Half Of A Year, But All Of My Heart!

6 months has come and gone all too quickly. It boggles my mind a bit to think how I was in the hospital 6 months ago giving birth to such a beautiful little girl and now she can do so many new things. This past half of a year with her has been adventurous, spontaneous, joyous, momentous, and just about any really great word you can think of. Its been a blessing to say the least. She has brought such indescribable happiness into our lives and it's so hard to imagine a life without her.

Would it have been the same if we had waited? Would it still have been her, had I not miscarried? Sometimes I wonder where we would be in life if things had gone differently... and all other paths just seem to be the wrong one. She is such a light in my life. She is always teaching me things and helping me to grow as a person... as a mother. I now see things so differently.


Before, I didn't care how badly I ate, or how much I exercised. I didn't care about having mail in a pile on the floor, or cords laying on the ground. I never had to worry about high places or things that could be swallowed. As an adult, you forget the importance of these things. (Or at least, I did). Now that I have her I think about how I am supposed to teach her good eating habits if I am not eating healthy myself. How am I supposed to get her out of the house as a kid to go and play and exercise if all I do is sit on the couch all day? A man named Jared Matthew Kessler once said "Lead by example, not by instruction." And so I shall, but that's all explained in the post before this one. 

She has stolen my heart just like her daddy. The love I have for them is almost overwhelming and from what I hear it only gets better with more children. :) Brailey is such a smart little girl and she learns quickly. So here is the new stuff about Brailey.

• She reaches for everything and gets really excited for her milk!
• She can't crawl yet, but she can scoot herself around in a circle to get to something.

Yummy CARROTS!!

•  She has been eating fruits and veggies for the past few weeks and it has been pretty fun! She can be quite funny to watch. I go for about a whole week with each new one instead of the 4 day rule just to be safe. Her first meal was carrots, which she loved. Then Bananas... She wasn't sure what to think. They were kind of tangy... but near the end she started to like them. She HATES peas, but I don't blame her she basically refused to eat them. And she LOVES her applesauce. She just gobbles them down. I plan on trying Sweet Potatoes next and then Pears and so on. We will see how the others go. But so far her taste buds are similar to mine. She likes fruits more than veggies. lol. Doctor said we can also give her little things to try off of our own plates. Soft things like a little bit of scrambled egg, a little bit of wheat bread, a tiny bit of yogurt... and just a few other things. I have given her a tiny piece of scrambled egg and she didn't like it. She kept trying to push it out of her mouth with her tongue. lol. It was funny to watch.

She really wanted those carrots. lol.

Carrot face. lol. Such a good first meal.

Banana time! Didn't know what to think.

Ewww... yucky peas! ha ha.. LOVE this face. 

•  At her 6 month doctor appointment she weighed 14 lbs 10 oz: 24th percentile, She is 24.75 inches long: 18th percentile, and her head is 16.5 in. round: 35th percentile. So she is pretty small for her age, but she is growing along her curve great. Doctor said she is perfect AND that she is advanced for age by being able to sit up on her own by the end of her 5 months. And she did so great with her shots. She didn't cry for the first one... only the second one. And then she stopped crying when I picked her up. Such a good girl. :)

Measurement time!

Sitting up on her own at the doctors office :)

Momma hugs

•  She said her first word (even though she doesn't know what it means) and it was MAMA!!! ha ha Yeah! All that "training" paid off. lol. Now she mostly only says it when she cries. Like "ma ma ma ma ma." Now I am training her to say Dadda! lol.  

Daddy being silly while waiting for doc to come in.

Kisses from Daddy.

•  She loves to shake her toys up and down like crazy!!!

Giggles!

Love this smiley girl. 

•  She now sleeps 12+ hours in the night. I usually get her to bed by around 8:30-9 and she wakes up sometime in the night at least once and then she plays around or talks to herself and then goes back to sleep after a little bit. Its so fun to watch her on the monitor cause she stares at the camera like she knows what it is. lol. She also moves A TON in her sleep. When I put her down to sleep she will be in one position, by the time I leave the room she will be in another position.... when I come back 5 minutes later to check the monitor again she will be completely different again. And so far she likes sleeping on her tummy. I always lay her down on her back and in no time at all she is on her tummy. It still scares me, but not as much now that she can roll really good both ways.

This was SO funny. I was trying to get a picture of them together and she shoved his face away and I captured this when she did it. His face was PERFECT and she just looks like "yeah, I did that!" lol.

Better picture of her and Doctor Visick. :) Such a great doctor. 

•  She rolls around all over the place now. She will be on one side of the room and even if I turn my back for a minute she will be in a completely different place or clear on the other side.

Time to get ready for shots. 

OWWW!

Celebrating 6 months at the Ogden days parade with Aunt Amberly.

•  She grabs at anything and everything and it automatically goes in the mouth. She was trying to eat my friends hair and the look on her face was HILARIOUS. She had this disgusted look like "eww, what is this?" but she still kept putting it in her mouth.

Rainy day parade. 

More kisses from daddy while watching the horses go by. lol. 

• She loves to be able to move around. She is getting to the point where she doesn't like her bouncer chair or her swing. I have been avoiding putting her in the swing for the most part anymore because I don't want her to get too used to being swung to sleep during nap time. I have been putting her in her crib for naps over the past month and she fusses or cries for about 5 minutes and then she falls asleep on her own. Happy Mommy Moment! lol.
  
  
• She doesn't really care for binkies. She likes to chew on them, but that is about it. She will just pull it out and play with it in her hands or she will spit it out. She prefers her thumb, but she hardly uses it either. 

• She likes to screech at the top of her lungs just to hear herself. 

• She loves seeing herself in the mirror... she will talk to herself and reach for herself and just giggle and smile. 

• She stares at other babies when they are around and tries to grab them. I think she is fascinated by them. 

• She has what we call The Pitchford Allergies. She is "allergic" to the sun. Not really, but she sneezes every time she is out in sun. Jordan has it and so does all of his family. It must be some sort of a gene or something lol. Makes me laugh inside. :)

• She is so different when we are out in public. She just stares at everything. Getting her to smile is very hard. It's the same look she gives me when I pull out the camera to take a picture of her. lol. The only thing I can really capture a smile on is my phone and I don't even know why. You think she would be used to the camera by now.

• I am pretty sure she hates her headbands. ha ha ha. She always pulls them off... no matter how many times I put them back on they usually end up around her eyes, in her mouth, or on the ground.

This little turkey of mine is growing up so fast. It makes me realize how short life is. It felt so slow getting to the point of having my own children and being a mommy, but now life is just like a ticking time bomb. I feel as though I don't have much time left before it's all over and done with on this earth. I am just glad that it doesn't really end here and that I get to be with my family for eternity. I love being with her and being able to watch her grow and learn new things. I am overly grateful for her and the better person she has helped me to become.