6 and 7 Months

I am terribly behind in posts. One problem is that I am not home enough to post and the other is that anytime I have a lot to post - lots of pictures or long story - I usually push it off til I have more time - which is never. So thus I am eternally running behind on posts. Don't be surprised if you see me post something that happened several months ago!

My baby completed her 7th month on June 23rd. How can that be? She has grown developmentally by leaps and bounds but physically - not so much. She is still a little peanut. At her 6 months checkup (which was 6 months and a week) she came in at only 14 lbs 10 ozs. That is the smallest of my crew at that age. Chase was 15 lbs even, Ainsley was 15-2 and Maco reigns king again at 18-14. Piper however was not my shortest. Ainsley is the queen of short at 6 months. She was 25 inches. Piper was 25 3/4, Chase was 26 and Maco was 27 1/2 inches (where did he come from?).

At the last post (5 1/2 months) Piper was only rolling tummy to back. Well by 6 months she was rolling both ways. She was also sitting up by herself. Allbeit doing face plants and falling backward quite a bit. But now at 7 months she almost never falls. Just in the last 2 weeks she has gone from laying down to sitting up to laying down all by herself. She also gets up on her knees and rocks and I know it won't be long before she is all over the house.

She still LOVES food. Any food. I haven't found anything yet that she has turned away. Although there was one night that I was feeding her babyfood peas. She was doing fine. Then midway thru I gave her some table food (whatever we were having for dinner) and then back to the peas. Well that didn't go over well. She proceeded to gag each time she took a spoonful of peas. So now if she's eating peas, I don't give her any other flavors (good flavors) until the peas are gone. She does fine that way. She loves water in a sippy cup, although my doctor told me NOT to give her water because she needs the calories. He said she should only be drinking breast milk or formula. She won't drink the formula out of a sippy and I think she needs a drink during meal times to wash the food down - I know I do. So I do let her sip water during her meals but I don't give it to her throughout the day.

She really is not a good nurser anymore. All my kids cut way back around this age. I don't know if it's me or them. I don't think I make enough milk anymore to satisfy, but that could be because they aren't nursing enough. Anyway.... I try to nurse 2 -3 times a day. 4 on a really good day. Otherwise she takes 2-3 bottles a day so I am lucky she doesn't mind the formula. But as far as nursing goes, she gets totally distracted by what is going on so I have to be completely by myself in a quiet room. If she even hears someone talking she won't nurse and forget about a blanket over her head anymore. Of course when she is tired - first thing in the morning and last thing at night she does much better.

She is almost never fussy. She takes 2 sometimes 3 really good naps during the day. She mostly takes her naps in her swing in the living room. I don't know how she does it with all the noise from the TV and the kids, but she just snoozes away. At 6 months and week we moved her from the cradle in our room ...

upstairs to a real crib. She had not been sleeping thru the night yet and I was worried to put her upstairs with the other kids since they had school. So the first week of June, school ended and we moved Piper upstairs. She has slept thru almost everynight since - YAY! I have a monitor but I keep it turned down almost all the way so I don't hear every move she makes.

She is one of the most smiley babies I have ever known. My mom said she was smiling from the beginning. Remember this picture from the hospital?

She still smiles these HUGE smiles all the time. She smiles for strangers and they LOVE it. I think she has made the day of many an old person at the grocery store. I LOVE HER GUMMER SMILE!! She is not showing any signs of teeth yet and I am glad. I'd be happy if she didn't cut her first tooth til after her first birthday. I will miss those little gums.

Daniel is already studying her as a dental implant candidate.

Her hair is another issue. Just a little fine fuzz. It is getting a bit longer though. Here's a picture of her hair blowing in the wind. I just thought that was funny!

Because of lack of hair, I still keep a bow glued to her head as often as I can, otherwise she is accused of being a boy. Although the glue I keep in my diaperbag got confiscated by the airport (give me a break, I used it real quick before security took it though)

She still puts everything in her mouth and loves a good pizza crust or stick of celery to chew on. I have told the big kids to make sure all the little things are off the floor now because she is getting around and WILL eat everything in sight.

We've been to the pool several times this summer and she loves the water. Luckily we have a zero entry pool so she sits on the ramp and splashes in the water that is only a few inches deep. We hope she continues to like the water and that the water warms up (we've has some major rain lately which has cooled the pools down a lot).

We have sure enjoyed Miss Piper's first half year of life!