Half way to 1

6 months really? How did that happen? Elin is thriving and loving life. She laughs easily and loves being tickled, sung too, and generally entertained by anyone. Her sister is by far her favorite person and Anya gets Elin laughing by just making eye contact with her. It is the beginning of a beautiful friendship between these two sisters.

We have a couple of exciting trips planned and they are coming up quickly. In the beginning of February we are headed to Sun Valley to stay with Ahma and Bobpop in their condo for 5 days. Auntie Natalie is flying over with Anya, Elin and I and the boys (Scott and Myles) are flying over two days later. Should be quite the adventure flying with two kids and no dad- but thankfully Natalie is super helpful and hopefully she will still love her nieces by the end of the trip! Be good girls! In Sun Valley we plan to snow shoe, down hill and cross country ski, sled and generally have a ball outside. We also are hoping to get Anya up on skis for the first time on dollar mountain. Wish us luck! Rough life- first time skiing in Sun Valley.
In the end of March we all fly over to Hawaii to stay with our friends the Piskels on the North Shore of Oahu in their amazing beach home. Anya and Lucy are good friends so the trip should be a relaxing family vacation. Can't wait for some beach time.

Alright- update on Elin. She had her 6 month appointment last week and weighs 14 lbs, 4 oz putting her in the 45%. She is 25 inches long- 25% and her head is in the 55%.  She is sitting up in her Bumbo chair and gaining better control of her large noggin.  Her core muscles are coming along as well so she is getting stronger and sitting better in general. We have introduced some rice cereal which she promptly gummed, mushed and drooled out of her mouth. We will keep at it so she begins to learn how to eat some solid food. She is nursing like a champ still and also takes a bottle from anyone. Elin is an easy baby. Despite her "complications" her temperament and general attitude is chill and relaxed.
As far as hearing is concerned she is doing well.
Her speech sounds are progressing and she says ahh, ooo, eee, oh, woo, baa (rarely). Mainly she screams and hollers entertaining herself as she wiggles and kicks on the floor. She rolls from her back to her side and almost to her tummy. She is NOT a fan of tummy time mainly because it is too hard for her to lift her head off the ground for any extended period of time (think face smashed into the carpet). She loves naked time which we have come to call "nudey rudey" time at our house. Anya also partakes and we have nightly nudey rudey time with both girls. It is hilarious and I can't wait to someday embarrass them both in front of friends when I tell the story about them spending every night naked on the floor together. Elin spits up often still but it is getting better. I'm hoping with the addition of solid foods we can get more of that milk to stick in her tummy and not end up on me or her burp cloth.
We are seeing a pediatric optometrist because her eyes are not tracking all that well. We hope that it is simply a lazy eye issue which is very fixable and not a vision problem. Stay tuned for more on that.
Generally life is crazy busy and I don't know where the months are flying off too. I'm trying my best to live in the moment and soak up the baby days of Elin since I know they are fleeting.