Aelah Grace: 7 Months!

She loved sitting in the basket!  :D

Woo hoo!!  Another month older and she is changing soooooo much!  Every day I stare at her and wonder how in the world she is mine.  Pregnancy seems like a distant dream.  Now I have this baby, this almost crawling, talking all the time, beautiful baby girl!  It still doesn't seem real.  I've come to treasure her "dream feed" before I go to bed.  When I go in to feed her, I'm the last one awake. The house is quiet, and its just her and I.  I stare at her as she sleeps and my mind goes 5 million directions - her past, her future, how wonderfully adorable she is, how thankful I am for her, and so much more!  Then I pick her up and snuggle her close and breath in that baby smell before I nestle her in to nurse. 

The list could go on......

In fact...I should have added 'feet' to that list.  She loves feet.  This is how she sat through the sermon a few Sundays ago...

How am I growing?

Her growth has really slowed down lately.  She isn't growing out of clothes near as fast.  In fact, this is the longest we've ever stayed in one size.  She is still able to fit in her 6-9 month clothes (been in those for quite some time) but we do fit into some of our 9 month stuff so we have a mix right now.  And there isn't much of a visible difference either:

I'm okay with this though....I wish she could stay little longer!  

How am I sleeping?

So much better!!  She doesn't fuss at all at night and she has been napping like a champ.  I lay her down around 8:30 and then do a "dream feed" (which I mentioned above) when we go to bed between 9:30 and 10.  A dream feed is when I go in and nurse without waking her.  This has been working wonderfully and has helped me get a good 5, 6, or 7 hour stretch before she wakes again.  If we miss that dream feed the night tends to be a little more difficult.  If she wakes before 6 I've been giving her a binky and going back to bed.  She doesn't suck on it but chews on it or plays with it until she falls back asleep...she usually stops fussing before my head hits the pillow.  If she wakes after 6 I will nurse her and lay her back down until 7:30 or 8 when I wake her.  Loving this routine and it is working well for both of us!

How am I eating?

Like a champ!  I am so glad that we decided to go the baby led weaning route.  Since breastmilk is still her primary form of nutrition, she usually only "eats" one meal a day.  Sometimes I'll give her something at lunch but she has been napping around that time lately.  She especially loves bread and pasta...just like her mama!  We give her something off of our plates each night.  If there isn't much she can eat then I'll get her some fruit or veggies...sometimes pieces and sometimes purees, it really depends on what I'm in the mood for.  Same goes with what we give her from our own meals - sometimes it is chunks and other times, like spaghetti, I'll put it through a grinder so she can easily eat some.  She doesn't have any issues transitioning between solids and purees and she hasn't disliked a single thing yet!  

But if you are eating and she is aware of it....you better plan on sharing!  She will make it known that she wants some!  :)

What else is new?

She is really developing her own little personality.  It is so neat to watch her figure things out.  Today, while I was cleaning the kitchen, she pulled her walker over to the stove and figured out how to reach the tea towels that were hanging there, which she immediately pulled down.  haha.  I would put them back up, pull her back across the kitchen and she would do it all over again...probably 5 or 6 times.  That walker is her favorite thing right now!  At first she could only go backwards but once she figured out how to go forward, she hasn't been able to be stopped!  ;)

She has also started sticking her chin out and growling/grunting when she is angry or frustrated. This can be pretty entertaining until she gets very mad and starts fussing.

She is almost crawling!  She figured out how to get up on her hands and knees.  Right now all she has mastered is rocking back and forth.  But I know that any day now my life will be changing big time!  Along the same lines, she managed to go from laying to sitting the other day....still not sure how she managed to do that since I missed the crucial in between phase, but she definitely did it!

Here are my favorite pics from the past month:

Love this outfit!  Those are actually 12 month capris....but we're rockin' them as pants for now!

She never naps with us anymore.  But this was the week my Grand-dad (Dad's dad) was given days to live (just a day or two before he passed) and she must have known he needed a snuggle buddy.  Never even fussed.  Treasured memory for sure.

Daddy is reaching her to love plants just as much as he does....and making sure she doesn't eat them.  ;)

Out of curiosity....when did your little one start to crawl?