Six Months Old!

Lena has enough hair to wear her clips now!!! (But only for pictures because she would LOVE to eat the clips if I ever gave her a chance.)

Lena actually turned six months on her first big trip!  At the beginning of May we took a trip to the midwest to visit friends, family, and see the great states of: Illinois, Missiouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin.  So a big first for Lena at six months was taking her very first plane ride!  It went very well and I am happy to report that little miss Lena is an excellent traveller and will fit in nicely with Dan and I's love of travel.  Lena changed more in month 5-6 than any other month.  She is becoming much more mobile, interactive and vocal everyday.  I keep waiting for stranger anxiety to set in but she still continues to love people.  One her gifts is that she makes everyone feel loved and special. I knew she was friendly but on this trip I realized that she is friend with EVERYONE.  (Remind me to give the "Stranger Danger" talk when she is older...)  I can't count how many times this senario went down:  "Oh what a cute little girl!.  Hi.. hi little girl!"  Lena then always breaks into a huge grin with sparkling eyes and the person melts and the gushes "Oh she likes me!  She smiled at me!"  What the stranger doesn't know is that she does this for everyone.  She likes everyone.  I don't tell them that.  I just let them relish in the moment thinking that Lena has special smile just for them.  But I am happy to report that she likes me (The MAMA)  the most.  Side comment:  I have longed for the moment when I have the face that that a little child longs to see most.  During her sixth month Lena has also discovered animals.  She really lights up when one of our cats or dog is around.  It will be fun to take her to the zoo when she gets older to see some bigger animals up close.  She is content to play for long periods of time by herself.  Sometimes I won't even know she is awake from her nap because she often doesn't cry when she wakes up but instead coos and plays.  In her sixth month she has made the transition to her big girl crib in the nursery and no longer sleeps in our bedroom.  She loves to grab everything but paper is her most favorite.  It is pretty amazing how quickly she can grab things and stick them in her mouth!  She is still pretty much indifferent to solid food.  She has tried bananas, carrots, peas, pears, prunes, peaches, squash, and oatmeal and rice cereal.  Her favorite so far is sweet potatoes and her least favorite is peas.  We are still working on sleeping through the night.  Sometimes she makes it and sometimes she wakes up once or twice to eat.  She has been battling a bit of a cold and we will work on it more when she is feeling better.  She had her six month shots and check up when we got back from our trip and learned that she is really growing!  She weighed in at 13 pounds 13 ounces which puts her in the 12% for weight.  She was in the 25% for both height and head circumference.  She more than tripled her birth weight in six months and has grown almost eight inches! Our little "peanut" is still small for her age but she is quickly catching up.  The coming months should bring more mobility as the doctor says she is strong and I can tell she is dying to move around.