Press the Pause Button, Please!

6 months ago today, on a snowy October afternoon, our little Teia entered the world and our hearts.

It is impossible to believe that already she is 6 months old. Here she is today, showing off what a big girl she is already with her independent sitting skills. As you can see, being able to sit by herself makes her very proud.

She is also eating solid food now and QUITE happy about it as you'll see below.

Tonight she even grabbed the spoon and showed us that she knows exactly what a spoon is for and exactly where the food needs to go! She's a fast learner!

Teia's first 6 months have gone by in a blur. It is so true what everyone says about the second child; you really are so busy and distracted that you do miss stuff and it all goes by too quickly. So as she hits her 1/2 year milestone, I find myself feeling a little bit sad that 6 months have already gone by. Yes, I am relieved to be out of the difficult newborn stage (although we're still not sleeping through the night around here). And yes I am enjoying her emerging personality and all the new things she can do, but she is just changing and growing so quickly that I know I will blink and she'll be turning one and walking and then running around after her brother. I look forward to those times very much, but for now I want to hold and cuddle my little baby. And I want to appreciate being able to put her down, leave the room and have her be in the same place when I get back.* (I think only a second time parent can truly appreciate what a wonderful thing that is).

So many of Teia's family have not yet had the chance to meet her so I hope to be able to capture some of who she is right now, as a chubby and charming newly minted 6 month old, through these posts and photos. In addition to her developing motor skills, Teia likes to "talk." She also loves to smile and giggle. The jumparoo is just about her favorite thing, so long as someone is there to watch her, and she likes to practice on mommy's tummy, giving her some good, stiff kicks.

Teia is very sociable. So sociable in fact that sometimes she won't nurse if she isn't being watched. During our nighttime feeding sessions I sometimes like to lie my head back and catch a few Zzz's while she slurps. If Teia catches me dozing, she looks up at me and won't resume nursing until my head is back in "watch Teia" position. This can go on for several minutes. I lie back, she stops nursing and looks up, I look back at her, she goes back to nursing, repeat. Finally, I give up, and watch her finish her 3 am meal as she happily goes back to her slurping.

We are a family inclined to nickname and Teia now has quite a few: Teia boo, Teia bean, Tay Tay, Tayster, Tater Tot, Fuzzy Head and Peach. Kai has added a few of his own, most notably Mini-Runner and lately the mysterious "Little Weight." We're not quite sure where that one came from.

Speaking of pressing the pause button. If anyone figures out how to do it, I'd like to put the pause on Kai too. He turns 3 next week and I am painfully aware that his days of wanting to "cuggle" are numbered. I love that he carries stuffed bunnies and lions wherever he goes and that he still says "cuggle" and "sweep" (sleep) and that he still likes to play with Mommy and Daddy more than anyone else. The little guy seems aware of my vulnerability around this issue. Tonight he did not think going to bed was a good idea but instead of starting the chant of NOs, he decided to ask for cuggles. I'm not sure how much Kai really needed the cuggles or how much he knew Mommy needed them and that fact in itself would buy him some additional coveted awake time (or as he likes to say lately, an extra minute). Either way, I'd appreciate it if someone could invent a way to keep our little people teeny for a bit longer and to slow down this veritable march of time, just a little bit?

*Actually, this is already starting to change. Lately Teia will roll herself to a new location or push up so that only her legs remain on the floor and pull herself along. Usually she just goes in a circle but its only a matter of time before we have forward or backward motion I'm sure!