6 months

Happy half-birthday, Ellie!!

I can't believe Ellie is six months old. She's officially growing too fast, getting too big and toddler-like every day. But I'm trying to make peace with it.
In so many ways, these first six months have flown by. She is the absolute highlight of my mornings, noons and nights. I can't help smiling when I come in her room in the morning and she grins really big. And I SO look forward to my standing lunch dates with Ellie. I sneak away from work for about 30 minutes every day to go feed Ellie (and play a little) at her school. Knowing I get to see her mid-day helps me tremendously, especially when I'm super stressed on the job. And going home at night to Ellie and Brian is awesome! I love that I have a reason, a requirement, really, to schedule playtime every day.

Here's Ellie top 10 at six months:
1. Sitting up! I was calling it her "new trick," but she's doing it so regularly now that it doesn't seem like a trick anymore. Yes, she's still tippy at times, but that girl has some serious sitting skills.
2. Rolling over. This one is a little more dicey. But if there were a competition that only required babies to roll to the right, with a little help from mom or dad to get started, I would definitely enter Ellie. She's getting there.
3. Talking! Ellie is much more vocal nowadays. I'm sure she's trying to tell us all sorts of important things, but right now it sounds more like "eeee-eeak!"
4. Watching the dogs. Ellie thinks Radar and Muzzy are the best show in town. And they are happy to entertain, i.e. have an excuse to roughhouse in the living room... One of the biggest causes of "tipping" for Ellie is when she turns too quickly to watch one of the dogs zoom by.
5. Her thumb. She's a big fan of that little thing, even though dad tried to cut it off — just kidding, Brian! Ellie's finger is fine :)
6. Batting at/throwing toys. We can't figure out if she's doing it on purpose, but the toys she picks up usually go flying withing a few seconds. Something about the flailing arms and lack of grip...
7. Eating solid foods. She's a champ, most days, at chowing down on her rice cereal and carrots. My favorite part: She chews it.
8. Getting play-dropped or flown through the air by mom and dad. We've had to limit this recently after a few projectile vomit incidents. Ellie didn't seem to mind, but we were pretty grossed out.
9. Rocking out in the exersaucer. She loves that thing, and it's a lifesaver for when I'm getting ready for work in the morning.
10. Snuggling in mom's or dad's arms.