Seven Months

CB, a year ago, on your daddy's birthday, we went to the doctor and found out that we were getting a little girl. It was such a crazy thing to have that solid idea in my head about you. It was only about a week later that I started feeling you kick. It's so strange how quickly I went from imagining life with you, to not being able to imagine my life without you.

Here are some seven month stats and thoughts:

Likes:

• Playing while sitting up
• Watching kids being silly
• Eating solid foods and getting to hold the spoon
• Faces, and getting to touch them
• Reaching for things out of her reach - below the crib, under the bouncer, across the couch
• Blueberries, bananas, oatmeal, carrots, peas(!), beans, baby yogurt, and gnawing on cold bell peppers
• Babbling with consonants - baba, mama, dada - and blowing bubbles with her tongue.

Dislikes:

• The sound of the vacuum, blender, or hairdryer. She cries every time I turn one of these on while I'm in the room.
• Avocado (so far)
• Not being able to eat Mom's cheerios, which look so very delicious that she has to reach for a handful of them.

Not best friends with the avocado.

Accomplishments/Moments:

• Finally stopped folding in half when something distracts her and can sit confidently and comfortably for long periods of time. She plays with her shape sorters (even though she can't sort yet), her ring stacker, and a tissue box with a scarf in it that she can pull out. 
• Is trying SO very hard to crawl, but often her efforts to push herself forward with her knees result in inadvertent rolling over. The other day we spent 5 minutes trying to get to a toy. At first I thought she would just roll for it, but she scooted around so that she could try to crawl to it . . . and then rolled back and forth for a long time until I finally put the toy beside her so she could make it the last inch or so. 
• Tried and loved lots of new foods - and was a trooper even when she didn't like them. (Side note: I've been making my own baby food, and it makes me feel like SUCH a rockstar. Not sure why this is, since it's just cooking things and tossing them in the food processor, but I really, really love it.) 
• Grew more hair! Occasionally I can clip a tiny bow into it.
• Is still pretty effective at getting around - launching at things, pushing against things, and rolling over several times. The other day when she couldn't get at my cereal, she just tossed her rattle at it like a frisbee. Or a lasso. 
• My absolute favorite thing that has happened this month - she has started putting her head on my chest when I sing to her before I put her down for a nap. She puts her first two fingers in her mouth when we head upstairs, then as soon as we're standing by the crib and I start to sing, she lays her head on my chest and listens. When I'm done with my song, I lay her down and usually she goes to sleep. (Although sometimes she scoots to the edge of the crib and reaches through the rails for something. I'm pretty sure she pulled her monitor off the shelf by its cord yesterday.)

• On Eric's birthday, I was holding her and she'd just finished nursing and hadn't started squawking to sit up yet, so I said, "Where's Dad?" She paused for a second, then I swear looked back very deliberately to where Eric was sitting behind her. Then I said, "Where's Mom?" and she looked right back at me. Melting. Hearts. Everywhere. 
• Every time Eric walks in when I'm feeding her, she stops eating and looks at him. If he's walking around back and forth, she'll start eating and then stop and look for him again when he comes back. The other day she was sleepy and hungry, and he was pulling on her leg while she was calmly eating. She kept looking straight ahead like she was ignoring him, then he shook her leg a little harder and she got the cutest little smile while she was still sucking. 
• When I tickle her face with a stuffed animal, she squints and laughs about it, then starts prepping for it. It's SO CUTE. You can see it here, but skip to about 30 seconds in. I was figuring out the shot, and then I got impatient while trying to cut the video. I'll get Eric to do it later.
• One thing that I know I'm going to want to remember, and that I know can't last forever, is morning family snuggle. Every morning, Eric goes and gets CB and she nurses on the boppy while Eric and I doze (me propped up a bit so CB won't get squished). Then she goes back to sleep nursing and all three of us just snuggle and sleep a bit more before we get up and get ready for the day. It's been our morning routine for a couple of months now, and I am not looking forward to its end, which I know will eventually come. I try to just relish it every morning.

CB, you are just getting to be so much fun! I know I say this every month, but it's absolutely true. You are so clearly developing a sense of humor, preferences, tolerance levels. (I love the differences I see depending on your mood, too. You are still okay with people besides me or your dad holding you when you are well-rested, but when you are tired, you almost immediately start reaching back for me if I hand you over to someone.)

You are getting so mobile, and it just feeds your insatiable curiosity. Knowing that you can get to something - or should be able to - just puts you more on the hunt for things to explore. If I lay you down to change your diaper, I have to make sure that there's nothing else on the floor, or you start reaching for ANYTHING you can see. And then trying to chew on it. You are also interested in feeling things - faces, the textures in your books, any jewelry I might be wearing. I really do love watching you discover your world.

It might be time to put this chair away for a few months. Good thing she was strapped in, I guess?

You are constantly soggy because you drool ALL THE TIME. Everywhere we go people ask me if you are teething, and I say probably, but I haven't seen anything pop out yet. I'm fairly sure there are bumps under your gums, but I've been feeling them there for three months now, so I've stopped waiting with baited breath. You are still quite the happy spitter, but I feel like it's starting to decrease, finally. This would be really awesome, because I am not a huge fan of squash or blueberry spit up. I think we're going to start moving from one solid meal a day to two, and perhaps that will help complete the transition to holding things in your belly. Or perhaps you'll just have twice as much to spit on me, and I can continue being constantly covered in goo for another month or two. Or four. 

When you started solid foods last month, I was shocked when I felt a pang of sadness at the idea that this is the beginning of the end of breastfeeding. When you were born, it was frustrating for a few weeks, and I felt a bit tied to it, since I was the only one who could feed you unless I pumped (which was a pain, so I only did it when I needed to leave you with someone). Now I feel sad just thinking about it ending. I'm sure part of that is because you are growing up, but I will also miss that bonding time with you. How strange. It will certainly remind me to enjoy the next five or so more months. 

By far my favorite times of day are whenever I am singing to you before a nap or bed. This new snuggling is just my favorite. I sing "Inchworm," "The Rainbow Connection," "You'll Never Walk Alone," "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and any number of my favorite primary songs and Sesame Street songs. One of my favorite things to sing is "Mother, Tell Me a Story," which is a two part lullaby where the child starts and the mother finishes, and then you put both parts together. I remember sitting at the piano singing this with my mom when I was little, and my heart just swells when I sing "Child, I am here. Can you feel that heaven is near? Sleep, sleep, a lovewatch I'll keep to protect you through the night." CB, when I snuggle you to sleep at night, your sweet little spirit makes me feel like heaven is near. I can't believe I am lucky enough to be your mommy. I love you so much.

Love,

Mama