7 Months

Dear Evalyn,

Today, you are 7 months old. And, girl, have we loved you this month. Well, obviously we’ve loved you every month, but this month has been extra remarkable. And considering you were sick for about 2.5 weeks and cut your first two teeth, you have clearly done some fun stuff for me to come out of the month saying it was remarkable.

Here’s how you’ve looked this month:

You are just oh so much fun right now. You have changed and learned so much over the past few weeks. You now give kisses by blowing raspberries on our cheeks, hands and lips. You ask to give people (or puppies or stuffed animals) a kiss by making the blowing noise while looking at me. And when you’re not giving kisses, you’ve got your cheeks full of air and are making a funny fart sound all the time.

Although we haven’t had a doctor’s appointment to get an official weight, according to Nana’s scale it appears that you are hovering just around the 17 pound mark. You are wearing size 6-12 and 9 month clothes (although still fit into some 3-6 stuff) and are  wearing size 4 disposable diapers. You could have stayed in size 3 a while longer, but I didn’t want to open a huge box knowing we wouldn’t get through them, so I moved you on up. We still haven’t moved you up a snap size on your CDs in either the diaper or the cover but they’re getting tight so I’m sure we will do that soon.

You are really starting to figure out how to get yourself on the move! You have been rolling for months, but lately, you have started to figure out how to get places on purpose. You are scooting like mad up on your hands and toes, and every once in a while, you get the crawl just right for a few strides before toppling over.

You go from your tummy to sitting fairly easily now. You can do it especially well when you are naked or in a disposable diaper. The restricted flexibility of your cloth diapers makes it a bit more difficult, but you’re starting to figure it out. You can also get yourself from sitting up to your tummy, back or hands and knees without bonking your head most of the time. Usually, you go from your tummy, to downward dog, and then twist your bum to the side so you are sitting up. We’ve even caught you sitting up in the tub once or twice. And last night? You tried to pull yourself to standing in the tub. No thank you! Slow down, girlfriend.

Although you still don’t move everywhere or with a great deal of speed, there are a few things that you will always move very quickly for – one of our iPhones, my laptop, my camera, or a can of pop. Looks like you have more in common with your Mama than we ever realized. Mommy and Daddy are learning that we now have to be very careful with where we put things. You are already starting to become very mischievous. Somehow, that little mind of yours can easily figure out what belongs to you and what doesn’t, and you become intent on getting a hold of the things that aren’t yours.

After being quite sick with a nasty cold for about two and a half weeks, we thought we were all finally feeling better and starting to sleep better when things went downhill again. At first, I thought it was just going to take some time to break some of the habits we created while we were sick but then on Saturday April 9th I realized it was something else when your two bottom teeth popped through your gums.

You have started eating solid food quite a bit this month. We’ve had an adventure in starting solid foods but you’re really catching on and love your food now! Things you have had include: bananas, avocado, pears, apples, green beans, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, green peas, carrots, Mum Mums, rice cereal and oatmeal cereal. You usually prefer to feed yourself but if you’re really hungry and I can convince you that what I’ve got is good stuff then you will let me feed you with my fingers or sometimes with a spoon. Most of the stuff you eat is just small bits of table foods, although we are still trying to sneak in some baby foods here and there, as well.

You love to drink water from your cup like a big girl. Even after two weeks of it, I still find myself in awe of how big you look when you hold the cup and gulp the water from the straw.

We are still going strong with breast feeding. Most days, you nurse when you get up around 8, after your morning nap around noon, after your afternoon nap around 3:30 and at bedtime around 7:15. Then you usually wake up between 10-11 to eat and (knock on wood) have been going until about 5-6 am until you eat again (although you have still been waking up in the middle most nights). Then you go back to sleep for a few hours and we start our day around 7:30-8.

You do two good naps a good. Thank you for that, Baby. On average, you sleep about 1.5-2 hours in both the morning and the afternoon. Some days are different, but that’s your normal pattern. You don’t usually have a third nap anymore unless you happen to wake up really early from your afternoon nap, we’re going out and you need an extra rest first, or we’re in the car where you sometimes still doze off.

I have started working on word recognition and some signs with you. You are you definitely starting to respond to both. You seem to respond to your name as well as to the words, Mommy, Daddy, hi, puppy, milk, and jump. You laugh anytime I tell you “no”, so I’m hoping that soon you will start to understand what it means and that it’s NOT funny and Mama means business. I have a feeling, though, that you might always laugh at me when I say the n-o word.

As far as signs go, you definitely understand milk (as in, when I sign/say milk you start laughing like a mad woman until I get the b**b in your mouth), and I think you’re beginning to catch on to eat and all done, as well. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you actually understand the words or are just laughing at your crazy mommy when she’s flailing her arms around in your face.

Speaking of laughing, you’ve been laughing more than ever and just recently you’ve developed two new laughs that we sure get a kick out of. Throughout the day, you are almost always chuckling to yourself. We don’t even have to do anything to prompt it. You just sit there and do this deep, “huh huh huh” chuckle. This is the laugh that greets me every time I come into your room to get you out of your crib. You’ve also started a scream-y laugh when you are excited. Like, if we couldn’t see your face and only heard your voice we would think you were ticked off. But your face shows otherwise. You like to do this scream when we wave to you, when you see your puppy (whom you adore now, by the way), and when you are around other kids.

You are your Daddy’s girl. Speaking of your Daddy, do you know how awesome he is? I know you do. You love playing with him more than anyone in the world and we are so blessed that Daddy works so hard so that you and I can enjoy this time in your life together at home.

There is nothing more I can say but that you are my joy.

We are blessed and grateful that God has considered us worthy to have you entrusted to us for this time on earth.

We love you. We hope for you. We dream for you. And we pray for you.

Here’s to another great month, sweet girl. It just keeps getting better.

Love,

Mama