7 months

Caroline, you are now 7 months old. What a big girl. You continue to be such a happy baby. You smile very easily and we laugh at your smile that always peeks out from under your paci.

I had a lot of fun with your monthly chair photo shoot. You did not want to sit still and you were so curious about that piece of paper.






This has been another big month for you. You started to eat solid foods. It took a few days for you to really get it but you are a very good eater. So far you have had sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas, green beans, avocado, banana and rice cereal. I made a huge amount of baby food the week before we started feeding you. It has been so helpful to have a freezer full of food cubes. It is a lot cheaper and healthier than buying jars of baby food. I am sure I will do that some too but for now you have only had homemade baby food.
You continue to nurse about 6 times a day. You are getting more easily distracted so it is getting harder to nurse you around other people, even when you are under the cover. You have had your first two teeth pop through this week. They are the bottom ones. They are hard to see so I have not tried to take a picture. You can feel them though. You are very good at sitting up. you rarely fall over anymore unless you are sitting on the bed or couch. You will strain to try to sit yourself back up but you cannot do it yet. You have started to pull up on things a little. So far you are only pulling to your knees. You are able to reach for things and work your way up.
You are so proud of yourself when you pull up. You are not sure how to get down though and many times I hear you fussing because you are stuck with your arms holding onto something but your body has slid down.
You are not really trying to crawl yet but you are starting to get on all fours. I was wondering if you would ever crawl because every time I put you on your tummy you would flip over to your back. You get onto all fours from the sitting position instead of from your tummy. You are pretty good at going from sitting to all fours and back sitting again. When on all fours you are not yet trying to go anywhere.
You are finally rolling from your back onto your tummy and I expect you to be rolling around the room any day now. Honestly, I think the thing that is slowing you down from learning to be mobile is that w are on the go so much. We are rarely home during the day except when w are napping.
You are getting more interested in everything around you. You have developed a lot of curiosity. Your little fingers are getting more precise as you work to pick things up, move them around and examine them. Of course everything also goes into your mouth these days. Katherine is always telling you, "baby sister, don't eat my book".
Your favorite toys are the dishes from Katherine's kitchen. Lucky for me you are content almost every evening for about 30 minutes just playing on the floor with the toy dishes and food.
You are content, that it, until I walk out of sight. I don't think you really have separation anxiety as much as you are very social (like your mom and your sister). You are not too picky about who is with you, you just don't want to be alone. It is funny because as social as you are, you are often very bashful. If I am holding you and someone comes up to you, usually you will bury your head in my shoulder and hide your face. This is even with people you know very well like your grandparents.
This month you have started sitting in high chairs at restaurants, sitting in your stroller all buckled in like a big girl instead of always being in your infant sat, and you have started enjoying the playground. Katherine insists that you go down the slide with her and you have been on the swing in our yard.
You are getting more vocal. Babies always make such cute noises. Now I can tell that you are trying to imitate language. You are making all kinds of new sounds.
You are a pretty good sleeper. You go to bed between 7-8 which is early for our house. You sleep 12-13 hours and usually wake up once during the early morning. Usually if you wake up after about 5 I just bring you into our bed and we snuggle as you go back to sleep. If I nurse you in your room and put you in your crib I have a hard time going back to sleep at that hour.
You usually take a short morning nap and a longer afternoon nap. Our nap schedule is still pretty random and I often let you fall asleep on my bed after I nurse you. I know that will have to stop soon when you start to crawl because I don't want you to fall off the bed.
Caroline, you are such a sweet girl. We love you so much.