7 Months

You are the most amazing, happy, funny baby in the whole wide world! You are 7 months old now and weigh nearly 20 pounds (19 lbs 13 oz) and are 27.5 inches long. You smile and laugh all the time. You really only cry when you fight sleep or think you're alone. You play really well by yourself as long as you can see someone nearby. Sometimes you play in your bed for up to 45 minutes completely alone (I would never know this if it weren't for the video monitor). There are no toys in your bed either. You just like to "talk" and "sing" to yourself. Sometimes you even laugh at yourself. Most of the time, you are asleep within 10 minutes of putting you down, if not instantly.

You are a great sleeper and a great eater! You love trying new textures. You have started feeding yourself puffs and veggie sticks (looks like a cheeto). You are getting better and better at feeding yourself every day. You have also started drinking more from a sippy cup... which breaks my heart to see how much you have grown up!

You are so so mobile! You can roll anywhere you want to go and sometimes you do a very very slow commando crawl. You can scoot backwards very easily. You stand so strongly with just a little help for balance.

You love to study new people. You are very different around new people than you are with family. I worry sometimes that you will have difficulty with separation because you don't go to daycare and really haven't stayed with anyone but family (only Me & Daddy, Dede & Pawpaw). I am making more of an effort to go to church on Sunday mornings and let you stay in the nursery. You really had a great time this morning. I know that God placed exactly the right people in there at the right time for me to feel comfortable. Mrs. Patty reminds me so much of Dede that I didn't even think twice.

When the doctor recommended putting Sweet Oil in your ears to help you loosen up your earwax, I was very skeptical. I thought there was no way you would let me do that and then lay there for 10 minutes on each side to let it work! I do it once per week, late at night when I give you your 10:00 bottle. You are asleep so you barely realize it. Tonight, you opened your eyes and just studied my face with the sweetest crooked grin I've ever seen. You stared at me for at lest 10 minutes as I stroked your hair and face. It was the most peaceful expression I've ever seen. Not excited, not upset, not even neutral... just peace. Oh how my heart melted into a puddle!

Baby, my job as your mommy is the hardest and most amazing thing I've ever done. I am beyond blessed every single day that I get to wake up and see your sweet face. I love you more than I can express and more than I even imagined I could. It is so humbling to think that God's love for us is even greater than my love for you.

You love the camera! You weren't smiling till I took the first picture. Then it was all laughs and giggles!

You look out the window at the birds. You were being fussy with me holding you so I let you lay back on your playmat with your bottle. I couldn't believe that you just laid there and finished it off!