The bittersweetness of SIX months.

Half of a year is 6 months, and that is how old my daughter is. I cannot believe half of Jayde's very first year has already past, it's definitely bitter sweet. There are good things about her being 6 months. She can sit up by herself, I can leave her in a room and she can entertain herself while I wash the dishes, she can sit in the "big girl" part of the shopping cart, and eat food. Ahhh yes, eat FOOD. She no longer depends solely on me to give her all nutrition anymore. Breastfeeding only gets easier from here. From this point on, the days where she demands to get nourishment from my boob are slowly coming to an end! In 6 more months, I will be to eat all the junk food I want and get belligerently drunk. Well, that is, if I really wanted to. Which to be honest, I don't. But, the option is always there.

Jayde sitting in the "big girl" part of the cart. Can't you see she HATES it?!

There is ONE thing that is sad about her being 6 months, and that is that she growing up so quickly! As listed above, she can do so many things. Just think, 6 months ago she could do absolutely nothing. It's amazing how much she has learned in just the short amount of time she has been here. In 6 more months she will be crawling, speaking her first words, and possibly even walking. And let's face it. Even though I'm sitting here and day dreaming of the day I won't be breast feeding anymore, I know when that day comes that I will be missing feeding her terribly. While these are all wonderful things, they are also sad. In just a few more months, my baby girl won't be a baby anymore.  Six months is such a beautiful age. They can be independent without yet crawling and getting into everything and they can laugh & babble with you without being able to talk back yet. If I had a choice to pause at any age, it would defiantly be 6 months.

With 6 months come a horrible experience, teething. Keith and I have always thought that Jayde was going to get a tooth early because at 2.5 months she was already showing all the symptoms; drooling and chewing. Still, there is no tooth in sight. Now, we are pretty sure that she is officially teething. She has been cranky, not sleeping well, and she has been chewing intensely on absolutely everything in sight. Including my finger which at this point is raw. Hopefully those teeth will come soon! In the meantime, I am prepared with all the teething rings, gel, rags, and toys imaginable.

Three days ago Jayde got her very first case of the stomach flu. It was probably the worst thing I have experienced in a very long time. It all started when I was about to leave the house. Jayde was in her car seating waiting for me by the door while I was checking to make sure all of the lights in the house where off. While I was in the other room, I heard this large spill of liquid. Confused, I looked back over at Jayde. She was sitting there completely covered in what looked like spit it. Her whole body and car seat was covered! I grabbed her, changed her cloths, cleaned her off in the sink, and started ripping apart her car seat so I could clean in. Afterwards, I walked over to where she was playing and picked her up. I walked into the kitchen with her in my arms to grab a glass of water, and she spit up large amounts of liquid again, twice. It was crazy how much liquid there was. I knew at this point that this wasn't spit up. The way it was coming out of her mouth and the amount of it led me to believe she was vomiting.

I changed my clothes, changed Jayde's clothes again for the second time, and then dialed the number for the advice nurse. After speaking to her, she told me that she was pretty sure that Jayde was indeed vomiting. She told me what to do, feed her every 20 minutes to keep her hydrated (breast milk and Pedialyte), and then we hung up. Immediately I called my mom, who was at work, and told her what was going on. I wanted to her to come over after she was off work to be with me and Jayde and to bring over some Pedialyte. While I was talking to her, Jayde started vomiting again. This time she threw up about 4 times. To say that I was freaking out would be an understatement. I was crying and screaming at my mom that she needed to come over RIGHT NOW. She couldn't, and she told me to call my step mom to help me calm down.

I called my step mom and she told me that she would come over with my dad to bring some Pedialyte. While waiting, Jayde fell asleep in my arms. I think that this made me even more sad and made me realize how sick she actually was. If you know Jayde, you know that she doesn't sleep, ever. My dad and Jeane came over for a little bit, then my mom came over when she got off work. I must say that I am so very thankful to have family close by. It gives me a piece of mind knowing that I have people to depend on when Keith is at work. Her getting sick was definitely scary, but I know that there will be plenty more times like these in the future.