in denial

then...

about an hour old, with cord still uncut (in the right corner of the photo)

and now...

same towel, no less

My Ivy Joy turned 6 months old last week. It's still hard for me to wrap my head around it. I always get asked by strangers how old she is. And all the way up until the day she turned 6 months, my answer was '5 months'. Not '5 and a half'. Not 'almost 6'. Because really, why would I want to admit to anyone that my baby is growing so fast.

Yes, it's denial. She is growing up, crawling, sitting, babbling, laughing, starting to grab our food (or just about anything else that's in front of her, so I'm not interpreting it as her readiness for solids/table foods yet). In other words, she's telling me that we are long past those days when I could still somewhat squeeze her into the newborn category. Oddly enough, this time I didn't ever feel like I 'just wanted her to be older so she could start _______ '(insert: rolling over, giggling, sitting up, grabbing toys, etc). I knew those milestones would happen eventually, but her freshness and newborn smell would never come back. Maybe she did too good of a job at being a 'normal' newborn, unlike her older siblings who screamed around the clock. And just when I got to see how blissful that newborn stage can really be, she went and grew 3 months older overnight. Not fair, Ivy, not fair...

Wait, who am I to complain? She is still living up to her middle name - Joy. Short naps and frequent night wakings aside (ok, also screaming in the car), she manages to put a smile on my face whenever I need it. And hey, she's got bushy eyebrows! Finally! My own flesh and blood, but better, with Mark's eyebrows!

And as much as her siblings fight and pick on each other, they still adore Ivy to pieces. Maya actually gets mad at me sometimes that I had the nerve to be Ivy's mom, not her. To give her a credit, she's pretty darn good at being Ivy's mini-mama when the opportunity presents itself.