does her smile just creeps across her face like, oh good, it’s you. Makes a Momma’s heart melt.