6 Months

Weight: 16lb 6oz (50%)

Height: 26.25in (75%)

Makenzie is such a bundle of joy at 6months! I often wish I had a little more mommy-daughter time without Shane around (I currently get very little) so I could just focus on enjoying her and her smiles. Course, I think she is beginning to think she has to compete with Shane for my attention. She seems to be speaking up more as if to remind me she is still there.

I find it so difficult to spread my time between two kids. After Makenzie was born I was amazed at how much love I really had to give, and that it was impossible for me to love either one of them more than the other. At the same time it seemed impossible for me to love them more than I already did. But now I am struggling with feeling like I show that love enough to each of them. Whenever I start focusing on the one, I feel like some how I am neglecting the other and they are bound to feel unloved. One of my biggest fears in life is for my children to grow up not having a firm knowledge that their mother loves them more than anything in the world. I need time for myself and my husband, but how do I know that each person in my family is getting enough from me to assure they don't think of themselves as second best? I imagine it will be a lifetime pursuit, so I how do I not stress over it everyday?

Here are some things Makenzie is up to these days:

1. Rolling Over (finally!) - She actually rolled over completely on her own for the first time at her 6month doctor appt :D
2. She rarely sleeps anywhere but her crib - It causes a lot of stress when we can't be home all day long for her to nap. I must be doing something to cause this because Shane was the same way. On the other hand, she is REALLY easy to put to bed in the crib. I'm still not sure if it is a good trade off or a bad one.
3. Giggling more and more - I am amazed at how easy it is to make her giggle sometimes. Probably because Shane didn't really laugh or giggle until he was like a year old. Makenzie starts giggling sometimes just when I look at her.
4. She is amazingly happy - It makes me wonder if she is just going to be one of those super bubbly girls because she gets so excited at just about everything. When I go in to get her out of bed in the morning you'd think the circus came to town.
5. Bounces herself in her bouncer - She has done this for quite some time, but has become quite proficient at it now. You might even call her an expert ;) I never have to bounce her myself anymore.
6. Still absolutely refuses the bottle - I am not trying to wean her anything, but it sure would be nice to just leave her home with dad every now and then. Or go on a date without her.
7. Her hair is growing back - however, it is growing back a lot lighter than the hair she was born with. This makes me a little sad because I loved her dark hair. In fact even before we had her, I told Adam I wanted her to have his dark hair. Don't get me wrong I do like my hair color and a little red head smith girl would have been darling, but there is something absolutely beautiful about dark brunette hair.
8. Eats solid food - See pictures below - We skipped rice cereal and went straight to prunes. She didn't seem to dig them too much (surprise, surprise). We tried again a couple days later with bananas and she did great! I've only got after pictures of her first meal because Adam wasn't home to be on camera duty. I think she was happy I was calling it quits ;)