The Gus Fuss: Makenzie

Well, at this moment I am so upset because have already felt so guilty that I can't keep up with the monthly posts like I did with Lachlan. I've been working on her 6 month post for the last week, determined to get it done timely. I just spend over an hour tonight finishing it up...and none of the autosaves actually worked! I went to publish and gives me an error and then reverts back to the copy from days ago! Just want to toss this thing out the window and is stress I don't need! At some point I hope to get caught up with the previous months, even if it is just a small posting. I have this horrible guilt feeling because I haven't captured all the moments that I did with Lachlan, but I am really struggling with making free time for it, especially with a laptop that makes it SO DIFFICULT. Right now I feel like I have this huge "to do" list and just am treading water to keep my head above it! I do have a calendar where I try to keep track of her updates...but not the same as my blog posts. I already can't believe she is 6 months and is out of the newborn stage and into what I call the classic chunky baby stage, although I can't get her as chunky as I'd like. I am really trying to just soak up every moment of her babiness and hold onto the memories. She is just sooooooooooo happy and soooooooooooo good. I feel guilty too cause Lachlan seems to get most of our attention because he just requires it more than she does.

6-Month Stats (5/5/14):
Dustin took her to the doctor appt because I had a work meeting.
Weight: 16 lbs 1oz (49%)
Height: 26.5 in (73%)
Head: 16.75 in (50%)

Eating Habits:

We offer 5 6oz bottles each day...but is rare that she finishes all bottles! I'd guess she maybe has about 27 oz/day total.
We started food on 4/5 with some squash. For the next few weeks we sometimes did food around dinnertime, but was not an every night occurrence. She next had some carrots and sweet potatoes. I believe peaches were her first fruit. The week before turning 6 months, I started sending food to daycare and dropped the food at dinnertime. Normally she just has about 3 oz of a fruit/veggie for lunch at daycare.
We give her Miralax each morning- about 1tsp. Poor girl has same issues as her brother where it seems really painful when she tries to poo. I sometimes give a probiotic in her evening bottle.

Makenzie Random Notes:

I wish I could say rolling, but still does not seem interested AT ALL.
Not the best eater, but somewhat getting the hang of it. Still uses her tongue to thrust out the food a lot.
REALLY focuses and likes to grasp objects. I love watching her concentration.
Has discovered her toes and LOVES to get them in her mouth.
We got out the jumperoo, but she is not a huge fan. She may spend 5-10 minutes in there. I remember Lachlan loved it right away and would fall asleep cause he'd wear himself out!
I bought a new bouncy seat since our old one was so flattened out from Lachlan using it way past the weight limit.
She will do tummy time, but only for short times. She can push herself up and look around. I don't see her pivoting, but Lachlan really never did that either.
I had thought a while ago she was getting close to holding her own bottle, but no progress there...which is really fine with me cause I love holding her and giving it to her. She likes to grasp my shirt or a blanket while eating.
Dishes out smiles left and right! I really don't feel like I've heard her laugh, but Dustin says she does.
No teeth poking through, but wants to put everything in her mouth. I give her a toy or stuffed animal and it is just soaking wet by the time she is done. Immediately when she gets in the carseat she tries to eat the straps.
Seems to like the bath- never cries or fusses in there.
She is so easy to bring places, so it's great that she really doesn't prevent us from any outings on the weekends. At some point soon I think that will stop cause we will want to be home for her to nap in her crib...but for now she is so great at just sleeping on the go!
We put her in her crib for a nap a couple times, but she doesn't seem to nap well in there. The swing is primarily where she sleeps on the weekends during the day.
So....sleep. We were exhausted, at our wit's end, going crazy, etc. So on 4/7 I finally got to a breaking point where had to try letting her cry it out. We used the same methods as we did with Lachlan where we would go in at intervals to let her know we were still here and give her some pats/touches, but not pick her up. Dustin had been wanting for weeks to do this with her, but I wouldn't give in. I knew it worked extremely well with Lachlan, but there was something telling me it was not the right time with her. She had been so sick for a long time, so I wanted to make sure she was 100% over that. Also, she didn't eat as much as Lachlan, so felt it could be legitimate that she was hungry during the night. Anyways, spur of the moment I decided I just had enough and had to try this. Well she woke shortly after midnight and cried for 45 minutes...which was brutal as I laid in bed thinking I was the worst mom and never should have done this. Then it was like someone flipped a switch and she stopped! She didn't cry the rest of the night or when she awoke in the morning! For the remainder of the week she would only cry 10-15 minutes when waking during the night. The next week she basically never cried anymore! So, again, this method has worked great for us!
The kids had their first real baby-sitter the night of my birthday. Her name is Jessica and she is awesome with the kids! I had NO qualms leaving them and really hope they had fun!
Nicknames we have for her: Kenzie (thanks to Lachlan), Chubbins or McChubbins, Kickapoo Rogers

Typical schedule:

If she awakes between 5-6am, then I just move her to the swing and she goes back to sleep until around 7 usually. I normally don't fall back asleep, but at least I can lay back in bed and relax. If she awakes any time after 6am, then I will just get her up at that point.
I give her a morning bottle (6oz) on the couch while watching the news or Today show.
Get to daycare around 8am. I send 3 6oz bottles and a jar of baby food (about 3 oz) that she has for lunch. Her naps are ALL over the place with no schedule!
I usually pick her up around 5:15 from daycare. She likes to be in the kitchen while we eat dinner and frequently fusses if we try to put her in the swing or leave her in the family room. Most of the time she is in her bouncy seat and Dustin bounces her as we eat.
She frequently ends up falling asleep between 6-7pm, which I'd like to avoid. We just recently moved up her bedtime since it seemed like she was getting tired early. We try to give her bottle now around 7-7:15pm so she can be in her bed by 7:30. I usually give her night bottle, but Dustin does sometime. I like to give it to her in the rocking chair in her room. I really enjoy this quiet time together and she frequently falls asleep at the end of the bottle so just snuggles up to me when I burp her. Love it!

Now, the best part...pictures!