Happy Half Birthday, Kylie Bean!

Kylie is 6 months old and getting soooo big!

Our little girl is 6 months old! I can't believe she has been in our world for half a year already...My how the time flies! Because a half birthday is such an obvious reason to celebrate, we celebrated Kylie's half birthday by going out to eat at TacoLu with the entire Hartlzer clan. TacoLu is a yummy taco restaurant that is always packed full of people. Luckily, we only had to wait about 5 minutes for a table...Once we sat down, we enjoyed some refreshing beers (Dos Equis for Jon and Corona Light for me), tasty food and great company! We started the meal with some amazing chips and salsa and guacamole. For dinner I had a mahi mahi fish taco and a carnita taco...Both were delicious. And Jon obviously had an enchilada that looked wonderful! Kylie had her favorite...Milk! It was the perfect way to spend Kylie's half b-day!

All of us at TacoLu! Jon came straight from work, which is why he is so fancy!
But notice the pink tie...Do you think I am having some influence on him?!?

On to the Bean...Kylie is doing fantastic these days...She is making great progress at catching up to her little 6 month old peers! Here's her update:

Kylie is a very mellow and happy baby. During the day she does one of four things almost non-stop...She is either smiling, talking, eating or sleeping! When she is awake, she is so fun! She smiles, squeals, giggles, talks, rolls, wiggles and laughs. She is so chill, and she rarely cries...We are so lucky! I would estimate that she spends only 10-15 minutes each day crying. She is pretty much content to do anything, which has been perfect for Florida life. She'll happily sit in her car seat or stroller for drives or walks or jogs. She likes to lay on the ground on her blanket or towel at home or the beach (under the umbrella). She loves being held and sitting on our laps too. She also LOVES to sleep...She is still sleeping about 11-12 hours at night and she takes about 3 naps during the day. Usually two longer naps (about 1.5 hours) and one shorter nap (about 45 minutes). I am soooo glad she got the sleeping gene from Jon!

I sneaked in to Kylie's room to take this picture of her sleeping during a nap.
Of course her thumb is still in her mouth!

Kylie love, LOVE, LOVES her thumb. She is completely rejecting her pacifier by blocking it with her tongue or just spitting it out. Then she will not-so-subtly pop her thumb in her mouth and suck loudly as if mocking me for even trying to stop her. :) She is persistent! She also loves her blankets. I usually drape a muslin blanket over her to keep her a little shaded when we are outside...She will play with it by bringing it up to her face or wrapping her hands in it. It's pretty cute!

The only thing that she really seems to hate is extreme temperatures. She gets really mad when she is cold...Like when she gets out of the bath or her diaper is off for too long. She can also get pretty fussy when she is too hot. When she is hot, she usually doesn't cry/scream like she does when she is cold, but she has a loud whine that she will use to let me know she is uncomfortable.

As far as her milestones go...Kylie seems to be somewhere between 4 months old (her adjusted age) and 6 months old (her actual age), which is exactly where she should be. It seems that tummy time has paid off because she is doing a great job lifting and controlling her head. Her neck is definitely getting stronger every day. She also has good head control when she is sitting in our laps as long as we support her chest. She is still working on sitting in the bumbo unassisted. She will sit there for a few seconds, and then her head will slowly slump to the side. But we just keep working at it! My favorite new development is that Kylie can roll over. She can go all the way over from her tummy to her back, and about 3/4 of the way over from her back to her stomach. I say it's a 3/4 roll because she can get all the way flipped over, but she can't lift her head up off the ground. Kylie is still eating 5-7 ounces 5 times per day, but I think we are going to start trying to eat 6-8 ounces 4 times per day instead. (I am now pumping 6 times per day, and I'm going down to 5 times next week...I hope to be completely off the pump around the time we get back from Florida.) Kylie is still wearing size 2 diapers, but I just bought a pack of size 3, so she'll be moving up soon. She is also still mostly wearing 3-6 month clothes, but she has moved up to some 6-9 or 6-12 month clothes depending on the brand.

I just love these two tummy time pictures. They show how good she is getting at holding her head up, and how so perfectly smiley she is these days!

Below: Three pictures of Kylie rolling. She is rolling A LOT these days...Back and forth, back and forth she goes!

Kylie had her 6 month well child check-up today. She did very well. She had a couple of shots and she only cried for a minute or two, which really surprised me. She's a tough little cookie. Kylie is getting really BIG...I think she will look like a completely different baby to those of you who won't have seen her for 3 months. She is dominating the 6 month growth chart (yes, that is her ACTUAL age, not adjusted age). She weighed in at 17 pounds, 13 ounces, which is the 84th percentile. She is 26.5 inches long, which is the 78th percentile. And her head circumference is 16.75 inches, which is the 54th percentile! She was meant to be big and strong, and I'm so proud of her!

Kylie has been spending some time in her Bumbo each day. As you can see, she hasn't quite mastered holding her head upright yet. She usually tips to one side or the other!

Kylie loves hanging out with her daddy, and her daddy loves hanging out with her! To me, it seems like Kylie has a lot of Jon's physical characteristics AND personality traits!
They are two peas in a pod!