7 Months

Eating: You’re rocking out in this department. I will be buying you stage 2 foods going forward. You’re still eating 4-6 oz every 4 hours. You had your first real taste of food this month…a biscuit and pancakes from Cracker Barrel. I’ll feed you a little bit of a muffin or something soft every now and then. You seem to love it. I think you’ll be like Savannah and skip a lot of the baby food stuff and go straight for table foods.

Size: I honestly think you gained about 2 lbs this month and grew an inch. (I’d weigh you but that means I’d have to step on a scale…yuck!).  You look HUGE to us.  We’re transitioning into size 3 diapers and out of your 6 mo clothes. You still wear the 3mo onesies though. Who knows. Even your baby towels are starting to get small in comparison to you.

Eyes: Hazel; I know I said I was calling them brown a few months ago, but they never did get any darker. After having two brown eyed babies and knowing how dark their eyes are…yours still have some green to them.

Sleep: Ugh. No comment. I’m tired. Enough said.

Except I have to answer this. You go down by 7pm most nights and are up between 10:30 and midnight, then again between 3-5am.  You are up for the day between 6:30 -7:30am.

Your naps have become more consistent and better; typically lasting for 1.5 hrs at a time. You tend to take a morning nap and afternoon nap. Sometimes a cat nap in the evening.  

On the brightside, you are now sleeping in your crib full time!

Paci: You use it sometimes, but not consistently. You don’t suck your thumb much either. You don’t have a lovey or blanket either. Whose kid are you? All my babies have had serious attachments to thumb, paci, blanket and lovey….you, little lamb chop, travel light.

Likes: Vegetables. Biscuits. Blueberry muffins. Sleeping on your side. Attention, lots of attention. 

Celebrating the 4th of July

Bedtime Snuggles

Getting ready to hit the road for your 2nd road trip. 

First trip to The Highland Games

Sports Kilts makes baby kilts and they happened to have ONE in the family tartan

so we had to get it!

Sav getting your morning snuggles. The five of us managed to sleep in the 

tiniest cabin ever. It was quite awesome actually!

The mountains wore you out. You were asleep before we even left

the camp ground for our return trip home.

This is how you would sleep in the Rock and Play before we transitioned you to the crib.

Selfies by Sav

Caught Ya!

Nonni got a new puppy, Jasmine. You love little dogs!

Three little monkeys!

You hate peaches...as in will gag and throw them up.

You've figured out how the walker works...I keep having to back you

away from the TV

Watch out world!

Early morning swim meets...

Walking the big kids to school!

Uh??

How is it even remotely possible that I have a third grader and a first grader??? I was just in school myself...or so it feels. As we dropped Savannah off this morning, Matt and I realized her teacher is about 15 years old. She's really young and so that makes me old. That's not possible; it can't be right. She must just look young for her age....then again I'm the one with the 3rd grader and 1st grader. 

The kids did great today. No tears from them or me. They're taking this new school thing in stride. I know they'll do great. I have mixed emotions about them going back to school; I think it's more about them getting older than getting back to the grind. Another school year = another year older, one less year of being a kid, one less year of being able to tuck them in and snuggling them. Soon enough these childhood years will be a distant memory. And that, my friends, makes me a sad Momma today. 

So now what? The big kids are back in school full time and Emory is at Nonni's for the day. I have a whole entire day of non interrupted time to actually get work done. It's not that I haven't been working the last 5 weeks but my work hours have more irregular than regular. I'm honestly not sure how I managed everything. 

But alas, I can breath again. While our evenings will be a little fuller and we'll have to manage our time a little better, for now I'm grateful for a few consecutive, quiet hours today and these little people I get to call mine.

And not to be forgotten; no never forgotten.

Happy Birthday in Heaven, Dad. May they serve and endless supply of Key Lime Pie.

Summer!

The big kids have been tracked out for going on 5 weeks now. It is really hard to believe they go back to school Monday. Like REALLY hard to believe. We've been so busy that I feel like we have yet to experience summer. It's kind of a bummer.

Personal feelings aside...they've had a great break. One week they spent a few days with my Mom at the lake, a week at TKD camp, one week at Soccer Camp / Dance Camp, Swim team, and this week they have a week of being super lazy!

The biggest time commitment we made this summer was swim team. They have to make three practices and one meet per week. However, it's been honestly one of the most rewarding. Both kids could "swim" but neither knew real strokes. In the last 6 weeks the improvement in both of them has been tremendous. Savannah has an awesome backstroke. Caedmon has moved up from Heats 6, 7, and 8 to Heats 3 and 4. He's brought home a few Heat winner ribbons. Savannah as well. It's just incredible to watch them do something they really enjoy. When we go to the pool on the weekends, they make their own lessons up and practice for hours. Love it!!

Month 6

Eating: You started solids this month. So far we've covered peas and carrots. You like both, but really like carrots. You're bottle eating has improved some this month; you still can be a fussy eater - pulling off the bottle often and fussing throughout a feeding. You're eating 4-6oz every 3-5 hours. You're still all over the place but that's okay. At your 6mo check up, the doctor prescribed Zantac so we're going to give that a try. 

Size: You are 14.3lbs as of today and 23.75" long. This puts you at 15th percentile in weight and you're finally on the charts at the 3rd percentile in height. You're head is spot on in the 50th percentile; it's definitely the largest part of you!

Eyes: Brown'ish/Green.

Sleep: It's getting better. I can get you to take 2 short morning naps, and a 1.5-2.5 hr nap in the afternoon. You're almost always ready for bed by 7. You occasionally sleep through the night but most nights you are still up once to eat between 3:30 and 5. Then up for the day between 6:30 -7:30. You are still sleeping in the RNP though; I keep telling myself after our trip to the mountains in mid-July, I will move you to the crib. Fingers crossed.

I let you fuss it out one night and when I went to check on you, you had pushed yourself into a standing position and fallen asleep. Needless to say, I now buckle you in at night.

Paci: Same as the previous months. You use it mainly for comfort as you are falling asleep. You found your thumb this month though...game changer!

Likes: Almost anything with a face on it. Sav has given you a real baby doll that you love to give kisses. You still love baths (lying down only). You love the pool. It takes you a few minutes to warm up to it but once you do you will sit on my lap and splash in the water for an hour straight. You love being tickled. You LOVE your brother and sister!!

Dislikes: Sitting up in the bath tub. Being hot. Being put down. 

Milestones: You started to sit up this month and man it has changed our lives. You are so much happier! You're also starting to lean forward while sitting up and beginning to figure out how to get on all fours. The doctor could not believe that you went straight to all fours today at your check up. You're very strong, have great trunk and neck control and a strong back. The doctor commented you don't care about rolling over because you'd rather go straight to walking. 

We took our first overnight trip with you this month. We went to the beach with some friends. You were a trooper; actually sleeping better there than you do at home. 

Peas, please

We took the plunge and started solids this morning. Nothing like peas for breakfast! She didn't eat a whole lot but she didn't hate it either. 

Then we had peas for dinner. It is safe to say she figured it out. She fussed when I didn't feed her fast enough. She opened her mouth in anticipation of the spoon. In the end she was trying to feed herself!

Peas = Success!

Month 5

Eating: Gees, who really knows anymore. Sometimes you only want about 3 oz and other times 7oz. I try to make sure you're fed about every three hours. Sometimes you go longer. I've never met a baby who does not like to eat. You will push that bottle away and make one heck of a fuss if you aren't interested, regardless of the fact it's been over 4 hours since you ate only 3 oz. My motto these days is when you're hungry you will eat and in the meantime I'll waste a fortune on formula. 

I haven't started you on solids yet. Until recently you were not paying attention to us when we ate. Recently you've been following food to our mouths. We'll probably start something within the next few weeks. I might wait until your 6 mo check up.

Size: You are 13lbs on the dot. You're still quite small, but those thighs are looking mighty delicious these days, extra rolly!

Eyes: I'm calling it. They are brown. What do I have to do to get a blue eyed baby??? ;) I love your brown eyes.

Sleep: Another topic I cringe to talk about. Month 4 was not nice to us in this department. You mastered the 30 minute cat nap. You managed to regress in night time sleeping as well. You still are quite predictable with bedtime - not much later than 8pm, but you were up around 11, and 2, and up for the day between 4:45 and 5:30 most of the month. I thought I might lose my mind. 

But, a friend reminded me about putting a little cereal in your bottle. I've been doing that for the last 3 or 4 nights, and I'm so happy to report that you're sleeping from 8'ish until 4:30am. Oddly enough, I've never been more tired in my life. My body is not used to getting more than 5-6 hours of INTERRUPTED sleep a night; it doesn't know what to do with a solid 7 hours of sleep. 

We also had to resort back to swaddling you. So never again will I brag on your monthly check ins because I just jinx us.

Paci: Same as last month. You will take a paci for about 3-5 minutes as you are falling asleep but you'll push it out before you fall into a deep sleep. Other than this, you don't really use the paci all that much. You do love chewing on your hands and my index finger.

Likes: So many things this month. Most of all, your brother and sister are your favorite people in the world. Savannah has become your second mama and she's a great little mama. We picked up a walker for you (not that you can walk but it serves as a little play station that you'll grow into) and you play with the buttons on that thing like it's a slot machine. You love bath time, you're warming up the the kiddie pool, and you love your feet rubbed after bath! 

Dislikes: Being bored. Getting your nose wiped. Being hot in the infant carrier. Not being held. 

Milestones:

You've started to sit up. 

You'll lean toward people when you want them to hold you.

You get excited (well ... sometimes mad) when you see the bottle. 

You're starting to experience separation anxiety too. Yippee!

 A girl after my own heart; this is about what I look like when I have to put on a swim suit too.

 Mother's Day lunch

Celebrating Gigi and Poppy's anniversary at the lake