Month Seven

3.15.2016

Wow. These months really do sneak up on me. I really can't believe I have a child and that that child is over halfway to one. I still look at her and say That's my baby. MY baby. My BABY. After R was first born, we had friends from church bring us a meal one night, and they brought their 5-month-old with them. I remember holding her and thinking, I can't imagine R being this big. And now she's bigger than that baby was! It's just crazy. Anyway, let's get to it. R had a huge month with a lot of new things! Here are the highlights:

MILESTONES

We have two teeth! R has two bottom front teeth popping through those tiny gums, which thankfully explains the two rough weekends we've had lately. We went to Texas a few weeks ago, and she was just so much fussier than normal, and we were like, what on earth is wrong with this child???? And then Sunday afternoon, my mom discovered a sharp protrusion and we were so glad that explained her irrational mood swings.
She rolled back to front! Finally. She has been so close to rolling for so long but just didn't seem interested in actually making the turn. In the past week and a half she's rolled over a dozen times or so, and the hilarious part is that Jordan hasn't seen it yet even though he's been sitting right next to her more than once while she's done it.

EAT

After a rough start where Jordan and I feared R would never take to this whole food thing, we now have a baby who will basically eat anything we give her. So far there has only been one thing she's straight up refused to eat, and it was a veggie pouch with spinach and green bean. She loves blueberries and peaches, and while she will eat peas, I can tell they aren't her favorite. We've been using this book's "flavor compatibility guide" to combine different foods for her, and it's been actually pretty fun.
Initially I was incredibly overwhelmed by the whole food thing. As with everything, there is so much information out there about how to feed your baby. Don't do rice cereal. Do rice cereal. Don't do purees. Do purees but only if you make it yourself. Do baby-led weaning. TOO STRESSFUL.

Basically what we're doing now is going with the flow. If we happen to be eating something that she can have, we give her a taste. One night her tray was full of steamed peas and mashed potatoes. One night I gave her teething wafers. One night she ate a pouch of veggies. One night I gave her homemade purees. I don't know if this is "right," but she seems to be doing okay. 

And I am actually enjoying making my own baby food! There is something so satisfying about spending a few hours steaming and blending fruits and veggies and then seeing the colorful cubes stacked in my freezer. It's also fun to see her eating things I made specially for her. So at home she eats mostly homemade purees, and at daycare she eats Gerber fruits and veggies, which we are fine with. I was bringing my own food, but I have enough to get ready every day for work/daycare, and it's just too much right now to also worry about thawing out some food every day.

SLEEP

Ugh. This month we took a giant step back in the sleeping department. Pretty much right around the start of month 7, R decided sleeping through the night was no longer an activity she cared to participate in. Cue zombie mode. I almost wish I hadn't known the glories of a full night of sleep so I wasn't so depressed about this regression.

One negative side effect (I'd say even more than just being exhausted half the time) is that Jordan and I have been getting into a lot more fights, mostly during the night when neither of us are in our right mind. There's just something about a screaming baby at 2am that makes you want to rash out in irrational rage. I don't know. Maybe that's just me.

So yeah. Sleeping is hit or miss might nights for us now. It's a grand adventure putting her to sleep and not knowing when or how she will wake up. It can't last forever, though, right? Right?

PLAY

R still loves her activity mat, although these days she's so strong she yank off all the hanging toys and threatens to pull down the whole thing on top of her. It's funny to think back to when we were all excited that she was just batting her hands at the toys above her.

She loves being outside. Although she still doesn't like the wind in her face or the sun in her eyes, but she always stops crying when we walk outside with her, and I try to take her for walks on the weekends and weeknights if we get home and it's nice.

We can tell she wants to go places but just hasn't figured out the whole moving thing. She is able to scoot herself a full 360 degrees, which is funny to watch, and she can roll both directions now (see above). And she has been known to do this weird scoot where she slowly moves backward, and she will bring her knees up under her stomach too.
I don't think it will be long before she gets the hang of crawling and then watch out, world! As of now, she just lays down and kicks her legs so hard! She sits up like a champ and has started doing this thing where she folds herself completely in half and tries to eat the carpet. It cracks us up every time.
This month R really started to seem to enjoy reading. Yes, she still tries to eat the books, but I actually think she likes sitting with us and reading the books! A few times she's seemed fussy, and when we sit down and start reading she calms down. Of course this makes my bookworm heart just go pitter-patter.
So that's what's been happening in our world this month. Every day with a baby is an exciting adventure. And by exciting adventure I mean that my desire to plan anything keeps getting tossed out the window and this whole learning to be flexible thing is really throwing me for a loop. Adulting and such. It's tough, man. But I seriously wouldn't trade it for anything, because our little bean brings us the most joy.

Breenah A said...

She is PRECIOUS. And I'm starting to see both you and Jordan in her features.

17 Perth said...

How is this your sweet girl??! When did she get so big!? Look at her sitting in that chair like a big girl. :)
And by the way, she is beautiful. Let's talk about fighting in the middle of the night. Haha. We still have that happen. I could probably say that it's mostly my fault as Judah does much better with being awakened from a dead sleep. Me? Not so much. Haha. The next morning, we both barely remember why we got so annoyed and laugh because it seems so silly...but at the time...I'm mad! Lol!! Hope her regression passes quickly. I remember when Eliza when through her 8 month sleep regression and basically woke up every 45 mins. Cue the fighting. Lol.

Ali said...

She is just so adorable!

Erin LFF said...

First off- is there anything cuter than a baby in a cardigan? I think not! (And off to look at baby clothes this afternoon...oops.) I'm so glad she's a good eater for you and I don't blame her for refusing spinach and green beans hehe. I weirdly look forward to making baby food too- I think it'll be fun like you said! Hope the sleep improves soon for you guys!!♥

Rebecca Jo said...

How does she already have teeth? this is going way too fast!
Love her little sweater :)

Emily @ Perfection Isn't Happy said...

She's so cute! I like making my own baby food too! We're starting slowly with purees. I've realized that everyone does it differently, and even though I want to compare, I shouldn't!

Leslie Lukens Martin said...

Sweet girl! She just keeps getting cuter and cuter! H is THIS.CLOSE to taking off crawling...and our house is far from being baby-proofed! We need to get to work!

Laura said...

Sweet R! What a big month for her! Sounds like y'all are rocking this parenting things. :) And yes, the sleep will come back...someday. Although I do think that most parents everywhere loath the politicians who decided on Daylight Savings. It wasn't an issue last year when Man Cub was a baby, but this year as a toddler? Ick.

Ash said...

My goodness she's adorable! That folding-in-half thing. That cardigan. That bow. Too dang cute! Oh...and I LOVE The Pout Pout Fish!

Brittany Rasmussen said...

So many things. We do the SAME thing as far as food. Real food, homemade purees and purees from the store. Because I feel you about how much work it is to send the homemade food sometimes, even though it feels silly typing that because all I actually had to do was pop some cubes out of the trays and put in a plastic baggie and put that in the diaper bag but no, jars it is. Also, I wanted to tell you right around month seven we had a weird surge of Porter waking up A LOT at night too and Ronnie and I basically hated each other during those few weeks. It was bad. Its normal, and it'll pass mama! Porter was waking up because he wasn't getting enough milk during the day-I think he was distractedly nursing and wasn't getting enough so I put more milk in his bottles he got during the day and that seemed to help. Certainly might not be R's issue because-babies are mysteries-but it worked for Porter! She is just the most precious little peanut, I hope she gives her mama and daddy a break in the wee hours of the night because no sleep is BRUTAL.

Courtney said...

Every picture is my favorite!!!

And yes, you always think your baby is SO BIG and then you look back and realize how small they actually were. I still do that to my five year old! *sniffles* It goes too fast.

Mabel does that folding in half thing too! It's hilarious!

Kenzie @ Life According to Kenz said...

What a sweetie! I love that little cardigan!

Anonymous said...

R is such a cutie! Our baby has her lower two front teeth but no top ones yet. Ouch--I can't imagine what nursing will be like once she does! I totally agree that time flies by quickly, and I enjoy following little R's growth via your updates.

Katie @ Live Half Full said...

She is so cute! And we LOVE the Pout Pout Fish. It's the best!

The Girl who Loved to Write said...

I love these updates! Bummed to hear about the teething (although I guess not really, since having teeth is something you do want for your child haha) and sleep regression, but here's hoping it passes quickly!

The Lady Okie said...

When Jordan is being grouchy, I call him a pout pout fish. Ha! :)

Kayla MKOY said...

I hope you two can get more sleep and that those teeth come in pain free from now on ;) poor baby. Um also, that elephant chair is the cutest. Besides R, of course ;) you guys are truly great parents, and these photos of her are adorable. Great job!!!

Rach said...

She has such a great smile! Sorry about the sleep regression. That sounds so rough! Hopefully she'll figure that out again soon!

Rachel said...

The photo of her folded in half "eating the carpet" is too cute. You're going to have the best pictures to look back on of this time. R thinks sleep is overrated--just try to agree with her, since it might be a little while before she comes around to the logical way of thinking. ;P

Amy said...

Two teeth!!
anddd yesssssss to blueberries! that girl has good taste! ;)

Amy @ A Desert Girl said...

Ahhh, she's soooo adorable. I love her little pink cardigan. Two teeth! Going with the flow on the solid food! Thumbs down for sleep regression! I hope that goes away soon.

Keep up the great work, parents! Your little girl is doing awesome.

Julie @ Just the Joy's said...

She is just the cutest! Love all the pictures! Isn't teething the worst!? I always feel so helpless! Sorry to hear about the sleeping and yay for the baby food making! There is something that's rewarding and enjoyable about making your own baby food. :)

Susannah said...

Has anyone ever told you that you make cute babies? ;-)

Kristen @ See You In A Porridge said...

yayyyy future bookworm! love it. i hope the sleeping thing gets under control soon, i can't imagine. she really is so adorable though, i think she gets cuter every month (duh). and her folding herself in half to eat the carpet is possibly the most amazing thing i've ever seen!

Jenny Evans said...

Holy cow, the months go by fast. Weren't you just doing a 6 months update?

meghan said...

Oh my goodness. Yes to the fighting at night thing. Tim gets frustrated with me and says I'm not nice at night. Last night Olivia woke up 4 times. I'm like, uh, I have no idea what I'm doing or saying, but I know I'm exhausted and it isn't personal! I just love that pink knit sweater.

Paige @ Reasons to Come Home said...

That baby cardigan is one of the cutest things ever! She is just precious and I can't believe how fast the past 7 months have been!

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