The Sextuple Threat! ["J" to the Sixth! Power]: 6 Months!

Yay! We've made it to the 6 month mark. What??? 6 months! Holy smokes! Where did the time go????

So what does being 6 months bring?? So far, nothing much. She can sit, unsupported, pretty well (those rolls on her legs are good for SOMETHING after all!) At least, for a minute or two. Well, until she sees something she needs to have. Then it's on the floor!

As far as floor action goes, we're still in that pre-crawl stage. She can roll around to get things pretty well, spin around on her belly, scootch backwards and rock on her hands and knees. Basically, everything BUT move forward. It's only a matter of time... One of these days, she's just going to take off, and that'll be the last time we see her! :)

Other stuff... well, she FINALLY started eating rice cereal. We've been trying to get her to eat it for a while now (every couple of days for the past month,) but mostly she would just let it sit in her mouth and then spit it out. She thought it was very funny, though--always did it with a smile on her face, as you may have seen from the videos! So, yeah, we're glad she decided to start swallowing her food. Yay! Maybe in another week or two, we can try sweet potatoes, or bananas or something. We'll see.

Wednesday, she went for her follow up appointment with the cardiologist. As you know, when she was born, she "suffered" an "acute event" that led to as an "ASD" or atrial septal defect. Basically, she had a small hole in her heart and that caused a lot of problems at birth! This normally heals itself on its own, but she needed some extra help, hence the NICU stay.

At one month, this hole had shrunk to .3 mm (in other words, TINY!) Because it was still there, they wanted us to keep an eye on her and return for a follow up in three months. Well, three months turned into 5, so we finally brought her back. Of course, all is well--the hole is completely gone! The doctor (the same gal she saw in the hospital that first day) kept saying, "She's very lucky... you're very lucky..." No, lady, luck had nothing to do with it. You should have seen how many people this little girl had praying for her that first week-- a lot! And more than we even know. There was nothing "lucky" about it--she's a very blessed little gal who has a Father in heaven who was looking out for her (and a Mommy who trusted that He would, completely, which may have translated, in some's opinion, to irrationality, in that I didn't believe the doctors when they said how bad she was. I still think they exaggerated a bit (especially when they hear she was a homebirth... yeah, we won't get started on that again,) but I knew, I KNEW, that God was looking after her, and He would heal her. I'm sure He used the doctors and nurses to help with that, but I found their "lack" of faith disturbing (quoteth Darth Vader...) And the lack of faith of some of those around us (not my parents, however! My Mom was praying the whole time we were at the hospital that first day. I couldn't have gotten through that day without her--she was a huge source of comfort, and kept reminding me what I already knew--that God was in control. So yes, when Jeremy brought her home, and said, "She's fine," my response was, "Yeah, I'm not surprised."

Best part--the doctor wanted to hold Jesslyn, and she kept crying. They thought it might have her glasses, so she took them off, but nope. She still cried. I guess she just doesn't like people who upset her Mommy. :)

Anyways, she's a lot of fun nowadays! She's very babble-ly. She loves to say, "Da da da da..." and "ma ma ma ma...." She also smacks her lips (using her tongue, some how???) and has traded her binky for her thumb. It's really cute--she'll just be sitting there, or more often, laying there, and next thing you know, she's got her whole thumb in her mouth, hand open, just sucking away. I hope it's shortlived, though... I don't really want to have to persuade her to stop sucking her thumb when she's older. Can't throw away a thumb!

Yup, that's about it. Oh, and she loves her big brother! She especially loves it when he runs in her room, after she's woken up from her nap, and hops up on the side of her crib to talk to her. Or when we're walking up the steps, behind Jeremiah, I let her try to grab his hair (not really, but she doesn't know that...) and say, "Uh oh... let's get Jeremiah!" Usually they both laugh at that. It's so cute! She definitely looks up to him, and wants to do everything he's doing! Should be a fun time. :)

Trying to suck her thumb through her sweater...

Awww... too tired from trying to crawl...

I was having a tough time takin' her picture... it was nighttime, and I had to use a flash, which kept making her squint instead of smile. So this was the best I could get. Still cute!