Baby girl is 6 months! Here are a few highlights from the last few months:

• She is smiling all the time and she squeals when she gets really excited.
• After turning 100 days old, she became SO much easier. She is super chill and easygoing.
• I can tell she enjoys being around people and watching them.
• Ava did wonderfully when she first started daycare. The daycare provider is always raving about her. Eats well and naps decently.
• She's falling asleep on her own now, with the exception of a few weird nights she's a bit cranky and may need more soothing.
• She started solids this month. Started her off with butternut squash and carrots and she seems to like it so far. She'd always smack her lips when she saw us eating and I'd feel so bad. Now she gets to get with us during meals!
• She's outgrowing the bathtub. Can't wait till she can sit up on her own so we can start giving Erin and Ava baths together.
• She is grabbing her feet and rolls over tummy to stomach (sometimes).
• If she's not sleeping through the night, she'll wake up once..usually around midnight. No complaints here. I almost always have to wake her up in the morning around 7.
• She's really into her hands right now. She enjoys opening and closing her fists. She also likes pinching mommy. 
• She is officially in her own room in her crib (she slept in a bassinet next to me till she was 5 months old).
• She is a chatty/loud girl and she screams now.
• She likes sticking out her tongue and clapping her hands.
• She does this thing where she giggles so hard she gets the hiccups. It's pretty darn cute.
• She cries when unni cries. 

Stats:
Height: 25.5 inches (35%)
Weight: 13 lbs 11 oz (9%) -- Don't know what happened here. She looks and feels heavier than that to me.

Yumbox lunch ideas

Lunch isn't part of the tuition at Erin's preschool. Either you pay $4/day for lunch or you bring your own. $4 sounded like a lot of money so I'm packing Erin's lunch everyday. I researched a lot about which lunch box would be best for Erin. I didn't want anything too bulky or hard to open. It was between the planetbox and the yumbox. In the end, yumbox won. I really like the yumbox. It's super helpful having different compartments that are different sizes.

It's not easy getting her lunches ready each morning. I want to make sure she has plenty to eat, which means each lunch has to be carefully thought out. Gotta try to make it as well balanced as possible, giving her a little bit of everything. Here's a little of what Erin has been eating for lunch.

Grilled cheese, yogurt raisins, teddy grahams, peaches and blueberries, edamame

Pork cutlet with sauce, Hawaiian bread with cheese, mixed veggies, strawberries and blueberries, half of a chocolate chip cookie

Alfredo shell pasta with chicken, crackers with cheese, broccoli and carrots, kiwi and grapes, chocolate covered blueberries

Erin starts Preschool!

There have been a lot of changes since our big move to Orange County. New home in a new city/county, new daycare for Ava, and Erin started preschool. I was actually quite nervous about this transition for Erin. She was so happy at her daycare. She would always talk about her friends and it was so sad when she had to say goodbye to all of them that last day (sad for me mostly because I don't think Erin realized what this particular goodbye meant). I was nervous about what it would be like for Erin to make new friends and go from a free play setting to a more structured setting. Also,  if you've ever met Erin, you'll know she's a little shy/quiet and a bit fearful. But to my surprise, there were no tears her first day! She didn't cry at all or give us a hard time. She willingly went into the arms of her new teacher. She has really come a long way. Had we sent her to preschool just 6 months prior, I'm positive there would've been tears. Erin has grown so much these past few months. She's becoming more extroverted and adventurous. It's been just a few weeks into preschool, but it seems like Erin is really enjoying it. The teachers say she's doing really well. Apparently she gets along with everyone and is a great listener (she's totally a bad listener at home). It's cute when Erin tries to tell us about her day (I can only understand about 80% of it and she gets SO frustrated when I can't understand her). She's making new friends (still hasn't remembered all their names so sometimes she refers to them as "that person" and "that other person"). I'm so proud of her. Gosh, she's getting so big so fast!

Our mornings have definitely become more hectic now. We need to make sure Erin eats a good breakfast before heading out, I have to make Erin's lunch and we make two drop-offs now. But during the chaos of the mornings, I can't help but feel a little nostalgic...thinking back on how little and different Erin was and seeing how much my little girl has grown. In the blink of an eye, Ava will be right there too!

My girls.