My 7 Month Old...

What to say? She continues to grow, grow, grow - both physically and personality.

She recently added high pitched squeals when she doesn't get her way to her verbal repertoire. I could do without that, but not the smiles I get when I reenter the room whether I've been away for a minute or hours.

She's working very hard at crawling - another source of the squeals of frustration! - and sitting by herself. The Rhesus monkey grip once reserved for my hair has now spread to her toys, the cats' fur, the dogs ears, papers she grabs out of our hands, and so on. The rolling from back to tummy has. not. stopped. It's especially fun when she's on the changing pad mid-diaper change. I guess that's why they put straps on them?

On the cute side she's enjoying pulling off her socks and sucking on her toes. And the Jenny Jump Up was a great purchase except that now she refuses to stand when I hold her up preferring to jump/bounce instead. I guess that means she's developing some excellent leg muscles for crawling/walking?

I did pick a high chair - this one - and while it's not perfect 100%, so far it's worked very nicely. We're having fun with solid foods. Sweet potatoes continue to be a favorite along with bananas and carrots. (BTW, fresh banana if it's fork mashed has little fibers that end up looking like little black/brown threads or worms in the diaper. This should be something included in all baby books but wasn't in any of the three I've accumulated. If you use an immersion blender or other mechanical equipment to break it down they aren't so obvious.) Greens are a little harder - peas are okay, broccoli (surprisingly) is okay in small amounts, but green beans are bad.bad.bad. and refused singly or mixed with a favorite such as sweet potato. Yogurt is yummy (Yo Baby Banana or with Apple and Sweet Potato) and so is oatmeal mixed with formula and fruit for breakfast. At dinner she's been enjoying assorted veggies singly or in combo followed by yogurt or recently a turkey, sweet potato and rice combo followed by banana on nights when she doesn't get oatmeal. Both meals are running at or more than 4oz.

Most of what she is eating I've made - though I try to find a similar manufactured product for the first try so that I don't waste food by making batches of things she despises. She's also drinking water with dinner as her soft spot has started to run a little depressed with the increase in solid foods and decrease in milk/formula fluid intake. I've kept offering the same amounts for each feeding, she self-selects how much she wants to take. (There's been a lot of wasted formula down the drain.) After trying a few sippy cups, the winner is a STRAW cup by Playtex. It's light weight enough she can hold it, and the design means she doesn't have to lean back to drink from it, which is a bonus when she's in the high chair. Plus, drinking from a straw means that if we're out I can get a cup with a straw and don't have to make sure to have a "sippy" cup in the already crowded diaper bag.

There appear to be two little tooth shaped lumps forming in the center of her lower jaw. Apart from some increased drooling (though, really, drool has been happening all along so increase isn't much more than a relative term) and the occasional love affair with Sophie or Babbit's paws (and ears), there isn't much else to talk about there.

On Monday, Little One weighed in at a whopping 18lbs 10oz which totally explains my constantly aching back and why I'm starting to research convertible car seats. Though I'm not going to give up the infant seat until I have to since she still crashes hard in the car and some days that's where every nap occurs so it's important that she not be disturbed when I go in and out while running errands. The thought of either having to wake her up or adjust my schedule so that all naps occur at home makes me sad.

Also, with that growth, I think we're seeing the last of the 6 month clothing, which kinda stinks since when pre-buying 9 month clothes I assumed she wouldn't be in them until later in the spring so they run to things like short sleeve t-shirts and shorts. And of course now all the stores have in are spring weight items, even though I'm sure we have yet to see the very last of the colder winter weather.

Speaking of cold weather, have I mentioned how much I adore the J.J. Cole Bundle Me I was given at a shower and thought I wouldn't need? Seriously guys, I can take Little One out when it's in the 30's wearing a short sleeve top, light-weight knit pants and no socks and she still ends up with dripping sweaty baby toes. It's amazing. Gross, but amazing.

On the semi-non-baby front, even working just two days a week is really cramping my social life. So I'm seriously considering resigning once I finish catching up on everything that fell behind while I was out. Thankfully DH's employer has seen fit to compensate him generously enough that this is an option for us. I really feel for working moms and single moms. I find it hard enough to get everything done even with not working 3 days a week, I don't know how y'all do it. Actually, I don't get everything done I'd like to, even at the most basic level. Something about having a 7 (gulp) month old who requires I pay attention to her instead of doing things like vacuuming or cleaning the bathroom or anything else which might make our house feel more like a home and less like a pig sty.

In summary: I have a happy healthy baby, a dirty house, and I want to quit my job. How are you doing?