6 months old and as beautiful as can be

I can't believe it.  Today is January 29, 2012 and my beautiful little girl is officially 6 months old.  We went out last night with Casey and Matt and were actually out past midnight.  I had had a couple of cosmos so right when I checked my watch and saw that it was officially the 29th I teared up (although I don't have to drink anything to cry these days; all I have to do is watch her sleeping peacefully or hold her little hand).  They say it goes by too fast and that is of course true.  But the reason it goes by so fast is that you're constantly trying to hold on to every moment, taking visual snapshots of everything that happens.  So then when you stop for a moment to reflect on how old she is or what day it is, naturally you remember everything like it was yesterday because you were so careful to pay attention to it in the first place.  That's not necessarily a bad thing.  I remember the first time I held her like it was one second ago and I know I will remember exactly how she looked when we made eye contact for the first time.  She knew I was her Mommy and we were in love instantly :)

To commemorate this joyous day, here are a couple of photos showing a few recent milestones.  Here is the first time she sat up with just a few pillows propping her up:

Here she is about to go to sleep for the first time in her big-girl crib.  I decided it would be fitting to squeeze her into her newborn pj's for what might very well be the last time.  On this night when she was almost asleep, she quickly turned to me and opened her eyes.  I thought she was wide awake, but she just smiled at me, turned her head, and went right to sleep.  Magical.

 First day at the park on the swings!  I met a few mom friends there and they helped me get her in the swing, padding the back with all of their blankets so she would be comfy. Too cute.

 Just when I thought she'd gotten a hold of the whole sitting up thing, she surprised me by falling all the way forward onto her hands and knees.  I'm not sure who was more scared or proud -- her or me!

 And the very next day, the same moment of terror follwed immediately by curiosity and surprise.  I'm so proud of her but part of me also wants her to slow down with the milestones already.  Soon she'll be crawling all over the place!

 Unfortunately one of the less-than-awesome milestones is stranger anxiety.  I don't think she's quite there yet but she definitely searches for me or Tory when someone else is holding her.  Here she is with her "great-aunt" Karen looking a little unsure of things.  I tried to reason with her by telling her that "Karen has known Mommy her whole life!"  Pretty cool fact, and she's a pretty cool lady.

And then finally, a little photo shoot to mark this special day.  She is wearing one of my favorite outfits from her Auntie Erin, which thank God still fits because it is so cute.  She is also wearing a hat that was hand-made by the mother of one of my advisees from Leadership -- how cool is that?  Don't mind her as she attempts to eat the sign we made to mark the occasion; that's what she does with everything we put in front of her.  The real victory comes at the end when her Daddy figured out how to get just the perfect shot (and succeeded in making her Mommy laugh out loud):

Skyla Belle, the past six months with you have easily been the best of my entire life.  You make me smile and laugh every day, and you move me to tears almost as often.  You are the sweetest, most beautiful gift I could have ever hoped for and I want nothing more than to be the best Mommy for you, because that's what you deserve.  I love you more than ice cream, more than baseball, more than my favorite book, more than anyone I've ever known.