Our Little Miss Erin is 7 months old! I know I say this in every update, but time goes by so fast! I'm so glad I've kept track of her growth month to month because it is amazing how much changes so quickly.
-She has noticed her hands a little more every month. This month she will catch one out of the corner of her eye and watch it. Then she'll reach for it with the other hand and bring it to her mouth. So cute.
-She really like spoons for some reason. She gets the biggest kick out of banging it on her high chair tray. If she's restless in her car seat a plastic spoon is sure to keep her occupied for quite some time.
-She is a great little traveler as long as she's not hungry. She used to NOT be a fan of riding in the dark but we honestly haven't traveled in the dark with her for quite some time as she goes to bed before the sun goes down now...so I'm not sure if she still feels this way. We have an 8-9 hour drive coming up soon so we will see what she thinks of traveling after that!
-She is learning SO MUCH. She amazed me two different times with how she's moving on from the young baby stage to an older baby stage. She loves it outside so quite often we'll go play out in the front yard. She is very intrigued by the cars driving by. When she is facing the house with her back to the road, she'll hear a car coming and look in that direction. As it passes behind her she'll turn her head in the other direction to keep following it. Maybe there is a technical term for it but it shows she's learning that when something is moving in one direction it keeps moving even though it passes behind her. Come to think of it, I play a game with her a lot in the house that goes along with this same thing. Our living room has two entry ways. One into the kitchen and one into the hall way. I can appear in the kitchen and then disappear heading towards the hallway and pop out at the other door. Now, instead of just staring at one door when I leave, she'll watch both doors! The other instance I was so shocked when I first saw it, happened while she was rolling around on the floor. She happened to kick a toy that plays music when touched. She got very still when the music started. When it stopped, she kicked it again. When it stopped, she kicked it again and started smiling and laughing. She did this several times and I realized that she was learning cause and effect! My sweet newborn is a big girl now!
-My sweet, precious baby girl got sick for the very first time in her short little life this month. I remember writing recently that she has never been sick. Well, we've officially crossed this "first." In a way I'm relieved that we've experienced it and we all survived. I think that was one of my biggest fears with her getting sick is just the unknown. Anyway, the weekend before getting sick she was just "off." Not herself. We chalked it up to being on the go all day that Saturday and her not sleeping well because of it. Monday morning she woke up with a slight temp. I knew her second tooth was coming in as it had been the bane of my existence (and hers too probably) for weeks at that point. I really don't see how a fever relates to cutting a tooth but everyone and their mother says it is so (even though doctors say the two are not related). Anyway, I didn't worry too much about it but I did go ahead and call the doctor because BabyGirl also had a diaper rash that appeared seemingly out of nowhere and faded just as quickly but left a little "ouchy" on her sweet little toosh. (tmi?) The pediatrician was out sick herself that day so we set up an appt for the following day as her temp was only around 99. To make a long story short, her fever rose to 101.8 by that evening...of course when all doctor offices are closed. We called the after hours nurse who conferred with our doctor and both advised us to go to the nearest children's hospital to make sure the fever and "ouchy" weren't related. SO...off we went to the nearest children's hospital an HOUR away at midnight. To make a VERY long story short, SEVEN HOURS LATER, we were finally on our way home with a diagnosis. A viral infection and yet another instance of terribly sensitive skin. Ouchy and fever unrelated. I know that was not a sentence. Live with it. While there EK's temp rose to over 104 and she did not sleep but maybe an hour tops. We were actually ecstatic that it was just a viral infection because we got really nervous that it might be a urinary tract infection because of her dilated kidney. I can't remember if I wrote a post about all that but the urologist ruled out pretty much everything and diagnosed E with a mega-ureter, which would most likely not cause any problems and would go away on its own as E grew. Our fear was that her mega-ureter might have caused an infection for some strange reason. Praise God that wasn't true! It took our sweet girl a good week-and-a-half to get completely over it all. Her fever lasted a few days and she just took quite a while to return to our happy, sweet babe.
-E nurses every two hours and wakes twice during the night to eat. I'm not really sure if she needs to eat at those times, or if she just wants to eat. I honestly don't mind these sweet times with her in the quiet, still hours....but it would most definitely be incredible to get more than 4 hours of sleep consecutively. I've thrown out everything that says "if your baby is not sleeping at least 6 hours consecutively at this point then she most likely just has you trained and is fully capable of sleeping longer"...at this point, I've learned that my baby is not everyone else's baby. She might be capable of it, but she's not doing it and that's ok with me. We'll get there. I've learned that this whole raising a child thing is all a day-to-day process and before I know it she'll be 18 so just RELAX and let her be a baby. Soak up the sweet cuddle times as she sure doesn't offer up cuddles during the day. She's got way too much to see and do for that!
-We left EK for more than just an hour with a babysitter for the first time this month! This was VERY, EXTREMELY, MUY, hard for yours truly. I'll write all about this in another post. I know you are waiting on pins and needles now...
-She is sitting like an ole pro all by herself these days. She is just starting to learn that she can actually get out of that position and lay down which she loves since that means she can roll everywhere her little heart desires.
-She can get pretty much anywhere by rolling. She still gets stuck every once in a while and boy will she let us hear it, but for the most part she goes after whatever she's got her eye on. Usually a shoe, a cord, paper, a tiny speck of garbage that the average naked eye would never spot...NEVER her toys. Heck no. Who wants toys? If I leave the room I usually return to find her rolling just as far as she can in the direction I left. I've learned to tread lightly as she can be under my feet before I know it!
-She moved up to size 3 disposables this month. Wow! (We wore disposables while she was sick because of the spot of diaper rash...diaper rash cream shouldn't get on the cloth diapers...which they make liners for, which works beautifully, but with how much we were having to keep her slathered up I just preferred to use disposables.) I like blogging because I don't have to make sure my sentences are grammatically correct. Aren't you lucky.
-We have TWO teeth! Unlike the time I thought it might be breaking through (when E first got sick), it waited another week and came through the day before she hit 7 months old. She was pretty fussy that day and napped a lot, but they were short naps. I knew that blasted thing was coming in and sure enough it did! Also, no fever either.
-She started making the letters "b" and "m" sounds. She has decided to do this when she cries, as well. I think because she know it's so cute that we can't resist coming to her aid pronto. Especially when she is yelling "ma, ma, ma, ma" over and over.
-Little Miss still does not approve if I leave the room. We are working on this one...
-EK isn't all too thrilled to let others hold her. She does just great with her mommy and daddy of course, as well as Grandma, actually...but everyone else has to make sure mommy is in her line of vision!
-She wears a size 2 shoe and looks so amazingly cute in her little sandals Grandma bought her.
-She found her hairbows this month. It is not unusual to find them around her neck when we get her out of the car.
-She wears size 6 month clothes along with some 3-6 month, as well as some 6-9 month...just depends on the brand/style.
-We will be crawling VERY SOON! At the very end of this month BabyGirl started pulling herself forward...only half an inch or so at a time but we're getting there!
-Erie is a roly poly when it comes to getting her diaper changed. Seriously. Will. Not. Sit. Still.
-She loves loves LOVES being outside.
-E enjoys story time before naps and bedtime. Put the bink in her mouth and she will sit quietly and listen. It is amazing as she doesn't sit still for much of anything else.
Our little miracle is growing before our very eyes. To me, she still looks exactly as she did the day she was born, yet so different. She brings more joy and less sleep to our lives than we ever thought possible. We can't wait to see more of her personality come out as she grows. My prayer for her lately has been that she will not be conformed to this age but will come to a point in her life where she is transformed by the renewing of her mind so that she will be able to discern what is the good, pleasing and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)
-Megan
