6 Months Old

This little chunky monkey reached a milestone on January 1, 2014.  She slid right into the world of 6 month old-hood.  I can't believe my tiny little nugget has now turned into a 6 month old!  As each month passes I always think "Ah, yes....this is my favorite age." but then next month hits and I realize No!  THIS is my favorite age!  I guess I'm undecided on what age is my favorite but just know that I love when they grow up into chunky little babies and interact and show their personalities more.  I start realizing....Hmm....I'm raising a little human here!  Not just a tiny baby that I feed and change diapers and put to sleep.  A REAL TINY LITTLE HUMAN BEING!!  And she's soooo cute too!  I'm pretty much in love with all of my babies.  I'm so glad Heavenly Father gave me cute ones.  Cute and VERY good little kiddos too.  I am blessed.

So, lets talk about Miss Brooklyn and her little personality.  As far as we can tell she is a very mellow baby.  Pretty content to do whatever and whenever (thank heavens since she is the third child).  She smiles easily and is usually always happy.  Whenever she is sad or crying she usually has a good reason.  Either Jonas accidentally sat on her head (yes, it's been known to happen) or she's hungry, or she's gassy.....or poopy.  She's given us a good handful of blow-out diapers as well.  Again, good thing she's cute.  ;)  I've also noticed that Brooklyn is a thrill-seeker like her brother and sister.  How do I know this?  Well because when Daddy tosses her in the air or flings her upside down by her legs, or spins her in a circle....she laughs.  Not just laughs but belly laughs and chortles and everything else.  She loves to soar through the air.  All of my kids have been this way and secretly I hope it means that we can all ride roller coasters together when the day comes that we are at a theme park and all tall enough.  Yes, it's a long time coming but I'm still excited for it.  Some day.

Brooklyn is still toothless but we don't mind since she has such a cute, gummy, smile and gives it to us frequently.  She's also a little hesitant to go exploring around on her own.  She has started to roll over finally and is figuring it out more and more each day.  She can get into some interesting positions before we come to her aid...mostly stuck under the couch or the coffee table.  She has been using her voice as well and of course it's adorable.  I love listening to her babble away and am still getting used to hearing her amongst Addison and Jonas.  Especially as we drive down the road and she starts jabbering or squealing in excitement.  Yes, she's our squealer.  We have quite the giggle fest when she and I sit face to face and just take turns squealing at each other.  She thinks I'm pretty funny and I start laughing just listening to her laugh at me.  She's a fun girl to hang out with.  

Her brother and sister STILL love her to pieces.  Addison is known for making her laugh and giggle and squeal better than anyone else.  I've also noticed Addison really only wants to play with her when I'm playing with her.  Which usually ends up with me holding two kids on my lap and isn't always fun (is rarely fun).  Jonas is a softy and such a good brother.  He's quite the rough and tough boy but always scales down his energy when she's around.  It's so fun to see him turn into mush when he leans down to her and says "Hi, Booken" and gives her a kiss or a hug.  She loves him too and loves to just stare and laugh at him.  It's also fun seeing Brooklyn and John build their relationship.  It just reminds me over and over again that we have ANOTHER girl!?  And she is going to want to cuddle with Daddy and be smothered in his kisses just like Addison is.  I'm sooooo beyond grateful that I gave my kids such a wonderful Daddy and am thrilled to see their relationship with him daily.

Now that Brooklyn is 6 months old we are venturing into the world of solid food.  However, we aren't venturing much.  She's not a fan.  Or she doesn't seem to be when I have to pry her mouth open with the spoon just to get it in there.  Thankfully she's my third and I'm less inclined to force the matter.  Call it lazy or laid back but I'm not going to fight the child to eat if she's not interested.  Nobody has time for that!  I've tried again a few times here and there and she just doesn't seem to care to eat it.  With Addison we tried solids at 4 months and of course she took forever to figure out how to eat them off the spoon.  Very frustrating but again she was my first so I pushed through it because I thought I had to.  With Jonas we waited until he was 6 months old before we tried solids and that boy wolfed them down from the get go.  Apparently he was ready for some extra nourishment (and it hasn't changed to this day).  I remember my friends being amazed that I would pack along two veggies and two fruits for one meal for that boy.  Brooklyn, granted she's still only on exploring veggies and barely at that, but she's obviously not wasting away so we will keep trying until she decides she's interested.  In the meantime, she's a fan of her bottle so we keep that pretty regular.

And her 6 month stats are...

Weight: 17.5 lbs  50-75%

Length:  26.5 in  75%

I must say, now that I think of it, I've never had a child below the 50 percentile in ANYthing.  I guess we like them chunky around here eh?  Grass fed babies.  ;) I can confirm she is chunky and squeezy.  More so than the other two kids at her age from what I can remember.  It takes quite awhile to change her diaper just cleaning out all those little rolls on her legs.  I'm grateful that she doesn't mind when I sneak a squeeze in here and there when I have the urge (which is a lot).  

I'm soooo grateful for this cute little girl and am really loving watching her grow up.  Sometimes I'm fascinated with the fact that I have THREE kids?!  And other times it seems like it's been that way all along.  She's a good girly and I'm convinced Heavenly Father sent her to us so she'd convince John and I that we can handle one more child.  She makes our job easy and I'm grateful for that.  Happy 6 months old Brooklyn!

Trying to get a smile out of this normally happy child was next to impossible when the camera was in front of her.  However, I've decided I like this round-eye doe look just as much.  She's just so stinkin' cute.  

Alas!  A smile!  Such a happy girl!