HALF A YEAR!!!!!

She can get up on her hands and knees and crawl a few "steps" now... It happened so fast!!! :0(

I think she looks a lot like her Daddy here!

Today is sort of Riley Joy's 6 month Birthday. It's kinda confusing. She was born on the 31st so she doesn't always get a true "birthday"... But I choose today.

I can't believe she's real. I can't believe how often Ryan and I hear ourselves say that. She's just incredible, a light and joy in our life, one we didn't know we were missing. She's sitting in her swing right now waking up from a nap (slept in crib). So sleepy and grumpy... Her top right tooth is cutting. Finally some thing to show for weeks and weeks of a fussy baby.

Here's a video I took of her today...Need to wrap this up. Riley's eating. Hard to type with one hand.




She was giggly, but TIRED... She hasn't been napping well. Teeeth. Ugh.

Okay back, she's been a mess today, poor baby. So I know it probably seems awful that I let her just fall like that. But the floor is soft and it's the only way she'll learn what happens when she leans back...I just make sure there is nothing behind her that she could whack her head on.

And for the getting up on her knees thing, practically on command...It's so funny she'll be like that in her crib, I'll go into get her and she'll try to race away from me. Cracks me up.

She's so close to crawling full time, she gets the hang of it more and more every day. I can't believe how fast she's grown in 6 months! She's gone from an itty bitty 6lbs3oz (21in long) little peanut when we brought her home from the hospital, to a massive 17lbs 5.5oz (27 3/4in long) crawling goober. She rarely lets me cuddle her these days, she'll lay her head on my shoulder SOMETIMES, but only when she's sleepy. I'm so thankful for nursing, it sucked so bad at first, but I'm so thankful for the cuddle times we have now... I find myself holding her for a few extra minutes before I put her in her swing or crib. She's so active when she's awake. And when she does want to be held during the day she has to be in constant motion... She clings to my shirt and shoulder and will grip really hard if I try to put her down...But in those moods it's motion or tears.

This first year is going to fast. The first few months are so hectic and overwhelming, so many changes, so little sleep that it's hard to enjoy it...I hope the next baby is easier (in the sense that I know what newborns are like and how quickly they disappear!)... I'm ready for bed. It's 7:55pm now, Riley's upstairs sleeping in her swing... That's the only way I can get her to take a long stretch of sleep these days...I HATE teething, I can't wait for it to pass...But then again, I can, she's growing so fast!