Dixie Gator Gal: 7 Months

We spent the majority of your 6th month in Florida and you loved every second of it. We had so much fun meeting all your friends at lots of playdates. And your grandparents and great grandmother were just over the moon to spend time with you.

It made me feel even luckier to get to spend all my days with you.

Everyday I am astonished at how fast you are growing. It blows my mind seeing you develop and learn how to do new things everyday!

At 7 months you are 29.5 inches tall which puts you in the 98th percentile for height and weigh in at 19.5 pounds 66th percentile for weight. You wear a size three diaper and 6-9 month clothing.

We had you on the go while we were in Florida. You took your naps in the car, your pack n play and slept in a few beds with us. Guess where the only place you want to sleep now is? Right between mommy and daddy! While we didn't bring our video monitor, we went to get a radio monitor our second night there. Even with your white noise machine, we quickly learned you needed to be far away from noise and light to sleep though the night.

I think all the changes of scenery upset your routine a little bit and you have started to cry for comfort during the night instead of soothing yourself back to sleep. We haven't made it through a night yet that you haven't beckoned us to your crib in the wee hours for a little back rub and pacifier replacement. We also think you sometimes get startled because you've gone from a side sleeper to a tummy sleeper.

When you wake up you must think, hey, how did I get here, someone help roll me over! Your daddy and I are happy to ablidge, and hope you feel more comfortable and safe now that you are back in your own crib.

You are becoming more and more aware - aware of sounds that go on outside your room, and want to be part of the action - aware of molly, aware of the ceiling fan. The world around you is soo interesting, much more interesting than nursing! I try to make sure we have a dark and calm place, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't (like anytime we stopped along the road). You still enjoy your bottle before bed and nursing 4-5 times a day.

In addition to nursing we give you a sippy cup of water at meal times (and on the beach). You think it's ok, but much prefer to drink out of a real cup (with our help of course). We added a few new foods into the rotation. In addition to rice and oatmeal cereals, pears, avocados, squash, green beans, sweet potatoes, bananas, apples and carrots. You've had peaches, nectarines, apricots, prunes, mango, peas, yellow squash, Cheerios and lots of puffs. You love banana and sweet potato puffs. While you chow down on the green (spinach, kale, etc) puffs they tend to come right back up, so we will hold off a little longer on those. Butternut squash is still your favorite, followed by sweet potatoes.

I still sing apples and bananas to you while we eat. We talk about the different foods you like, too. We had been using your bumbo seat with a tray as your high chair, which you were outgrowing quickly. You have a high chair now and LOVE IT!

Molly is still your partner in crime, but you are not her's. She likes to stick close to us, but the second you reach out to touch her-she gets up and walks away. I'm sure she will keep warming up the more food you drop for her.

I thought you were a great sitter before, but you can sit even better now. You are still scooting, standing and holding onto things. You still stay pretty close to where I set you down, and I don't mind that one bit! You love being held and cuddling, which I love, too. Seeing all the "big boys" in Florida, I know those days are limited.

You talk and screech more and more each day. The highlight of this month (other than seeing you loved on by your greatgrand and grandparents) has definitely been the addition of mamamama and dadadada to your vocabulary.

Nesting cups, rolling balls, Sophie and your exerciser top your list of favorite toys. I guess we missed the boat on getting you acclimated to another pacifier, so the infant wubba nubs are going to be in it for the long haul.

You LOVE us to read to you. This month you learned to turn the pages in your board books. Favorites still include Snuggle Puppy, Llama Llama Wakey Wake, Barnyard Dance and Go Dog Go!