put on your dancing shoes

Watch out world, Miss Brekka is on the move! This baby girl has grown so much this week. Last week she was sick and miserable, but it seemed as soon as she felt better she hit the ground running, or I should say dancing!

One of her newest faves is dancing to a little tune I made up. "Daaancy dancy dance. Daaancy dancy dance." I hold her up on the counter and as soon as I start to sing she kicks her legs and taps away, jumps up and down, throws her hips back and forth in a jig that would put The Lord of the Dance to shame! Her heart's a poundin' and she just goes and goes. What's funny is that as soon as I stop singing she stops, and when I sing again she starts jiggin. We have laughed and laughed over this little spunk! She dances in her swing, on our laps, anywhere she can! (These cute jelly shoes were given to her by her Aunt Denie.)

A few days ago Brekka rolled over from back to front for the first time. She was between me and her daddy when she reached over for him and kept going. She didn't get her arm out from underneath her but I say it counts.

Another first this week, Brekka actually willingly ate solid food! We decided not to give her solids until her six month mark. We gave her little bites here and there before but nothing regular. She didn't actually eat the food anyway. Most of it ended up on her shirt. But last night she actually SWALLOWED some applesauce with rice cereal. Woo Hoo! I'm happy because this old milk cow needs a little break now and then. (Brekka doesn't take a bottle, or more accurately, her other care givers (not naming names) don't like to see her sad and have a hard time coercing her to take a bottle..so do I.)

Brekka seems even more aware of her surroundings this week. It's almost impossible for her to focus on nursing. I have to take her to her room, away from distractions. We sit in her rocker and I wait while she grabs my nose, pulls my hair, digs her fingers in behind my clavicle, pinches the skin on the back of my arm, cranks her head around looking at every single detail in the room, notices every sound....then FINALLY after about 10 minutes of this she settles in to eat. Heaven forbid I should try to coerce her before she's ready!

She is really getting serious about playing with her toys. Before she would just grasp things that were held in front of her. Now she notices the toys around her and seems to think, "Oooh what's that?! I'm gonna get it." It's fun to look down at her and think, "Hey, how did you get that in your hand? You were no where near it a minute ago."

At the same time it's not so fun when she thinks she's got to have anything I'm holding. It's like she's got octopus arms. As soon as I pry her gummy fingers off of my phone, or fork or anything else around me, her other hand is latched onto it. So I pull that hand off, but not before she's got it with the other! I pretty much forget about doing anything with her on my lap. :)

We took Brekka to her six month Dr appointment this week. At the beginning of the appointment the doctor said, "By her 9 month appointment she'll notice me more and probably won't like me.." On cue she looked at him and started to cry! He said, "Wait, you're not supposed to know not to like me yet!" Nope, not Brekka. Like I said before, nothing gets past her. The Dr left the room and she settled down. When he came back in she started fussing again. He sat clear across the room, hoping to appease her but she wasn't having it. She focused in on him and started to WAIL. Haha we had to laugh.

Brakka was equally ticked off when she got her THREE immunization shots. She cried because it hurt of course, but there was also a little attitude in there as if she would swear if she knew how. She'd stop and start again just at the thought of it. Poor little monkey. Thankfully she gets a break from shots for awhile.

Here are her 6 mo. stats:

Weight - 14.75 lbs/27th percentile

Length - 26 in/62nd percentile

Head Circumference - 16.1 in/13th percentile (I'm pretty sure the MA didn't measure her head accurately as I watched her.)

Brekka melts our hearts with her sweet smile and precious personality. The other day Darrell put her in her crib to see if she was ready for sleep. He came in our room and said "It's hard to leave her there when she's reaching out to me and smiling. She shouldn't pull on her father's heart strings like that.." She knows how to smile sweet and coo so we'll be tempted to pick her up, and it works too!

I remember from Blakely and Trentin that six months is one of my favorite baby stages. After this week I have realized why. There is something about a roly poly baby that smiles with delight at the sight of you that's just irresistible. Brekka is so bright, so animated and seems to LOVE life. Her brother Trentin said, "She makes everybody around her happy." We all enjoy her so much.

This last picture is of Brekka and Blakely at his fifth grade (first) dance. He saved one of his dances for his baby sister. I'm pretty sure she loved every second of it. Seriously, so sweet!

Wow this girl has grown. I'm expecting her to start packing for college tomorrow.

Brekka just started crying and I found her laying on her belly! She rolled over for the second time, both arms out and everything. Apparently she forgot how to roll back! So fun...