Happy Half-Birthday!

Dear Amelia,

I can't believe you're 6 months old! I still remember the day you came into this world like it was just yesterday. I remember your daddy holding you and looking at me with proud tears of joy in his eyes. I remember thinking that you were so perfect that you couldn't be real. I remember feeling like the luckiest mommy in the world because you're MY daughter.

These last 6 months have flown by and I can't believe what a big girl you've become. You are growing like a weed. It's amazing how you went from such a tiny little baby to this little person. You really are like a doll and trust me, I get my fair share of dress-up time dressing you each day. :)

Besides growing, you've come so far in your development. You mastered rolling as if it were nothing. You sit up like a little princess holding court. You have your first tooth. You stand (with me supporting you) so well that I hold my breath wondering when you'll walk right out of my hands.

Your laugh is sweet music to my ears. Your smile is infectious. I love watching you in social situations. We'll be in the grocery store and you'll stare people down until they look at you and then give them the biggest smile. You're also the nosiest little thing. You have to have a look at EVERYTHING! The more there is to see, the better. :) I love that you're so curious. I hope that you'll always love to learn.

When people ask me if you're a good baby, I tell them you're a perfect baby. And you are. You sleep well (except recently since that silly thing called teething started). You have the best temperament. You're a generally happy little girl who is content to watch the world around you. Crying is reserved for when you're super tired or something is wrong. Since you cry so rarely, when you do, I know there is something really bothering you. For the most part you're a smiley, happy baby.

Now that you've reached 6 months we've started you on solid foods. We started with rice cereal and the first time you tried it, you seemed to like it. It was beginner's luck. The next two times we tried you would have nothing to do with it. And you never took to oatmeal. But sweet potatoes, peas, squash and carrots? You LOVE them! Seeing the joy on your face as you gobble them down is one of my favorite parts of the day. Of course you're still breast feeding and I love our snuggle time together. I think you do too. I never thought I would enjoy breast feeding this much. I secretly rolled my eyes when other people said that they would breast feed longer if they could. Now I get it. We won't do this past the one year mark but I get it. It's our time. It's part of the day when just you and I get to be a part of each other like no one else can be a part of us. It really is a beautiful bond and one day when you have a little one, I hope you'll understand what I'm saying.

With so much that these 6 months have brought about, I can only imagine what's to come before your first birthday. You're thinking so hard about crawling and the way you babble, maybe we'll get a "mama" or "dada" from you. I don't know what's to come but I do know this - the next 6 months will provide your daddy and I many, many, many more opportunities to fall deeper and deeper in love with you.

All my love,

Mommy

p.s. If you're reading this and your nickname is still Moo-Moo, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean for that nickname to stick but you love to eat and it just came about. Forgive me but in some ways you really did bring it upon yourself.

Too big for my britches!

Look closely at this picture. Don't get distracted by her AWESOME smile. Do you see how her the legs of her outfit are on? This was an outfit she had at daycare as a change of clothes. Yesterday she needed it but little did Mommy, or the daycare provider, know that this outfit is TOO small. Miss Cathy did the best she could. I laughed SO hard when I picked her up. I left her that way till Shaun got home because I had to let him see it in person.

New Clothes!

We got our new installment of clothes for Amelia from our awesome Craigslist contact. For $125 we got ALL of Amelia's needs for next summer!

Introducing Rice Cereal

Amelia has been chopping at the bit to try real food. We put her in her highchair when we eat dinner and she stares at us with drool streaming down her chin. I decided that being a week away from her 6 month mark it was time to give the little lady what she wanted. It was time for rice cereal.

Sunday afternoon we plopped her in her highchair, mixed up some cereal, threw a bib on her and with two spoons (one for her and one for me!), we set out to try something new.

Amelia tests out her spoon. It was a decoy to try and keep her hands off my spoon.

I go in for the first bite - she wasn't sure what to think.

She decided she liked it and started leaning in for more.

She must have really liked it because she kept trying to help me feed her.

The happy camper.

Sunday was the only successful day of rice cereal. On Monday she took one bite and then would not open her mouth again. Tuesday she let me give her a little here and there but she made these faces that totally let me know she thought it was completely disgusting. Oh well! Tonight (Wednesday) we're trying oatmeal. We'll try rice cereal again next week.

Just call me J. Lo...

HA! Just kidding! But, I did play wedding planner this weekend to a fabulous wedding at Topnotch. It was SO much fun to be back in the groove of the wedding world. Here are some pics of the setup. Beautiful, right?

Had to Share

Last night Amelia snuggled in with Shaun to watch part of the Women's

Semi-Final of the US Open. They looked too cute together.

She's Growing Like a Weed!

Holy smokes, she's growing like weed! The first picture was taken about May 15th and this one was taken today, September 10th. It's crazy the difference 4 months makes!

Amelia meets Claire!

NOTE: This is a TERRIBLE picture but for now it will have to do. Shaun took it with my cell phone and for whatever reason, it just came out bad. I'll get a better copy from Erin. But I do love the way Claire's little chin is resting on her hand!

On Friday we took Amelia to meet Claire. I was dying to see my dear friend and give her little peanut a snuggle. We showed up with food in hand (mmm, chicken parm from Papa Frank's) and had a wonderful visit. Erin looks fabulous and both she and Andrew already seem to have the whole parenting thing perfected.

Amelia is a MOOSE compared to Claire. Yes, there is a 5 month difference between them but holy do those additional 8lbs on Amelia feel like many more! It is already so hard to remember Amelia being that tiny. I almost tossed Claire across the room when I picked her up after holding Amelia!

Oh and I do have to say that Amelia was pretty intrigued by this little tiny person in her presence. She's used to being surrounded by bigger kids so she seemed in awe of someone smaller than her. Shaun did take a picture of Amelia "petting" Claire but it was SO dark you'd have no idea what you were looking at. Total bummer because it was too precious!