26 Weeks Old

September 19 - September 25

The week started nicely!  On Monday, my friend Sandra was in town from Colorado.  We spent a lovely afternoon sitting on the deck and having a beer while Sarah cooed up at the trees.  It was so nice to see Sandra - I miss having her around!!

On Wednesday, Sarah turned 6 months old!  To celebrate, she got her first tooth - right on schedule.  We haven't been able to take photos of it (she always sticks her tongue out when she opens her mouth to show us her bottom gum), but our fingers can certainly tell you it's in there!  It's SHARP!!!

I took her monthly picture next to the ardvark.  While she sat still for a few nice ones, I had to include a couple shots of her trying to eat the ardvark, her trying to throw the ardvark, and her realizing that she could make the rocking chair rock by flinging her body forward and backward.  Maybe I can duct tape her to the chair for her 7 month photos? (Just kidding - please don't call SRS on me!)

We also let Sarah try a sippy cup for the first time this week.  She's been trying to grab anything Mom and Dad are drinking for weeks now, so we thought giving her a cup of her own might help with that. First, we gave her the cup with a little water in it.  She started out like she knew what she was doing, and then it quickly went downhill.  What I mean by "downhill" is that she threw it on the floor...

After that, I put some milk in the sippy cup in the hopes that it would keep her attention longer that way.  Unfortunately, she seemed to have forgotten how to use the sippy cup in the time that it took me to pick it up, rinse it off, and refill it for her!

She eventually remembered that you get more liquid if you drink from the top of the cup instead of the side of the cup.  Here she is demonstrating her "look-ma-no-hands" approach to drinking:

Sarah has also done a lot of sitting on her own this week!  This is nice because it give Mom and Dad a little more freedom during play time, but it's more work for us most other times!  Now that she sits up, that's ALL she wants to do!  She gets mad if we lay her down or (God forbid!) try to leave her in her carrier while we eat dinner at a restaurant (thanks for sticking with us, Doug and Christina!).

Sarah had her 6 month check-up with Dr. Rawson on Friday.  She is 18 lb, 12 oz (93%ile) and 27" long (90%ile).  That's our big girl!  We also got the green light to increase her solids from one feeding a day to three feedings a day, and she can start finger foods later this month!  Pickle will LOVE the Cheerios and puffs that will surely come her way...it may even be enough to curb her appetite and encourage her to quit stealing things off the counters and table!

This week's unexpected Pickle theft - an entire bag of marshmallows.  I hosted my cousin Lizzie's baby shower on Sunday.  The theme was "Peter Rabbit."  I made garden-themed cupcakes and had a bowl of jumbo marshmallows labeled "Bunny Tails" on the table.  This bowl was filled with the bag of marshmallows Tom bought me Sunday morning after I came downstairs with a screaming baby at 6:30 to find a shredded plastic bag on the kitchen floor with no marshmallows left inside.  Anybody want a dog???

Canine catastrophies aside, the shower was a lot of fun!  It was so nice to see all the little cousins playing with each other - they don't get to do it often enough.  Lizzie looks great and amazes me with her calm demeanor!  Baby Gavin is so lucky to get a mommy and daddy like Lizzie and Will!!!