Happy half birthday Abner!

Abner's half birthday kicked off with a bang - literally. Damn Halloween fireworks woke her up just after midnight. Thankfully, she settled back to sleep after a short feed.

It really is incredible to think that she's half a year old already. In the past, I've given my mom a hard time about how much she's forgotten about my own arrival some thirty plus years ago, but now I can't believe how much I've already forgotten about Abner's arrival in just six short months...what time did I go into labour? When did we arrive at the hospital? When did that lovely anesthesiologist show up with my epidural? Thank goodness I wrote it all down.

All things considered, I think the first six months have gone remarkably well. We've only had a few really bad nights of no sleep and we've avoided injury so far. There have been lots of laughs, adventures, hugs and kisses. The highlight was definitely that first moment of bringing her up to my chest when she was born. She was so soft, squishy and warm. The low-light (if you can call it that) has to be locking Abner in the lobby, but I choose not to dwell on that little incident.



Other mommy friends always told me that these first few months go by faster than you can imagine and they were right. How did my little girl get so big? She used to fit in my lap but now she's long enough to kick me in the face. When I look at her, I see more of a toddler than a little helpless baby. She can now stand herself up by holding onto our fingers, roll over to get places, sit for several minutes at a time, and can find and put in her own soother without mommy or daddy's help.



One of the big things I've been looking forward to about Abner's half birthday is the opportunity to feed her some solid foods. A lot of friends started their kids a bit early, but I'm a stickler for official recommendations...and in this case, the recommendation is six months old. So, we all got up nice and early and actually ate breakfast at the table (we usually eat breakfast in bed). Abner was probably completely confused, because we usually only sit at the table for dinner and then get her ready for bed right after. But not this time!

We decked her out in her adorable little Mally bib (thanks Auntie Tanya!) and put a plastic tablecloth on the ground for the inevitable spills. We opted for organic rice cereal to start, but I don't think she liked it. On the video, it looks like she ate a couple of mouthfuls, but I can assure you, nothing stayed in her mouth. I think this is going to take a bit of practice.



I've enjoyed these first six months of motherhood more than I could have imagined and am thoroughly looking forward to the next six and beyond.