Happy 6 Months Charis!

Sweet baby girl how did 6 months fly by so quickly?  I swear we just had you!

I love this age so much and think the last month has been the most fun yet!  You are starting to really develop your little personality and your Daddy and I can't wait to see you grow into your own little person:)

So what have you been up to this month?  

You have really started chatting a lot this month.  You are constantly saying mamamama and dadada.  I know it doesn't mean anything yet,  but it is so nice to hear:)  You love to giggle and blow raspberries and it is pretty rare that you just sit silently! 

You are such a great sleeper - you take 2-3 naps a day for 1.5 - 2 hours and sleep 12-12.5 hours at night.  That being said this week between teething, your 6 month growth spurt and having a wicked cold you've been waking up around 5am every morning starving!  Mommy is secretly hoping you go back to 12 hours soon, we've been spoiled by good sleep!  

You are still rolling both ways and have started rolling to get to where you want.  The other morning I went to get you and you had rolled over and pressed your mobile to turn it on.  I came in and  you were just laying under it watching it go round!  You also can sit up pretty well on your own.  You tip over every once and awhile, but over all I can leave you on your own for pretty long periods!  You are alway moving! Even when you're on your belly you start flapping your arms and legs around as if you're trying to figure out how to get moving somewhere!

You still have just 2 teeth on the bottom, but I have a feeling it won't be too long before we see some more!  You are chewing on everything.  Right now your favorite things to chew on are your Sophie, and a mesh feeder with an ice cube in it.  We also started you on solid food last week and I have to say for all the begging you were doing for our food, you're not overly interested in yours!  You tolerate apples, pears and sweet potato, and you really do not love carrots and rice cereal!  You're too cute when you eat, after every bite you pop your thumb in your mouth and suck your food down.  It's too funny!

You are taking 4 - 7 ounce bottles a day, and you do best drinking them in your room, otherwise you are just too nosey to care about eating!

You are growing into the sweetest little girl and your Mommy, Daddy and brother love you so much!  We all just light up when you are in the room!  

We're looking forward to the next 6 months and watching you grow!

Yummy Goodness

 So in light of my wonderful postpartum body struggle, it only seems fitting that I read as many yummy dessert recipes on the internet as possible right?  I mean there's no calories in a picture:)  I thought I'd share a few of the yummiest looking ones with you all in case you are in a baking mood:)  And if you are and feeling like inviting me over for a taste test, all the better!

PEANUT BUTTER RIBBON CAKE:

If you think chocolate and peanut butter are a to die for combo like me this is for you!

This is acutally a Kraft recipe, so should be pretty easy!

what you need

12 NUTTER BUTTER Cookies, divided

2 Tbsp.  butter, melted

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 cup  PLANTERS Creamy Peanut Butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp.  vanilla

1 tub (12 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

2 squares  BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted

make it

CRUSH 8 cookies; mix with butter. Press onto bottom of foil-lined 9x5-inch loaf pan.

MIX next 4 ingredients with mixer until well blended. Whisk in 3 cups COOL WHIP; spoon 1/2 cup into small bowl. Blend in melted chocolate. Spoon half the remaining cream cheese mixture over crust; top with layers of chocolate mixture and remaining cream cheese mixture.

FREEZE 4 hours or until firm. Invert onto plate. Remove foil, then re-invert dessert onto serving platter so crumb layer is on bottom. Coarsely break remaining cookies. Top dessert with remaining COOL WHIP and broken cookies.

NOT YO' MAMA'S BANANA PUDDING - PAULA DEAN

                           

You know that when you see a recipe that has over 1800 5 star reviews that it must be good:)  Plus it's Paula Dean, need I say anymore?  I'm thinking of bringing this one to our church's Thanksgiving potluck this Sunday, so I'll let you know if it's as yummy as everyone says!

Ingredients

• 2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies
• 6 to 8 bananas, sliced
• 2 cups milk
• 1 (5-ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping thawed, or equal amount sweetened whipped cream

Directions

Line the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top.

In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Last One Standing

I am officially the last one in the family that hasn't succumbed to this awful cold that is going around!  J started coming down with it on Saturday morning, and by bedtime was in full on fever, crying, snotting mode!

By Sunday afternoon Adam was feeling pretty miserable too.  I was praying that it would stick to just the boys, but Charis woke up this morning with a stuffed up nose, and proceeded to get worse all day.  The poor little girl didn't sleep for more than 45 minutes at a time all day, presumably due to the fact that she sucks her thumb to fall asleep, which makes breathing pretty hard when your nose is stuffed up.  She finally let herself be rocked to sleep tonight, after tossing and turning for almost an hour.

I have to say, as much as I appreciate the sleep I get from sleep training my babies early, I really do miss those sweet cuddles of having your little babe asleep on your chest.

Here's to praying for a quick recovery, and that I stay healthy so I can nurse everyone else back to health!  Hope you are all staying healthy in this rainy weather!