7 Months!

Today, Avery is 7 months old... As in one month closer to a year than her birth.  Excuse me while I go cry into my pillow.  I'm fairly certain that M will have to have me committed when this child hits 1... I can't handle it; I need her to stay small :)

Avery, here are your stats at 7 months:

Height and Weight- Not sure.  You go back to the doc on Wednesday to get a booster for your flu shot, so we will get an update then :)

Sleep-  We have made a lot of headway in this department this month!  You are now sleeping 12 hours at night... solid.  Last month you were still getting up EARLY (5:30).  You go down usually right at 7:00 PM, at the very latest 7:30, and you sleep until 7:00 AM... pretty much on the dot.  It is WONDERFUL.  Nap training also went really well!  You still have your days of 30-35 minute naps, but some afternoons you have gone 2-3 hours... something I only ever dreamed of you doing before.    The only change this month that Mommy has not enjoyed is that you have decided within the last 3 weeks that you do not want to be rocked to sleep anymore.  You actually hate it.  You want to be held for about 30 sec, and then you expect to be placed in your crib.  You are usually asleep within a few minutes.  The first day you did this, I cried.  But, I've come to realize that it's a blessing in disguise.  I don't want you to be 2 still needing to be rocked and bounced to sleep. :)

* A note about nap training... I used to think parents were crazy for trying to put their kids on a schedule... I am definitely eating my words now.  I'm not crazy strict about it, but as soon as I started being more consistent with nap times, Aves started taking longer and longer naps...  I know it's not for everyone, but there's that.

Likes- You love bath time still, eating, going on walks/runs in the jogging stroller, your paci, playing with keys, having your picture taken, and watching Lexi

Dislikes- Being rocked, having your clothes changed, Mommy or Daddy leaving the room if you aren't completely engrossed with a toy... You are now tolerating tummy time!  Hopefully this will help you learn to crawl!

Diaper Size- 3

Clothing Size- 6-9 months

Feeding- You are nursing 4 times a day and eating 3 "meals" a day.  You eat baby oatmeal in the morning, usually 1 1/2 containers of baby food at lunch, and 2 containers at dinner (and yet you're still skinny!), plus you have recently started eating baby crackers and cereal puffs

Favorite Toy- You LOVE your Sophie the Giraffe.  We pretty much take it everywhere.

Milestones- You fully developed your pincer grasp this month.  You have gotten really well at grabbing cereal puffs with your thumb and finger and eating them.  You can move backwards on all 4's, but have zero interest in crawling it seems.  Just yesterday I was putting things away in your dresser while you were sitting in your crib, and I turned around to you attempting to pull yourself up.  Yikes!  Looks like Daddy is getting close to moving your bed down!

Little Nug, what a fun month this has been!  Daddy and I cannot get over how much we love you.  This month, we have taken to going into your room at night and looking at you while you sleep.  I know, I know, those without kids, I'm fully aware of how crazy that seems; I used to think the exact same thing.  But there's just something about looking into that crib.  It's a combination of feeling extreme gratitude and this inexplicable love.  We just can't believe you are ours.  We love you to the moon and back!

We must not forget the first born :)

First Christmas!  Since we are going to be gone for longer than a week over the holidays we decided not to get our live Christmas tree this year and opted for a smaller fake one (thanks to my father-in-law who bought it!)  While I miss our live tree, at least we decorated!