Maggie is Six Months Old

Here are some six month pictures of Maggie!

It is hard for me to believe that Maggie is six months old already. Maggie has become an expert at rolling. If you put her on the floor she will roll from one side of the room to the other, and just last week she figured out how to roll back the opposite way! As I mentioned before, she now has two small bottom teeth. She is eating all stage one foods and eats three big girl meals a day. Maggie thinks her big brother Ben is so funny, and she enjoys laughing at him. She loves to play with toys and especially likes to put things in her mouth. She is sitting up with a bit of support, but will still fall backward if you let go of her for too long. The most amazing thing about our little sweetheart is that most of the time she is content and happy. If you have met Maggie you know that this is an answer to so many prayers. If you don't know Maggie I will fill you in.

Six months ago we were so happy to welcome a healthy 8lb.8oz. baby girl. When we brought her home we thought our biggest issue would be getting Ben to adjust to her, but we soon found out that was not the case. At around three weeks old Maggie started crying. We would do everything to console her and nothing worked. She would only let us hold her up on our shoulder. We couldn't hold her cradle style or she would wail. During those first few months I think I cried almost as much as she did. It was extremely hard for me to accept that Maggie was not going to be the calm sweetheart that I had imagined while I was pregnant. It was very hard to bond with a baby who seemed unhappy most of the time. After one particularly horrible night we took her to the pediatrician to see if there was something wrong. I came home from the doctors office crying, after finding out that Maggie was colicky. On one hand I was happy to know that I wasn't doing anything wrong, but on the other hand I also knew that we would have to endure even more crying. Soon after that appointment I remember telling my mom that things couldn't possibly get worse. Boy was I wrong.

At two months Maggie decided to go on Nursing Strike. I had never heard of a baby who wouldn't eat. Everyone had always told me how wonderful nursing is and how it is a blissful bonding time for mommy and baby. On a Thursday night while Bob was traveling for work Maggie decided that she was going to stop eating. She acted like I was trying to poisen her and would go up to ten hours without eating. We again took her to the pediatrician who told us it was acid reflux. I spent hours researching acid reflux in babies and nursing strikes. For the next two months every time I sat down to feed Maggie I was a nervous wreck. I would wonder if she was going to eat or start screaming and pull away from me. If it hadn't been for my Mom and sister Jess, I don't think I would have survived this time. They were both very supportive and listened everytime I called them. They also came over to the house quite often so I was spending time with someone over the age of two. Bob and I spent a lot of time praying and asked for a lot of prayers from our friends and family. I have completely cut all dairy out of my diet and that seems to have helped a great deal. We found that some babies have an intolerance to dairy and that seems to be the case with Maggie. We also give her medicine for acid reflux.

We are so pleased that Maggie is growing up and becoming such a wonderful little girl. She still cries sometimes, but not much more than most babies. We feel so blessed to have her in our lives and can't wait to see what kind of little girl she becomes. Happy six month birthday Maggie!