I feel like I was just writing your six month post (and I kind of was since that was the last one I did), and here we are already at seven months! This has been a pretty big and exciting month with lots of firsts, and so many other things just confirming how sweet, funny, and just overall wonderful you are. You're such a loving baby and want to be held, but then you like to be down playing with toys, but then you turn around and want to be held, again. And obviously these first-time parents oblige every single time <3
You can sit up so well now, and you only fall over if you purposely give up and lay backwards, so we still make sure you're in the middle of s soft area. You're so confident, too, that you will lunge forward if you see something you want. Once you have your eyes fixed on a toy (or our phones) and you want it, you reach as hard as you can.... and sometimes go forward. The only reason you cry is because then you're on your tummy and, as with every other month, you still absolutely hate that. Therefore, we're still nowhere near crawling and I'm pretty sure you'll be standing / walking before you adequately crawl. We've tried putting your knees under you, but you just lay face down and cry, so we flip you back over. I think this is probably the biggest reason you act this way: you've never been forced to just do it. You always have someone near you to tend your every fuss, and you've never had to figure it out yourself.
But you still love to sleep on your tummy. As soon as we lay you down, you're trying to roll over before we can zip up your suit. This new sleeping position has done wonders for your hair and you no longer have the bald spot on the back of your head - woohoo! As for the other aspects of sleep, you're so-so. You love the bedtime routine and take your bath, get lotioned up, and get a fully belly. That definitely helps you get to sleep quickly, and it's still usually around 7:00 or 7:30pm. We got "permission" from your pediatrician at the six month appointment to stop feeding you if you woke up earlier than eight hours from going down. I figured this was the case, you were just used to being fed and wanted comfort that way, but wanted to verify with her. Luckily it only took a couple nights for you to realize I wasn't coming in at 2:00am anymore (you were stuck with dad and, let's face it, he doesn't have what you want!). You do consistently wake around 4:00am, and since that's after eight hours, I drag myself into your room to feed you and put you back to sleep. I'm already contemplating when we can drop this one, too ;) You wake for good around 7:00am and take two naps per day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The nap lengths aren't very consistent, nor are the times you go down, so we might start working on that, too.
Eating is still something you enjoy, so you're definitely our kid. And now that we've started food, it's more fun for everyone! We skipped purees and went straight to table food, so I admit it's a little scary watching you work food out and down. You're a "shoveler" and will stuff another handful in your mouth when it's already full, so I find myself eating halfway out of my own seat should I need to scoop you up and intervene. You've had a semi-variety of foods: apple, peach, banana, avocado, squash, zucchini, broccoli, sweet potato, carrot, pancake, egg, yogurt, spaghetti, pork chop, chicken, steak, etc. Now that I type it all out, I guess it doesn't seem like that much. But it's only been one, maybe two, meals per day with us. It's just to introduce you to foods and how they work, but all of your nutrition is still coming from breastmilk, which you still thoroughly enjoy. Not much has changed over the past month in that aspect, but we've done a few bedtime bottles and those are probably 7-8oz, which further validates you can sleep a long time!
The biggest event of month seven was taking your first plane ride and hotel stay! The conference I plan for work was in Scottsdale and I got approval for you (and dad and Mimi) to come with me! Since I would have to step away to pump anyways, it made sense. You did great on both flights considering you were exhausted, but I guess there was so much to watch and see, it was hard to sleep. I was sweating trying to keep you entertained, and you just talked, looked at everyone, and even got a little tour by one of the flight attendants. Dad went to work in his Phoenix office each day while Mimi played with you all day, and then he would relieve her and do bedtime. Every time I came back into the room to feed you, you would be SO excited to see me, and my heart would just melt. You didn't adjust very well to the time change (two hour difference), so would go to sleep by 6:00pm and were up by 5:00am. And you either didn't sleep well in the pack 'n play or would get scared / confused if you woke up, because you did wake up more often. It could've been, too, that you were in the same room as us, so I was just much more aware of your movements. But overall, you were a great little traveler and everyone LOVED seeing you during your brief visits to the conference :)
I'm so excited for the next couple months because we have so much to look forward to: Halloween, a trip to Taiwan, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. And then, before we know it, we'll be getting ready for your first birthday party - ahhhh! I love you so much and am so blessed you're mine.
xoxo,
Your Mom
{7 Month Stats}
- Weight: 17lb, 8oz (estimate with our home scale)
- Height: n/a
- Head: n/a
- Clothes: I'm still squeezing you into some 6 month because I'm in denial, but you're mostly in 9 month clothes now
- Diapers: size 3
- Shoes: size 3, I think - but I'll admit we don't wear shoes much right now, although I will need to get some for fall / winter
- Likes: sucking both feet, eating pancakes (your favorite!), chewing on every tag you see, and splashing in the water (pool and bath)
- Dislikes: being left alone (still) or playing on your tummy (still)
