At 6 months old Madeline weighs 12 lbs 5 oz.  She is still a tiny little thing but she is slowly gaining weight and continues to grow taller.  She is now 25 inches long.  Madeline seems to still be plagued by some reflux so we finally got her on some zantac to help her feel more comfortable.  She continues to have nursing periods where she doesn't eat very well but we are slowly working on getting her more comfortable.  We tried using the bottle to see if she would eat better and to our dismay, she refused to drink from the Dr. Brown bottles we had initially used.  So, I made it my quest to purchase a variety of bottles to get her to drink from a bottle again.  We tried a variety of bottles such as the NUK natural simple, Tommee Tippee, the Medela Calma, and the Como Tomo.  She took the Como Tomo bottle the best and so we ordered more of those and continued to expose her to the bottle more often.  It was a painful few days just trying to get her to take a bottle for one feeding.  The first time it took her almost 40 min to get down 4-5 oz.
Madeline started out this month 100% breastfed and over the course of the last 2 weeks I sadly weaned her to the bottle full time to help her gain more weight.​

Madeline still LOVES to eat baby food.  Her favorite foods seem to be sweet potatoes, squash, pears, and peaches.  Near the end of the month we introduced the baby puff snacks to her and she loved those.  Although she could pinch them between two fingers it was still difficult for her to get them in her mouth so we just fed them to her.  
  
Madeline LOVES toes, especially her own.  Any time she is laying on her back she will grab her feet and chew on her toes.  It is so cute.  She also loves to look at my toes.  I think she especially likes that they are painted.  This month Madeline discovered her hands and fingers.  I would often catch her just staring at her hands and moving her fingers around in amazement.  

Madeline is still a major thumb sucker.  In fact, she refuses any and all pacifiers.  Lucky for us she only sucks her thumb when she is tired and ready to go to sleep.  I still tried to get her to take a pacifier and after 5 different pacifiers I was finally able to get her to suck on the smoothie pacifiers.   I was glad to find some pink ones.  

Madeline is still a great sleeper during the day and at night.  I will often find her little bum in the air when she sleeps on her tummy.  It is the cutest.   I love when Madeline wakes up in the morning.  She usually just lays there and sucks her thumb and is pretty quiet.  Sometimes she babbles and then I know she is truly awake.  I love how happy she is when I stand by her crib waiting for me to get her out.  Madeline is really good about rolling from front to back and back to front so I let her sleep with her blanket during her daytime naps.  I put her to bed with her blanket at night but then take it out before I head to bed.  She is still a GREAT sleeper and will fall asleep rather quickly as long as I hold her for a little bit with her blanket.  Then I lay her down with her blanket and walk away.  She usually just puts her thumb in her mouth and rolls over to her side.  

We are finally getting to the end of the size 1 diaper days.  They work great during the day but at night if I don't change her diaper early in the morning when she wakes up she will soak through her pjs.  I think it is finally time to start using size 2 diapers at night. 

Madeline's biggest accomplishment this month was her being able to sit up on her own.  It all started when I would sit her up on her changing table to button the back of her shirts when I noticed how stable she was when she would lean forward to try and grab the stuff in the diaper basket.  After a few days of that I decided I should try and see if she could sit up.  The first few days she could manage to sit for 20-30 sec at a time.  I had to sit right by her in case she fell over.  After a few days of that she was able to sit on her own for a few minutes.  This was a total life changer for both her and for me.  I was finally able to take showers and do a few things without her becoming too fussy.  She has really not enjoyed playing on her back or her tummy lately.  Her ability to sit up has opened up a whole new world for her.  Her favorite toys this month have been the stackable rings and the see-n-say.  She loves to chew on the colorful rings and she loves the different animal sounds.