Seven months is somehow more fun than six. Amelia seems to be hitting her stride more and more. This month, she has been much more engrossed with her toys, enough that I can walk away for a minute and she doesn't panic every single time. She still does this, just not as often.
She is fully sitting now. It's funny how quickly they can go from barely sitting, then assisted, to fully sitting unassisted. She can sit up for quite a while (20+ minutes) before getting tired, and a lot of times she just gracefully falls over and will play on her tummy when she is too tired to sit up. She's nowhere close to getting to the sitting position on her own, but she's pretty good about falling down in a way that she doesn't hurt her head.
Just recently, she's started scooting around. She propels herself forward with her legs and is able to get a few feet by doing this. Suddenly, nothing seems to be out of reach for her and we are all adjusting to this new reality. Audrey in particular is constantly worried about Amelia getting her toys (or any toy not deemed a baby's). She doesn't get mad, but she does run around moving everything farther away. I try to remind her to trade her a different toy, but more often than not Amelia ends up toyless and confused.
Another wonderful development that goes with sitting is being able to be in her high chair while I'm in the kitchen and dining room. Such a game changer! I throw a handful of cheerios on her tray, or some cooked veggies, and she's as happy as can be. At the beginning of the month, she wasn't so good at actually getting food into her mouth, but in just a few short weeks she has figured out how to manipulate her fingers to get the tiny cheerios or pieces from inside her fist to inside her mouth. Less and less ends up on the floor when she's actually hungry and not just playing. She is eating whatever we eat, just cut up into small pieces. I do give her crackers (ritz mostly) whole because she's really good at taking bites and if she gets too much it just dissolves in her mouth or falls onto the tray. Great practice.
Her eating or snacking is a great tool to keeping her happy at the gym or when she's being held by others. It's the fastest way to her heart! She took a sippy cup with water in it one day, but we haven't really tried again since. She did manage to get some water, but it was an accident more than on purpose and she wasn't all that interested in it after that. I have a container of puffs in the diaper bag and usually a bag of cheerios along which works great for distraction when we are out and about. Always have to have tricks up my sleeve with how busy we can be.
Sleep. Sleep is our struggle as always. Two nights, she slept great and only woke up once. The rest of the nights are usually 2-5 times of waking up, eating, sometimes going back to sleep, sometimes demanding more milk, and sometimes just not wanting to sleep. As much as I hate and feel bad doing it, I've had hubby get up to get her back to sleep much more often. She is a lot better at going back to sleep when she sees him than me since he can't offer her the comfort of nursing. Plus, he has the magic touch for sure. He always has. I know that she wasn't sleeping great for a while because she was teething. She got in her third tooth, the upper right tooth. and the days leading up to that were rough. Now, the left side is causing her discomfort. It's obvious with how swollen it is. I feel for her! I just want it to break through already but it's taking it's time. {Update: it broke through! so much better sleep. Let's see if it lasts.} Her smile is so adorable with all the little white teeth peeking out. I'm not used to a baby this small having more than just the bottom two teeth. Both Audrey and Josie got the bottom two at four months and then didn't get more until they were at least 12 months. She's definitely a lot more different than those two.
Speaking of differences, she is later to crawl and was later to sit up. Like I said last month, she's held more and is a lot more clingy so she just hasn't had the opportunity to build up those muscles. On top of that, she's pretty little. We went to her six month appointment when she was 6 1/2 months old, and she was weighing in at 14.8 lbs which is only 10%. That was lower than last time, but the doctor wasn't concerned since she obviously grew with her height, 27 inches, 79%. That makes her weight to height ratio like 124% and her BMI at just .97. She is the very definition of long and lean, and I laugh at my old self for thinking that the other two were like this. They were much rounder and more average. (Josie was 27 inches long, 17 lb 10 1/2 oz and Audrey was 27 inches long, 15 lbs 8 oz). All girls were about the same length but were pretty drastically different for weight. Also, the percentages were different with each girl for length even with them being exactly the same. That is not very reliable...
Amelia's wardrobe is pretty intense. I sorted through 3-6 month, 6-9 month, and 6-12 month (so ridiculous, like 6 month and 12 month old babies are the same size?) and took out all of the winter clothes, plus a few I've picked up at second hand stores. There are a lot of options! I even took out what I knew she wouldn't wear (too wide, worn out, nothing matched it, etc) and it's a lot left over. She will be so well dressed, with nary a repeat of outfit to be seen. I've also been on a head wrap hunt and am eagerly awaiting those to come. Her hair hasn't grown in at all (as you can see in the pictures) so she still wears headbands or head wraps, my personal favorite, pretty much every day. She sometimes plays with them, but most of the time she just leaves them alone. It's no big thing to her.
Socially, she's really coming along. I pass her on to anyone willing because it's great practice. Sometimes she rocks it, other times she passes. I hear, "oh, she's a mama's girl!" pretty much daily (along with "wow! look at those blue eyes!" and "she is so alert!"). I try not be defensive when people comment on how tiny she is. Most of the time, it's meant as a sweet thing, like she's dainty, not underweight, but man some people just seem tactless at times. She's much more smiley and social, so we seem to draw even more people.
Nursing is still going great. We have a good rhythm down. It's so satisfying to see her pull off with a little milk on her lips, smiling hugely with a full belly. I really do love it. It's crazy to think that we are over halfway done (if we stop at a year) and that she's getting so close to being a toddler. I mean, really, with each kid that comes along they seem to grow up faster into being toddlers, just trying to keep up. I'm sure she won't be that much different, even though she looooves mama and seemingly could be held all the time.
Each passing month shows more and more personality. The girls play with her more, bringing her toys, taking away what she shouldn't have, making her laugh, kissing her endlessly. I finally got a great belly laugh out of her the other day, and I swear to you it was the best sound I've ever heard. She does not offer real laughs ever. Big smiles, yes, all the time, but she's very quiet. Not a lot of talking, jabbering, cooing. She does it, but more than anything she just takes it all in. How will she be when she's older? So exciting to think about.
The comparison shot. Millie's smile is so big and bright, Audrey's cheeks were delicious, and Josie's hair is amazing.
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