Ruby is now 6 months

Ruby is now 6 months old. She just had her check-up today and weighs 16.5 pounds and is 27 inches long. Crazy to think she has more than doubled her weight and grown by 7 inches within half a year!

I always hate hearing the cliché ‘they grow so fast’ (since every time we go out anywhere a little old lady feels obligated to come up and tell me this…seriously!), but it is true. It feels like only yesterday I was pregnant and wondering how the birth would go and daydreaming about what it would be like to have a little baby girl! And it is strange to look back at the pictures of Ruby when she was only weeks old, and tiny enough to curl up on our chests.

Within the last 2 weeks she has learned to sit on her own and is talking more and more (we have heard lots of mamama and dadada noises in addition to her other adorable cute coos!) One of my favourite things is to be awakened by the sounds of her babbling and cooing on the baby monitor first thing in the morning. (I like this much better when it is closer to 8 am, than to 6 am).

Ruby is long/tall for her age and this has become very clear when I go to buy her pants. She is already wearing size 9 months in some things and in one brand she wears 12 months size, which to me is just funny. I have long legs, so she gets that from her momma!

She loves her bottle (6-8 oz every 3 hours still!) but hasn’t really taken to solid foods. We’ve tried rice, oatmeal, rice mixed with banana, rice with applesauce, straight banana, straight applesauce, butternut squash and carrots. So far, carrots are the most tolerated food (in that she doesn’t grimace quite as badly as all the other stuff mom makes her eat!) And since we’ve started feeding her, we’ve noticed a bit of a stubborn and independent streak in Ruby…while she barely opens her mouth to let me feed her, she often grabs the spoon and proceeds to ‘feed’ herself (quite messily I might add) very proudly. Here she is in action with carrots...

Ruby is still bald. (Supposedly I was too until I was nearly one). Unfortunately because of this she sometimes gets mistaken for a boy if I don’t dress her in pink (I’m not really a pink person, and prefer red, green and lots of polka dots!) I’ve seen lots of babies with monstrous bow headbands, but to me that just looks silly! We’ll just stick to accenting with a bit of pink here and there. I can’t wait until she is old enough for braids and pigtails!

Two tiny teeth are poking through her bottom gums. They have been causing her discomfort at night and so for a few weeks she has been waking every few hours. However, it seems the pain is passing a bit as she managed to sleep for longer stretches last night. Hopefully she will get back to sleeping from 8 pm to 8 am, like she was, because we were getting tons of rest then!

We’ve managed to squeeze quite a few fun activities in the past 6 months. Ruby has been to baby massage, swimming lessons, Gymboree, baby yoga, and lots and lots of playdates with other moms and babies. Here are some pics from today's playdate...

Ruby still hates getting dresssed, going to sleep and getting her hair washed. But, some of the things she enjoys are: storytime, swinging in her swing in the front yard, her jumperoo, looking in the mirror, and shopping anywhere as long as she is in her Baby Bjorn carrier. Here are a few of her favorite toys from the last few months...

We are still unable to tell if she looks like Alex or me. But we’re loving her chipmunk cheeks, her bright blue eyes (still blue for now!) and can’t wait to see how she grows and develops in the coming months.

Happy half-year birthday Ruby!