7ish months

My little lady girl,

Another month spent with you is simply a gift. You are sweet to the core. One of your big grins melts away any troubles from the day and keeps me going.

I feel like this month was a big transition. You still feel like a little baby to me, but you are much more aware of what is going on around you, and want to be a part of everything! You are starting to try and lunge forward to grab things, which results in some less than graceful head plants. You can push really high on your stomach, but you aren't up on your knees yet. You sit so well and can roll all over the floor. You don't seem to have super strong stranger anxiety yet, but will occasionally cry when other people hold you and i'm standing close by. You have started responding to your name.

Pretty much anything makes you smile, but some of your favorite things are high pitched noises like when brother and I yell "fling!" as we toss things into the air. You also love to swing, play peek a boo, listen to music/participate in family band, jump in the good ol jumperoo, stand at the music table, go for walks, and shove anything that doesn't belong into your mouth,- books, mail, tissue paper, muddy cars, etc.  I never know if you're teething or just like to try and eat everything.. I'm pretty sure you just like things in your mouth. You don't really have any specific favorite toys- although you are really fond of eating train tracks, and digging through brother's cars bucket. You like the board books with texture, the stacking blocks, jumbo knob puzzles, the animal pop up toy, and sitting in a cardboard box with a bunch of balls. You like to be sang to, and you really REALLY like your bath. We put away the baby bath, and now you are sitting in the tub all by yourself. You get so excited when I turn the water on, you start bouncing on my knee. When you're in the water, you usually squeal and splash around. You love people and try so hard to get people to look at you, which isn't hard with that big grin of yours. I wear you in the bjorn when we go grocery shopping, and you kick your legs around and smile at people the whole time. Your best bud is still Harper, you get so excited and coo up a storm when she comes around.

                                                   

Your language has totally changed this month. You've started saying some consonant sounds, and make a lot of different tones with your voice. Some of my favorite talking times are right when you're done nursing. You usually bolt upright and look over at me and start cooing in the sweetest voice. I also love it when i'm wearing you in the bjorn and you'll lean your head back to look right up at me with your beautiful smile. I don't get a lot of snuggle time with you because our days are so busy, so I cherish the time I get with you when putting you to sleep at night. You don't always love to be rocked- sometimes after nursing you just want to get into your bed asap and you'll lunge away from me. On the nights you do want to rock though, I just pour out my heart to God and tell him how thankful I am that I have been given the gift of raising a little girl. You love to scratch things as a way of soothing yourself- a lot of times you scratch your lambie or the side of your pack and play. When you nurse, you always reach your arm back and either hold my hand, grab your pacy, or scratch my arm. You sleep in a sleep sack, with your pacy, and almost always on your side or stomach.

                                           

Your sleeping has gotten soooo much better this month, halleluiah.  For one week, dad took the monitor and I went to bed. He let you cry for 15-20 minutes when you got up around 11:30, and after a few nights, you just started sleeping from about 6:30 to 3:30. You sometimes get up again about 5:30 or 6, but we just put your pacy back in and you go back to sleep. You're normally up between 6:30 and 7. Sometimes it's hard to tell if you are awake because you'll roll around, but be totally silent. Your naps still are totally random. Most of the time they're still 30 minutes, sometimes they're an hour. Who knows. We just roll with it.

                                                    
The other major development this month is food. I tried 5 or 6 times to give you different purees, and every time you looked like I was feeding you something horrible. I figured you'd eat when you were ready. One day I wondered what you would do with chunks of food instead of puree. I started with banana and much to my surprise you gobbled it right up. For some reason you really don't like the texture of purees, but you do pretty well with soft chunks. You've tried mango, apple, pear, banana, broccoli, sweet potato, squash, pumpkin, corn, and plum. I've even snuck in some tiny bites of bread,  pumpkin bread, and bran muffin.. much to your delight. Your favorites are definitely banana and sweet potato. You really don't like applesauce which is so weird! I want to get you a water bottle because you love putting straws in your mouth. I know you'll love to chew on it!

                                       
So that is the latest my sweet pea. I love you dearly.