Ramblings: Aurora Vivienne's Sixth Month

This month's photo album is HERE.

What a month! Full of changes for all of us and a lot of growth for Aurora. Whether it be due to the new environment or just a natural growth spurt we will never know, but this little monkey came very far in just a few short weeks! Aurora turned 5 months on the same day that the movers took our belongings from our apartment in Flushing, and to be honest it feels like a decade ago. So many things have happened since then, and I really hope that I remember them all. I should start jotting down phrases here and there throughout the month, just so that I don’t forget, because I really feel like the weeks are running away from me!

Aurora had her first plane ride at 5 months, a direct flight from NYC to Sacramento, and was such a good flyer. She barely made a sound, slept a lot of the time and didn’t even seem to suffer from achy ears during take-off and landing. She also didn’t seem too affected by the change in location or climate, a lot less than Luna was anyway, but I’m not sure if that’s because she is so small or just if she is a lot more easygoing and adaptable. We are all pretty adaptable beings anyway, so I suppose that she gets that from her parents and grandparents!

Aurora has always been very long, and also pretty much within the higher percentiles in weight, but she seems to have really chunked up this past month. Huge, gorgeous chunky thighs and big, kissable cheeks, those little rolls that you never want to see disappear but eventually do. We won’t be going to her 6 month well-check until next week (moving to another state means new insurance plans and new doctors all over again, but I have to say, California makes everything a lot easier than New York did), so I won’t know her measurements until then, but from my own calculations and scales here she’s about 20lbs. This means that she’s only a couple of pounds lighter than her sister now! My arms are definitely getting a work-out between the two of them! By weighing Aurora I also ended up weigh myself and realised that I had lost 10lbs in 3 weeks without even doing anything. I suppose the excess pregnancy weight is finally coming off, and just being in California is helping me be more active and healthy. I’m really thankful for this, for while I was never really fat to begin with, it was actually getting me down. I didn’t want to be in any photos or videos and didn’t even feel like any of my clothes looked good anymore. So all that to say that I’m feeling a lot happier about myself now. Ten more to go and we can have another baby! (I’m kidding, not just yet).

I think I said last month that Aurora had been rolling from back to tummy for a while, but still refused to roll from tummy to back. Well she showed me a few times that she is more than capable of doing it, but that she’s not too interested in it. Instead she is practicing her push ups and worm wiggle, and all of a sudden wants to be standing, even though she can’t actually stand. I suppose she wants to be able to do what her sister is doing… Saying that reminds me that her and Luna have been interacting a lot more these past few weeks, and actually even playing together slightly. By that I mean that Luna will shake a toy above her for a few minutes, grab her and cuddle her and yell NO!! if Aurora dares come near any of her toys. But Aurora is beginning to understand how to do the sneaky worm-roll movement and will manage to whisk away a little toy when her sister is too occupied by asking for “dootie” (boob) or demanding PEPPA snort snort. And while both Cesar and I get huge, beautiful smiles from her, her main focus is usually on her sister, on what her sister is doing and on how to get her sister’s attention. They will be close friends in no time, as long as Aurora doesn’t take her sister’s toys away too often!

It always surprises me when I see my now 6 month old wearing clothes that Luna wore when she was 12 and 18 months old. I’m sure there will be less growth spurts now and a focus on different developmental activities, like crawling which will happen sooner rather than later, sitting, and talking. Aurora can now sit unassisted for up to a minute but isn’t ready to get up by herself just yet. And she has definitely found her voice; she actually loves to “shout” dadadadadadada and mamamamama! She also loves to “squawk” really loudly, I actually have compared the sound to that a crow makes. It’s really cute and gets louder and louder with excitement! She’s getting used to being in the car on a regular basis nowadays – at first she cried a lot, but now she seems to settle down a little faster and often falls asleep which is great for nap times. We haven’t been able to get back into a good nap routine yet, and every time I manage to get Aurora to sleep Luna wakes her up, so I really must work on that. I suppose crib training is going to have to happen and I’m really not looking forward to it. Or we just stick it out until Aurora is 1 and then move both kids to their own bed, together. I feel like that is what is going to end up happening anyway. I don’t have the heart to do any kind of sleep training. I mean it demands consistency and too many tears! And I know I repeat myself but there is something so special about sleeping next to your child(ren), waking up to their smiles and cuddles (and kicks and slaps to the face). Maybe the next one will go straight to the crib from birth?!

We haven’t started on solids yet, but I suppose we will get started on that in the next week or so, avocado, fruit, vegetables, one by one, a mix of purees and Baby Led Weaning, hopefully it will incite Luna to eat more again too. What I’ve learnt is that you can try to instill healthy eating habits as much as possible, but sometimes your child will only ingest Goldfish and scrambled egg all day, and that’s OK. But again, I’m reluctant to start on solids, just because exclusively breastfeeding is so easy and convenient and clean and just really EASY. Not that I’m being lazy or anything here :D. And those teeth are all on their way too, not out yet, but lurking there just under the surface, waiting for the right moment. I do dislike the whole teething process (who does?!), but I hope it happens all in one go like it did for Luna. Made life a lot easier for everyone!

And so there we are… 6 months ago I was holding this little newborn baby in my arms, high on oxytocin and love, and now we are across the country and that little newborn baby is nearly the same size as her bigger sister. Time does fly and I have to tell myself time and time again that these moments are so short, so sweet and I wish I could just bottle them up forever, just so that I can go back to them and live them again and again.