7 months

Shut your mouth, look who's sitting!



No seriously....I am.


What a big month for Will, he is finally sitting upright by himself...I can hear the angelic chorus now... no more heavy lifting for mama. I can put him on the ground and he can sit... ..and he can play and entertain himself. He is a busy one for sure. He grabs, flails, hits, tears up any paper in reach. Bath time is a mess and he has finally moved from sink bath to bathtub this month. Gotta contain that splashing!
He is still very sweet and content most of the time. The nursery workers love him and ask us if he ever cries. They call him the "observer" which is what we have called him since birth. He watches everything and is a sweetie for strangers. But he does cry trust me. He is beginning to get a little clingy. Before, I could put him in the exersaucer and leave the room to put laundry in the dryer (or heck..go to the bathroom) without him paying attention or minding. Now he cries when I leave. He wants to be entertained or at least have us there for moral support while he plays. Along with this, has come one of the sweetest things ever. He reaches for us now to pick him up out of the jumper or exersaucer. I love it! He smiles so big when we go in his room to get him up in the morning or from nap. It makes him so happy just being with us. His sleeping habits have changed over the month. We are now down to 2 naps a day. The morning nap last about 1 and 1/2 hours the afternoon varies. I do mean varies! Yesterday he slept 1 whole hour! Yikes! Today, he just woke up from a 3 hour nap. Yesterday, I said "no way buddy are you getting up already" and so I plopped him in our bed and laid down with him thinking he would fall back asleep. Nope, he talked to himself and me for 1 and 1/2 hours before finally going to sleep. He slept there about 45 mins and it. was. precious. He is precious and I just thanked the Lord that I could lay there with him for a total of about 2 1/2 hours on a Monday afternoon. I am so thankful that I get to stay at home with him and soak up these baby days. The sacrifices are worth it for afternoons like these... This won't last forever and I'm enjoying the time I have with him.

Moving on to some developments during month 7:

•  12-18 month clothes; 18 months fits him the best in the length, upper body it is still baggy.
•  24 lbs,  inches who knows
• Eating: 4 (8oz bottles) a day with a snack bottle (3oz) right before afternoon nap. We have found that the 3 oz snack helps him sleep longer in the afternoon.  If he doesn't have it, 10:30 to 4 is a long time without a bottle and he won't stay asleep during the afternoon nap.
• Usually the 3oz of formula starts out in a sippy cup at lunch and he drinks what is left of it from a bottle before nap.
• 3 solid food meals a day, I just added breakfast about 2 weeks ago. Meal time includes about 5 oz of baby food each sitting. And puffs of course! He has gotten the hang of those finally.
• We have added butternut squash, pears and oatmeal this month in addition to sweet potatoes, peas, banana, carrots, apples, green beans....and he loves all of it! He warmed up to green beans after we made him keep eating them. He definitely prefers my baby food to the food in the jar but he is not one to turn down food :)
• Working on the sippy cup. Sometimes he is interested in it other times not.
• Making noises, humming, bahh, guh, etc. No actual words of course.
• Slapping his hand on surfaces. Loves to slap. Slapping Ray, who is fearful I think. "For 6 months this baby did nothing and all of a sudden he is grabbing me", Ray says. Just wait until he can crawl, then Ray will have to hightail it.
• Loves sitting on the floor playing with toys, jumper is still a favorite, exersaucer is losing its appeal.
• Does not like the changing table!!! He loved this until this last month. Now he cries when we put him on it. I can't tell if he just doesn't want to be still or because he is done with laying on his back. And you do not try to change his diaper immediately after nap...that is bottle time and he will cry his eyes out if he doesn't get it first!

Here is our daily schedule at 7 months:
7:00 wake time (8oz bottle)
7:30 baby food (3 oz oatmeal; 2 oz of fruit)
9:00 nap
10:30 wake (8oz bottle)
11:00 lunch (5 oz fruit and veggie)
12:30 or 1 (3oz) bottle and immediately goes down for a nap)
3:30 or 4 ideally he takes a 2 1/2 or 3 hour nap at this time. Most time he does on the rare occasion he does not then he will require a catnap around 5. 8 oz bottle when he wakes.
6 dinner (5 oz fruit and veggies)
7:30 8 oz bottle and bedtime

Of course this schedule does change as anyone who has a child knows...but most days we hover around these times.

This month, T and Pop built Will a bookcase for the nursery. I was trying to take a picture of him with it and he just plopped over. Not 100% stable sitting up unfortunately.


But we love our bookcase and now have somewhere to put the baby books he got from all those showers. We try to read a book before nap time at least once a day. One book we LOVE is the Jesus Storybook Bible. Will got it for Christmas and I just love reading that book to him. I try to read it to him once a day, but honestly it is more for me at this point. It is so sweet and innocent, the story of God's love for us and plan of redemption written for children! It makes me tear up a lot.
We as adults study theology and apologetics, deeper things... all good things, just deeper. It is good to be reminded of the simplicity of love, the love that God had for us before the beginning of time. His plan from the very beginning not to leave us here in this colossal mess we made by sinning. A plan for redemption that comes from love. It is refreshing to read this through a child's eyes.


Well that is 7 months, mark it down.