Big Girl

Maddie is getting to be such a big girl!  She is 6 months old (actually closer to 7 months!), and she has just started to do some new "big girl" things in the past couple of weeks. 

She is sitting up better and better each day.  She can't get herself into a full, upright, sitting position, but if we sit her on the floor, she can hold it for quite a while.

She is generally a pretty happy girl,

 and she is also playing with toys more these days.

 Maddie is also trying to crawl.  Sometimes she tries to walk on all fours, like this, and sometimes she scoots around.  She is getting quite good at scooting, and she usually finds a way to get where she wants to go.

 We often see her lying on her side, propped up on an elbow.

 She can push up into a leaning, sitting position.

 When she tries to crawl, she can't quite get all the movements in sync.

 Maddie is always moving!  She loves to be on the floor where she can roll and move.

 We are pretty sure that real crawling is right around the corner!

Last week was Maddie's six-month well-visit.  She weighs 17 pounds, 9 ounces and is growing perfectly. Her doctor said that she can start to eat meat, so we've been giving it to her for the past few days, and she seems to like it.  The doctor also noticed that Maddie has two teeth coming in on the bottom.  I had been feeling her gums and hadn't felt any yet, but sure enough, when the doctor shined her little light in Maddie's mouth, we could see them.
One of the teeth popped through this week, and Jim and I were both surprised at how cheerful Maddie was as it came through.  Drew got his first two teeth at six months, and the day they were popping through was one of my most embarrassing experiences.  I had taken Drew to a thrift store, and I had found a dress I wanted to try on.  We got into the dressing room, and I had just taken off my clothes and put on the dress, when Drew started sobbing.  I took him out of his stroller and held him, but he wouldn't calm down.  I tried giving him a toy, nursing him, checking his diaper, bouncing him - everything I could think of, but he wouldn't stop sobbing.  I tried putting him down so I could get out of the dress and into my own clothes, but he sobbed harder.  I could hear people outside the dressing room talking about his crying.  There were suggestions of giving him a bottle or a pacifier, and someone even knocked on my dressing room door to see if he was alone in there and if he was ok.  I finally put him down, despite his cries, pulled that dress off and threw my own clothes back on.  I practically ran out of the store, with Drew still sobbing all through the store.  He cried the whole drive home, and when we got home, I laid him on his changing table and thought to check his gums.  There they were - two little teeth!  I gave him some Tylenol, and he finally calmed down.  With that introduction to teething, I was expecting something similar this time around, but Maddie has done great so far.  We are praying that this continues!
We are so thankful for our healthy girl!