Juliet: Seven Months

Height/Weight:  16 1/2 pounds, 24 (?) inches

Diapers and Clothes: Holding strong at size 3 diapers, 6-9 month clothes

Health: What a turnaround from last month! Just when I thought I was at the end of my rope and couldn't take one more day, you up and cured yourself. Seriously though, I have no idea what happened. I am confident that I was not imagining the discomfort and distress that you (and I!) were in for the past two months, but whatever it was seems to have been resolved. The craziest part is that we can't pinpoint any obvious food allergies or other physical problem. Our best guess is that your gut just matured and whatever was making you so uncomfortable before isn't causing a problem now. Yay for all of us!

Sleep: You wake up around 7 am. You take two (sometimes three) naps a day. In an ideal world, those naps would fall around 9:30-11:30 am and then 2 pm-4 pm. Realistically, because of preschool drop off/pick up and various other activities we have going on, sometimes one of those naps happens way late or happens while you're in the Ergo at a play date/football event/grocery store trip. I keep saying we need to be more respectful of your schedule and make regular scheduled naps a priority for you but it is so darn hard when there's another kid involved. You get tired around 6:30 and you're usually in bed by 7. A wonderful, miraculous thing has been happening in the past week--you've been sleeping through the night!! (Cue the Hallelujah chorus). It's been amazing but I'm hesitant to count on it being permanent because you've definitely kept us on our toes this far in your short life!

Eating:  You nurse four times a day (sometimes five if there's a random midnight feeding). We started solids this month and you LOVE them! I really wanted to skip purées but when we thought we might be looking at a food allergy situation with you, I decided to play it safe and start with purées. Sadly for me, you now love purées and despite my best efforts to get you to start eating soft table foods, you refuse anything with any sort of texture. You get so excited and impatient when you know it's breakfast or dinner time--your arms and legs start moving like crazy and you start screaming for food. You down at least one jar of baby food twice a day. You love pretty much everything we've given you (especially pears!) but you spit out avocado and mashed banana. We've been giving you a sippy cup at meals and you love to chew on it but are still figuring out how to use it.

Baby Gear Love:  The Ergo carrier is still a lifesaver. It's the most sure fire way to get you to nap on the go (why oh why am I cursed with children who fight sleep when they are anywhere except their crib?!?). We also love our hook on high chair that let's you sit at the table for meals with us. Love our crocheted baby hats that cover your baldy head. Love our paci clip that keeps us from having to buy new pacis every week. Love the bath seat that let's you sit up to play with Libby in the tub.

Likes: Being held, baths, the basket of Little People animals in the playroom (you love to sit and pull then out one by one to chew on them), grabbing anything you can get your hands on (watch out important documents, dinner plates and adult beverages!), eating, playing Peek a Boo, being tickled on your thighs or belly, putting everything in your mouth, your blanket and paci, watching Libby, books (you find them especially tasty), the dogs (you love to pet them and watch them!), mirrors and the "selfie" mode on my phone

Dislikes: Sitting in the car seat when we are getting ready to head out the door (you are so impatient!), strangers (stranger anxiety is majorly kicking in--you have completely lost it a few times recently when we've gone to visit friends), being on your belly, waiting for food, trying to sleep anywhere other than your crib (cue major fussiness!)

Milestones: You can sit up on your own! You had your first Halloween (you were an adorable Olaf who kept trying to et your snowflakes). You can put your paci in and out of your mouth effortlessly now. You definitely seem to recognize not only Libby, Daddy and I but also the dogs and even our home--you take notice of when we are in a new environment and you usually don't like it! You interact with toys a lot more now--it's been fun to see you develop interests!

Other Stuff to Remember: I feel like you're finally "you" now--your personality is starting to emerge and it's not clouded by whatever health issues you were having in the past. You're a happy baby who loves to laugh. You are so, so impatient and you are so, so nosy. You always have to know what's going on and you're always taking it all in. You get super fussy when you're tired. You will actually nap with me, which your sister never did and which I want to take advantage of more often (because I love naps but also because I want to soak up this sweet cuddly phase).