Happy Half-Birthday, Emi!

Yesterday, Emilia celebrated her half-birthday – a holiday reserved for 6 month olds and people whose birthday is on Christmas (looking at you, Meredith!). We spent the morning swimming at my parent’s house in Katy. They’re in Scotland, so we had the place to ourselves! Sasha is a superhuman, so he rode his bike the 20-odd miles there in 90 degree heat (yikes!). Unfortunately, I forgot to grab his clothes he laid out, so the photos I wanted to take of him and the girls didn’t end up happening! Alas, Emi’s 6 month photos are just me, her and Isla (thanks, babe!).

Since I forgot to do a five month update, I’ve included photos and details on Emi’s life at this two markers. In summary: she’s the biggest blessing I could have imagined and everything I ever prayed for and more. I’ve told Sasha a million times: she’s the dangerous kind that makes you want ten more. If only I could deal with ten more pregnancies! Ha.

Emi loves a good open gummy kiss! Nice and drooly.

Emi at Six Months

This sweet girl! Oh, we are seriously so smitten. I will hold her tight as her tornado sis runs around the house, sometimes singing loudly, sometimes dancing, sometimes screaming grumpily! You never know what you’ll get with Isla at age 3, but with Emi at 6 months, you’re guaranteed sweetness. Almost everyone she meets asks, “Is she always this chill?” The ladies at the LifeTime Fitness day care have mentioned her calm demeanor at almost every pickup! She really only cries if she’s super tired or very hungry – except for a week ago, when she had an ear infection (following some serious diaper rash!), and she was so sad for a few days. It broke our heart!

Emilia is very mobile… just in the ‘wrong’ direction. She could get herself from one side of the room to the other by scooting backwards. It cracks me up. I imagine she’ll be crawling forwards soon, but it’s not my favorite milestone, so I’m okay if it takes a bit longer. I am so excited that she’s consistently sitting up now, as that makes for cuter photos in my opinion. It also presents a new challenge for her monthly photos. We’ll see how those go!

Emi just starting eating. We follow the Baby Led Weaning method, so she’s been gumming on bananas, sweet potatoes, avocados, zucchini, and banana pancakes. I also have given her spoonfuls of my Silk dairy-free yogurts, which she loves. She just wants to be one of the team, so she’s excited to be in her high chair, eating what we’re eating. It presents a massive amount of mess, but her excitement over food is worth it.

Ahhh, sleeping. Or lack there of. This sweet babe is going to have to start sleep training, as she has lost/forgotten how to wake up and go back to sleep without a pacifier. 95% of the time, you can pop a paci back in her mouth and she doses off to sleep, but that may happen every 1.5-2 hours. She doesn’t want milk, except for maybe once a night, but just wants to see our face a little too often for this tired mama to deal with! She is just like her sister. We had to sleep train Isla at the 6 month mark, and I hated it. But three days of training, and she never cried again in the middle of the night. So wish us luck!

Miss Emilia is wearing 6-9 month clothing now, and I’ll be curious to see how much she weighs at her appointment tomorrow. She feels like a solid chunk, but at her last appointment, she was in the 50th percentile for weight! So we’ll see.

She adores her big sister. Isla so much as makes a tiny little noise, and Emi falls into fits of giggles. I could not love their relationship more, and I know it’ll continue to get sweeter over time. I feel like the luckiest person on the planet to be their mom!

Emi’s favorite thing to eat: her feet.

Emi at Five Months

Sweet Emilia, I apologize a million times over for being ‘too busy’ to do so many of the things for you that I did for your big sister. Although you will never care that I was a month late for your monthly update, I feel it is the beginning of the ‘second child’ pattern that you may be a victim of your whole life! Ha. But, we love you so much. And I promise to make up for it in other ways!

Fortunately, I did an Instagram post on her five month-iversary and wrote notes down about this stage, so I haven’t completely forgotten! My Instagram caption was, “Her nicknames now include Emi, Emi Bo Bemi, Emerson Bo Bemerson, Bemi Bootie, Emi Emi 2×4 and Goose. I have a feeling she’s going to be ten + be shocked to find out her name is Emilia! She is a gummy, happy little babe who loves when her big sis quotes Moana [“BOAT SNACK!” is a real winner!] + sings “On top of spaghetti…” She loves peek-a-boo, her Lulla Doll, her Skiphop playmats, splashing in the bath, drooling everywhere, making bird-like squawking noises, rolling then rolling then rolling to get to where she wants to go, getting a mid-night snuggle and mama’s milk.”

At five months, Emi was rolling around, getting inquisitive about all the food being eaten around her and starting to sit up (but inevitably tipping over after 20 seconds). She remained super calm, a serious juxtaposition next to her high, high energy sister. She is not a good sleeper (or, as I like to say, “she’s great about waking up for milk in the middle of the night!”), but we just adore her anyway. I cannot wait until she sleeps through the night, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t miss all the extra snuggle time.

Here are some of her five month photos!