6 months!!

Satchel turned 6 months old on the 22nd and I thought I'd share some of her new developments. She's now 15 lbs and 25 inches long. She's still 50th percentile for length and weight and 90th percentile for head circumference. So, our little girl has a big head which we believe means that she's really smart.

You might remember that a couple of months ago we tried solid foods for the first time and got this response:

Since then, she's become very enthusiastic about her food, especially bananas, sweet potatoes, and avocados. She's not so keen on beets, but we'll keep trying. Here's a video of her chowing down some avocados.

Satchel has also become very adept at rolling and squealing. Notice the new sweater Satchel is wearing in this video knitted by grandma. Also notice how she's holding one of the socks that we try in vain to keep on her feet, but she insists on taking off.

And finally, Satchel has started to cut a tooth. Here are some shots of her with her new fruit teether. It's a little mesh bag that holds a cold piece of fruit for her to bite on without choking on little bits that might come off.

Videos of Favorite New Toys

I finally managed to get the videos to load! So, here's the video of Satchel playing with her new jingle block like it's a tambourine and singing along.

Here's a video of Satchel trying out her new exersaucer for the first time.

New Toys!

Satchel has a couple of new favorite toys:

First are the soft blocks that she received from Great Grandma and Great Aunt Barb. Some of them crinkle and some of them jingle. Satchel has become adept at using the jingle block as a tambourine of sorts and singing along with it. I had a couple of videos to share, but couldn't figure out how to get them to post to the blog. If I figure it out later, I'll add them.

Another new favorite is the exersaucer that we actually received before she was born, but she only recently is big enough to sit in it. She loves sitting in it and being surrounded by the toys. The seat spins around so that she can play with things on all sides of the saucer. The dogs love it because she is right at sniffing and licking level.

How Satchel Spent Her First Christmas

This is how Satchel spent her first Christmas:

Napping with Grammie

Reading with Grandpa

Uncle Mark did some reading, too.

Eating

And eating

And eating some more.

Satchel sat in a high chair for the first time at Grandma and Grandpa's house and loved being up at the table with everyone.

Eating Dad's hand.

Going for a walk at the Nature Center

Opening presents and playing with the wrapping paper (way more fun than the actual presents themselves)

Trying on a new hat from Grammie

Listening to Grandma and Aunt Meredith play music together

We had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's house with Uncle Mark, Aunt Meredith, and Grammie, too. Though we sure missed getting to see Grandpa Mike and Ted.

Hesed gets a tree

A couple weeks before Christmas, the whole Hesed clan (minus Matt and Kristin who are in New Zealand!) went to get a Christmas tree. Here are the pics! Though somehow there are no pics of the actual tree. Oops.

Riding on the wagon out to the trees with Greg and Amelia. It was quite chilly.

Jeanne and Joe.

Petting the goats.

Crazy chicken.

Crazy chickens sleeping on top of pig.

Jeanne loves goats!

Large beast.

Winter weather bundling

Now that winter has come upon Chicago with full force (single digit temps), the time has come for some serious bundling and some serious cuteness to go along with it.

All ready to go out. The super warm pink suit is from grandma and the scarf is made by grandma. Someone wanted to make sure this baby was warm.

Waiting for the train at our pink line California stop. You have to be super bundled to withstand the cold winds at the El stations.

Asleep on the train.

Visiting Christkindlmarket downtown. Satchel was a big hit. Everyone wanted to stop and take a look at the cute bundle strapped to the front of Matt.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in South Bend at Matt's sister, Michelle, and her husband, Jeff's place and then travelled on to Toledo to see my family. It was a busy weekend, but we had a great time. Here's some photos from the weekend.

Uncle Jeff

Aunt Meredith

Great Aunt Barb trying her hand at feeding Satchel

Great Uncle Paul and Great Aunt Diane

Grandma

Great Grandma