The Hatz Family: Brea Jean ~ 6 Months!

6 months. Wow. Half a year with my sweet little Brea Jean. 6 months always seems like a big milestone...babies usually start sitting up, having bigger personalities, and chilling out a bit. So here is what Brea Jean has been up to:

Nickname(s): Brea Tortilla, Tort Tort, Tortellini

Biggest Achievement: Rolling all over the place!!

Don't mind me...just over by the Christmas tree

Biggest Challenge: Sleep...as always

Firsts: Rolling both ways (rolled belly to back 11/19), first Christmas program, first time meeting Santa, first time swimming, first time matching my sister!!

Likes: bath time, Carter & Isla, Hayden, mornings, her mama

Dislikes: long naps, evenings, avocados

Sleep: Sleep continues to be a struggle. At the beginning of the month, Brea was getting up every 3 hours or so in the middle of the night. It.was.awful! She was no longer giving me a long stretch in the night and getting up at the exact same time every night. Between 11:30 - Midnight and 3:30 - 4:00 am. I knew that this was just becoming a habit and she was not hungry but the only way she would calm down was to nurse so that is what I did. Then, one night I just decided I would no longer feed her in the middle of the night. Between cluster feeding in the evenings and eating solids she was definitely not hungry so I didn't want to give her a reason to get up at night anymore. We had one LONG night of crying and then several nights were she slept all night long!! She is still swaddled because she needs it to settle and luckily once she is asleep she does not move. Also, I found that she needs a blanket at night. Once I put a light blanket on her she seemed to sleep better...maybe she was cold! I thought we were turning a corner when it came to sleep. That is until the past two days...

Brea got up screaming and screamed for an hour and a half. For an hour of this, I was holding her trying to rock her back to sleep. After that did not work, Matt and I decided to let her cry it out. Nothing else was working. I did unswaddle her and take away her blanket because when she is angry she does roll. She finally fell asleep on her tummy and slept the rest of the night. Currently, she is doing the same thing. Why does this have to be such an issue?!

Naps have been hit or miss. She took at least an hour nap after staring to introduce a blanket. However, yesterday only slept for 45 minutes BUT today slept over 2 hours. She is a mystery...

Eating: Brea is doing great with solids. She has liked everything but avocados. Her favorite is oatmeal with breast milk. She has had carrots, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, squash, prunes, pears, applesauce, peaches, and bananas. She is also nursing or having a breast milk bottle throughout the day.

Personality: Brea continues to either be as sweet as can be or as crabby as can be. When she is happy she is so cute and full of smiles and giggles. She loves when Carter makes pig noises at her and when I kiss her on the neck. Guaranteed giggles every time! She is also becoming quite the talker. The past month she began babbling quite a bit and just in the last couple days has starting making beginning sounds. Da da da, of course!

She LOVES bath time and kicks her legs when I put her in the bath. She shrieks and 'swims,' It is too cute. She rolls to get where she wants and even though she isn't crawling so doesn't stay in one spot very long.

Superficial: Beautiful girl!! She still has blue eyes and a little hair. The back of her head is super soft and I love to rub it. She has got some chub on her, which is just the best! She is a drooling machine but no signs of teeth just yet. She loves to stick her tongue on the roof of her mouth. She is wearing size 1 diapers and 3-6 and 6 month clothes. She has a beautiful smile and we do see it often.

Other notables: Brea has just started sitting up. She isn't super sturdy yet and it is more of a tripod sit but she is on her way. She had her first little turd...sorry that may be TMI but I mention it because I said something out loud about it while changing her diaper and both Carter and Isla requested to see it. Weirdos!

Sibling Comparisons: I looked back and Carter and Isla's 6 month posts and sleep seems to be a similarity. Carter had night time sleep issues when teething and Isla would only take 45 minute naps. And here I thought Isla was such a great napper...momnesia at its finest! Isla was getting up on her hands and knees at 6 months! Brea is just starting to push up on her hands. Brea has a look all her own although definitely looks like part of our family. She resembles Carter and looks nothing like Isla did as a baby!