She Is Already One Half!

​Remember when you were little and time seemed to go so slow? The school year was so long. Vacations were always so far away. A Christmas countdown on an Advent calendar still seemed to equal months. How is it that now time foes flying by way too fast? How can my perfect little daughter already be over 6 months old?

I've been slacking on monthly reports since I've been keeping very busy with the girl I should be writing about. So here's just a six month review of what's going on and what she has been up to during her busy little life!

As of now she is 15 pounds and 1 ounce, and over two feet tall at 25 inches! At her 4 month appointment she was just over 11 pounds, so I've done a good job of helping her grow to fit into the swim diapers I have for her Hawaiian vacation coming up. Yep, she's going to Hawaii and already has a compete wardrobe with outfits themed to different things she'll be doing. She's my baby, would you expect anything less?

She isn't teething yet, but the drool is increasing and her love of chewing on things is more and more noticeable. Soon enough, I'm in no rush for all of these growing milestones. She doesn't talk, but she sure loves to make all sorts of silly noises. Her current favorite is her sound like she's revving an engine. Clearly she learned this from her father. Crawling feels just around the corner. Our doctor said 8 months is the normal time, but she sure seems like she's wanting to do it before then. But man can she roll! Just last week she was on the floor on her blanket and then we looked up and she was nowhere to be seen. She had literally rolled away! Oh, she's already rolled herself off of the couch once, too. Good thing we still have carpet!

A favorite thing of hers is standing. When she gets fussy we just hold her up to stand and she gets happier. She loves trying to be a big girl it seems. She sits up pretty well now, although occasionally there will be a tip, but every day she's getting stronger with it. And she is strong!! Its amazing how much power a little thing like that can have!

Katura is quite the water baby. From the very beginning she has enjoyed bath time but now it's even more fun because she and I jump into our jumbo tub together and out come all of her toys. She's got tug boats, pirates, a pirate ship, some ducks, a book and some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse toys. My rule is that we have to bathe first, THEN she can swim and play. Speaking of swimming, since we have our pool outside she naturally has to go in. We haven't tested the diving board or slide yet, but she's very happy floating around in her very own toy or being held and kicking her little legs all over. We've been watching the Olympics together every night, so maybe it has rubbed off and she's getting her training going now. Let's remember this post when they do a feature story on her during the Olympics!

During her 6 months of life she has done a lot of traveling. We never shy away from going places just because we have a baby, so she's been all over and in a variety of settings. Some of those include: 3 different races that she was a participant in, crashing a high school reunion, visiting her future high school during my reunion weekend, multiple visits to the Country Club (including the biggest tournament of the season), mingling with Olympic hopefuls during the Trials in Eugene, shopping malls, Enchanted Forest and many visits to the Wildlife Safari. She's a regular in restaurants and stores. Anywhere I go, she's there! I've started running again, so she comes along for those when the weather isn't too hot. The stroller seems to put her to sleep in no time at all!

Meeting people has been something she is a pro at, and she doesn't hesitate to flash her smile. She might hesitate when being held by stranger and usually wants to come back to me, but then that smile returns just as quick as it left! My mom takes care of her all the time, so she knows Grandma very well ... and with that comes Uncle Buddy, the dog I'm sure she will be bossing around in no time at all. My dad was here from Ohio for a couple of weeks, so she got in a lot of good Grandpa time as well. We were able to visit her great-grandpa with my dad, and she took an instant liking to him, which was so sweet! I'm pretty sure she's stealing my best friend away from me, as now they do their own selfie photo shoots and forget that I am even there. Hmph. At my high school tour during our reunion she was able to meet Ela, who is about 2 weeks younger than her. Seeing these little girls meet was absolutely adorable, and they already have plans to meet up again next month at a football game! 

Speaking of dogs, she has a dog and two cats and is fascinated by them. They interrupt meals all the time because once she seems them she doesn't care about eating. We are teaching her how to nicely pet the cats, and those girls are saints for putting up with her clumsy, gripping little hands! This leads me to food ... she uses a spoon! And she loves to try to use it all by herself. Katura has now had peas!! My favorite vegetable was her first! We are going to start introducing new veggies now, one at a time.

I'm sure there is more I wanted to write about, but this is already long and I haven't even added photos. OMG don't even try to guess how many I've taken. I think there might be only one day in her life that I didn't get a photo of her. And when I take 1 I take 20. And then videos. But she's just so darn sweet. These have, without a doubt, been the best 6 months ever. I'm never letting her go. She can stay with her mommy forever and ever. That's not creepy, right?!?