BWE-7 months

7 months...it makes me a little sad to write this post.  You are over halfway through your first year of life and that means you are growing up, becoming more independent, and becoming less dependent on me.   *sigh*

7 months old on Christmas Eve and snuggling with cousin ClaraRose

In the last few weeks we have seen more obvious evidence of your growth.  You now have two teeth, which made 3 days of Christmas with all of the different family members very interesting and whiny.  Yesterday was especially rough as tooth #2 was really causing you a lot of pain.  I mean A LOT.  Last night you slept 11 hours and you are a brand new person today.  Praise the Lord, and I really mean that.  I am praying more earnestly now for peaceful sleep at night and during naps than I was praying this time last year for you to be with us.  While we are on my least favorite topic, I will confess that we (because I am bringing Dah in on this too) have majorly failed you in the sleep department.  We let 7 months pass without letting you learn to put yourself to sleep.  And doing it now is really rough with being away from home to visit, having teeth come in, and losing a nap.  But we had to do something because we were losing our minds.  I do seen signs of hope:  that full night of sleep last night and putting yourself to sleep with no tears just a little bit ago are very encouraging for this Mama.

Right now your schedule looks something like this:
At 7:00 or 7:30 you rise and shine (with a big ole grin that never gets old).
You have some pears or applesauce with your cereal and play!
Around 9:00 or 9:30 you have a bottle and then you nap around 10:00 or 10:30 for an hour and a half (but we are praying you will do 2 hours occasionally).
And when you wake up, it is lunch time, play, bottle, play a little more and then another nap, and we proceed like that until bedtime.  If it is not too cold, you take a walk with me in the afternoon, which you love.  Right after supper, you have a bath, which you also love.  We love that you do not mind water on your face and you love for us to float you on your back.

your most favorite gift of all: tissue paper

You are sitting up fairly well, but when you get tired, you just lay over and roll to either your stomach or back.  You are not showing any obvious signs of crawling yet, but I'm in no hurry for this one.  You usually just roll until you find what you want.  If you get stuck, you yell for me and I come sit you back up again.  You tend to play very well by yourself when it is just you and Mama.  When Dah is around, it is a totally different story.  You LOVE your Dah.  You cry and whine for him.  You need him to be touching you at all times if he is home.  But, he cannot make you smile and laugh like I can (so there, Dah).  You still love your puffs and you got some yogurt melts for Christmas which you seem to enjoy.  You really want to commandeer the eating utensils and have become quite stubborn at mealtimes about not opening your mouth.  You also love rice rusks and we love 'em too because you can hold them on your own.  You can drink from a sippy cup, but you also just love to fling them back and forth.  At Christmas, you had sweet potatoes and green beans from Mama's plate and we are planning to start giving you more veggie likes that.  Today you worked really hard to pick up the puffs on your own.  You haven't quite mastered getting them from your closed fist to your mouth, but you'll figure it out.

Mama and Beck on Christmas morning

You are a good-sized fella.  You don't look huge, but you are solid and my body can feel it every night when I crawl into bed.  I figure you are definitely at the 20 pound mark now, and you have stayed a size ahead in your clothing since birth.  You love to jabber and pull your socks off, especially in the car.    When you have tossed all of your toys out of your reach and both socks are off, you "dah-dah-dah-dah" and "lah-lah-lah-lah" and "tah-tah-tah-tah" until we reach our destination.

Daddy and Beck on Christmas morning

I am still falling more and more in love with you every day and I think it is safe to say that Daddy is too.  We love watching you grow and learn, but we are growing and learning so much to.  We know that your little eyes are watching us all of the time.  Sometimes knowing you are watching my response to a situation literally makes me stop in tracks and rethink my next move.  What a teacher you are without even knowing it!

Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him. ~ Psalm 127:3