Man Cub: 7 Months

Oh, Sweet Love!

You are our daily joy!  Your personality has bloomed this month, and it is obvious how much love you have for animals and people.  You continue to woo strangers and make everyone near you smile.  Even while teething this month, your happiness has been contagious.  God is using you each day to draw us closer to Him, and we pray that you long to be used by Him your entire life.  We love you forever and always!

Sleeping:

You are a much better sleeper this month!  You are once again sleeping through the night!  Yay!  You go to bed right about 7:00 still and will sleep until 6-7 in the morning.  Every once in a while you wake up in the middle of the night because you need a snack, but those days are few and far between.  Your naps still aren't consistent, but you still need a morning nap and an afternoon nap.  We try to convince you to sleep for 1.5-2 hours at each nap, but you think that's just silly some days.  You do sleep really well in the Pognae, so if worse comes to worse and we just have to be out, we pack you in there and off we go.

Eating:

Eating is an ever growing adventure! You eat 3 meals a day while still nursing.  You nurse in the mornings before your Mama picks you up.  Then she feeds you a banana with Happy Bellies Organic Baby Oatmeal for breakfast.  You then get a bottle of Mommy's milk mid-morning.  At lunch, you get either avocado or sweet potato.  Then you get another bottle mid-afternoon.  At dinner, you get black beans, avocado, or sweet potato, depending on what you had for lunch.  Then at bed, you have oatmeal and then nurse. We've added one new food a week.  You sometimes eat Happy Baby Organic Green Puffs and you do a great job of feeding them to yourself.  You've also had Stonyfield Farms Organic Blueberry Baby yogurt, but it caused your eczema to flair, so we'll try that again a few months.  This week's new food was scrambled eggs, and you were NOT a fan.  We'll keep trying every few days with that one.

Tricks/Activities/Accomplishments

You crawl on your hands and knees everywhere!  That started February 3rd.  You can flip yourself from crawling to sitting like a champ.  You pull up to stand on your feet by using absolutely anything you can reach.  My favorite is when you crawl up to Daddy or me, grab our pant legs, pull yourself to standing, and peek through our knees!  You love to push absolutely anything like it's a car...toy cars, blocks, the bathroom trash can, measuring spoons, the dust buster...anything that will slide on the floor!  You love standing in your crib, so Daddy finally had to drop your crib down a level on February 13th.  On February 2nd, your bottom right tooth popped through, and on February 4th your bottom left tooth popped through.  Your two top front teeth are trying to come through, but they aren't out quite yet.  You can also climb out of your bath tub, so we're looking for a ring seat with good ratings. You respond to your name (both English and Zambian) and you look at Isaac when we say "Daddy", and you look at me when we say "Mommy".  You like to splash in the dogs' water bowls.

Likes:

Baths, puppy kisses and cuddles, being outside, music, being sung to, the excer-saucer, your Graco Jumper, playing with us and your toys, when we lay on the floor so you can crawl and climb all over us, standing, when your grandparents and great-grandparents sing and talk to you, laughing, cooing, squealing, being flown around like Super Man, being tossed in the air, the Pognae, eating, sleeping, sitting in your high chair when we are eating and eating with us, rings and other chew-on toys, your  cuddle toys, and grabbing anything you can reach.  Chikondi.  Oh that giraffe...you now love to sit under her and play there.  You still squeal and reach for her before bed and first thing in the morning.

Dislikes:

Dirty diapers, being too sleepy or hungry, if your oatmeal isn't practically scalding hot

Seven Month Stats:

Weight: 15 pounds, 6 ounces (yep, you gained over 2 pounds this month!)

Length:  25 3/4 inches

Eating: nursing/breast milk bottles 7:00 am, 10:00 am, 1:30 pm, and, 6:45 pm; eating banana and oatmeal around 8:00, avocado or sweet potato for lunch around noon, and avocado, black beans, or sweet potatoes around 5:30 while Mommy and Daddy eat dinner, oatmeal about 6:45, and nursing directly after.

Bedtime: right around 7:00

Awake: sometime between 6:00-7:00

Naps: usually 9:30 and 2:00. 

Diapers: Size 2
Clothes: 3-6 months and 6 months onesies; size 3-6 months and 6 months pants and rompers; 6 months pjs; I've thrown in a few 6-9 month outfits that I deemed too cute to wait even if they are a bit big.