Happy Half Birthday, Marleigh!

Another month has gone by and I am in awe that my baby girl is already half a year old! It is so bittersweet watching her grow up so fast. I am so incredibly proud of her, but at the same time, I wish she could stay my tiny little girl forever!

At 6 months old, Marleigh is crawling. And I'm not talking Army crawling or scooting across the room. She is full-blown, into everything crawling! We've baby-proofed the house with outlet covers and closing the doors to our staircases, and I have a feeling that I'm going to be losing the baby weight a little quicker than I thought with how often I'm chasing her around on my days off!

This past month, Marleigh and I have been really enjoying spending more time together with my new schedule, and I am incredibly grateful to be able to soak it all up! She greets me every morning with that big bright smile of hers and we have a pretty good routine down already, which is great!

Marleigh is eating 5 oz bottles at a time, and she's up to 2-3 meals of babyfood/cereal a day. Fruits and cereal for breakfast, sometimes a little bit of fruit in the afternoon after her nap, and a veggie for dinner. We still haven't come across anything that she doesn't like to eat, and she's such a good girl at meal times! She doesn't let much go to waste!

Her latest loves are her sock monkey and her Sophie. She also loves bath time, when mommy and daddy make fools of ourselves trying to get her to giggle (still working on this! Giggles are a rare occurrence despite her almost constant smiles), and crawling every chance she gets.

The doctor gave us the OK for sippy cups at her 6 month appointment, and I'm not going to lie... it made me super sad watching her drink out of it for the first time. Probably because I always associate sippy cups with toddlers, and I am by no means ready to picture her as a toddler yet! She LOVES water, and is constantly trying to steal our cups away from us when we drink it, so obviously her sippy cup is a big win in her book!

Marleigh is doing great developmentally. She chats up a storm in her precious baby babble (her favorite "word" lately is blablah), she's almost mastered sitting up (although she's too busy to sit still), and much to my dismay, she's already trying to pull herself up on the furniture! Slow down!

Luke and I have her bedtime routine down to a science, trying to get her used to sleeping through the night. We give her a bath every night (unless we're out somewhere, of course) between 7:30-7:45, I give her a baby massage with lotion and get her into her jammies at around 8, and daddy reads her a bedtime story while I give her a bottle and rock her in the glider until she falls asleep. Once story time is over, Luke gives us both a kiss on the forehead and I finish feeding Marleigh her bottle while I soak up a few peaceful, one on one moments with my girl. I sing "Dream a Little Dream of Me" every night, followed by the series of prayers that my parents said with me at bedtime ever since I can remember. These quiet 15-30 minutes are by far my favorite part of the day with her, as she gently runs her little fingers through my hair and rubs her sleepy eyes until they close.

We've started "Sleep training" her this past week, and so far it's going okay; although I hate having to hear her cry in her crib! She's slept straight through the night two times since we've started, and I'm hoping that she gets the hang of it soon. It seems to be working *knock on wood* and the crying (more like whimpering) only lasts a couple of minutes until she falls back asleep now. I'm hoping it will stick soon. Mommy and daddy are very sleepy!

At her six month checkup, Marleigh weighed in at a whopping 15 lbs 8 oz (42nd percentile) and 27" tall (92nd percentile). She's still our little string bean; tall and skinny just like her daddy!

Marleigh is the light of my life and sometimes I feel like I can't even remember what life was like before she came along. I am such a lucky momma to have her as mine :)

Marleigh Jo, you are so loved by everyone who knows you, and I thank God every single day for giving you to us! You make my every day wonderful with your bright blue eyes and big gummy smiles; and your happy little personality melts my heart! Your daddy and I love you more than words can say. You make us so, so proud, baby girl! Happy half birthday!

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