Our Busy 7 Month Old

Norah Jane, how much you have changed this month sweet girl!

At 7 months, you are:
-Not quite crawling yet, but wanting to SO bad! Just in this last week, you seem to live in an almost constant state of frustration. You want to touch (and eat) EVERYTHING, but you can't get to wherever you want just yet, and it frustrates you so bad! I have a feeling that in the next week or so you will be crawling, and will be much happier :)

-Just started yelling, and it is not so fun for your parents. When you don't like something or are frustrated, you just yell. Your crying can stress us out, but your yelling really frustrates us. We are praying this passes soon!

-Are laughing so much more, and you even have a hilarious fake laugh!

-Are getting SO much more personality, and have a little bit of flare, drama, and passion, just like both of your parents :). I am loving this personality come out in you, because it finally makes me excited that you are growing up, instead of just teary that time keeps going by so fast.

-Are SUPER chunky! Your skin on your legs is so tight and you have sooo many rolls! We love it!

-A great eater. You are nursing about every 3 hours still, and eating 2 meals a day. We will probably start feeding you more solids soon.

-Still have no teeth. I'm kind of surprised, but I'm in no rush :)

-Are still a great sleeper. You go to bed around 6pm every night, wake up sometime between 6-7 to eat, then usually go back to sleep until 8. 14 hours....we'll take it :)

You also still take 3 naps a day, one long morning nap, and an afternoon and evening nap.

-Just learned how to wave! And you actually do associate it with "hi"! Whenever you see a person for the first time or walk into a room of people, you wave at them! I think this is the sweetest thing ever and it melts my heart every time.

-Just TODAY you started to babble! We laid you down for your evening nap, and you laid in there talking to yourself for awhile. We heard you babbling, which we had never heard before, so we got you up to play with you (it was just too cute!), and you ended up saying "Dada"! What a fun day!

-Are turning into more of a mama's girl, and are definitely happier when you're with me. This is a fairly new thing, and I'm glad I'll get to stay home with you in just a few short weeks before any separation anxiety really starts. I can't wait to spend my days with you!

And now, here's some photos from our 7 month pictures. It was much harder to get these pictures than it has been in the past. All she wanted to do was play with the sign, as you can see:

And here's a video:

6 Months!

Norah Jane, you get sweeter and more fun every month, and we are loving every moment with you recently.

- You weigh 16 1/2 pounds and are 26" long. Both in the 75th percentile for your age. Your 6 month dr. appointment went great. You are very healthy and the only concerns are the little patches of eczema on your eyes.

- You grab EVERYTHING! You want everything we drink or eat, and I'm excited for the day when I can actually let you try what we are eating.

Recently, you just started grabbing at people's faces. You do it a lot when we are feeding you, and it is the sweetest thing. You reach up and grab our nose or put your hand to our mouth. You especially love when we kiss your hand.

- You are sitting up without support and love it. You rarely want to be lying down anymore now that you have mastered sitting.

- You are very content for long periods of time and can play by yourself for 20-30 minutes. This is really helpful to me sometimes, especially in the mornings while I'm getting ready for work.

- You are a big eater! You still nurse about every 3 hours, and usually eat 2 other meals of real food at some point during the day. You love vegetables, and are surprisingly not a big fan of fruit. You have tried bananas and apples a couple different times, and you make the most hilarious faces. I guess I can't complain :)

- You are a mama's girl this month. You light up when I come home from work, which is also usually coupled with a cry of distress. You are so excited to see me at the same time you realize how much you missed me (usually also coupled with how hungry you just realized you were). I treasure these moments so much and will always hold them very dear to my heart.

- Mrs. Shelley and Mrs. Lauren have been watching you during the week (and blessing us immensely with this), and they both adore you. We could not ask for you to be in any better hands during the day while we are gone, and it gives us so much peace knowing you are very well taken care of. We also adore that you and Elle are becoming best buds :).

- Your daddy made up a great song for you about a week ago (this is nothing new), and I want to write it down so we will always remember:

"Daddy is my friend,
He will love me till the end.
God made him my daddy,
I think that is great.
God made him my daddy,
so him I will obey."

We will try to sing this to you often, and hopefully it will come in handy one day with discipline ;).

Here's some more pictures from our 6 month "photo shoot". You are truly not an infant anymore, as you can see:

We love you sweet girl, and could not imagine life without you. Your sweet smile and demeanor bring so much joy to our days. Thank you Jesus for this precious gift.

5 Months!

Sweet baby girl: Now that you are almost 6 months, I am finally writing about your fifth month. But this was a big month for you and you changed a lot, and I want to remember every detail!

Norah, at 5 months:
- You have put on more weight and have the chunkiest little thighs and cheeks...I absolutely love it!
- You started eating solid foods at around 5 1/2 months. You are a great eater. After your first feeding, you learned how to keep 98% of the food in your mouth.

We started you with rice cereal, and you didn't mind it, until we gave you sweet potatoes, then you realized how much flavor you were missing out on. Next we did green peas, and then some avocado. You will eat the peas, but you don't go crazy over them like you do sweet potatoes and avocado. So far no allergic reactions!

- You can sit up without support! You started this at about 5 1/2 months as well, and so far you can go for about 4-5 minutes before falling over!

- We finally broke you of your swaddle, and it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. We just stopped cold turkey for naps and nighttime, and just left you in your crib to figure it out. The first couple of days were rough, and you cried a lot, but you quickly figured out how to sleep with all your limbs free, and now you love it and are back to being a great sleeper.

- You are very flexible, and we are so thankful for this. You have many different people who take care of you throughout the week, and every day looks different, yet you handle it like a champ and it rarely phases you. Thank you.

- You are so fun. We feel like we have entered into a new world with you these past few weeks, as you are way more aware and alert, have started grabbing for things, are more active, and are just generally more fun and playful. We love it.

We love you baby girl. You have us wrapped around your finger, and we can't imagine life without you.

4 Months!

4 months has been so much fun! They're right, each new stage IS more fun!

Norah, at 4 months:

• You are such a sweet and easy baby! We are so thankful for this because we are having one of our busiest seasons yet, and you are so flexible and go with the flow so well. Especially with childcare. I can't even count the number of different people who may watch you in any given week, yet you still stick to your schedule pretty well and are generally pretty easy!
• You rolled over from your stomach to your back over Christmas, but have yet to do it since! But you are about to roll over from your back to your stomach any day! You are trying so hard!
• You know your mama and are super attached to her :). Everyday when I come home from work, you light up for me, and it melts my heart every time. You also will only laugh for your mama! I am so thankful for this as well because I was so worried that you wouldn't know me or be bonded to me once I went back to work full time. Thanks for daily showing me that's not true!
• You have a little bit of feistiness in you :). With certain things, you know what you want and are not happen when we don't give it to you! Especially with eating. If you are hungry and I try to give you the pacifier instead, you refuse to take it and then proceed to yell at me! On the good days, I laugh at this, but on others, it can stress me out!
• You are a talker, and a loud one! We have had so many different people tell us this, so I guess it is unique to you! One of my favorites is when we're in the car, and if you are awake, you could talk to yourself the whole car ride!

This month has been so much fun, and your dad and I feel so greatly connected to you. We can't imagine our lives without you, and the joy you bring to us is inexplicable. We love you sweet girl. 

3 Months!

3 Months has been a big change for sweet Norah. She has become way more alert, has found her voice, and smiles ALL the time! She generally just seems like a happier and more content baby this month, and we are so so blessed by how easy going she is. 

Norah, at 3 months:

- you are getting so big! you are still in 0-3 month clothes, but you have cute little fat rolls all over your body and a "buddha belly"!

- you yell all the time, just for fun and because you are happy. many times you make yourself choke and end up coughing because you yell so loud, it's hilarious. you are quite the talker already.

- I think your vision has recently changed and you can see much clearer and further now, because you are always scanning and looking around, moving your head back and forth constantly, taking it all in, especially when we're in a new place. 

- you laughed for the first time yesterday! It is the best sound ever! You are one happy baby!

- you are SO EXPRESSIVE! You make crazy faces all the time, and whatever you are thinking/feeling is written all over your face. I used to think this was common of all babies, but I'm realizing that it is unique to you. I guess you are your mom's child after all :)

- you LOVE your play mat! You will be happy just laying there for a really long time. You especially love your mirrors and your blue elephant, you talk to him often :)

- you rolled over (from your stomach to your back) for the first time at Christmas! For about 2 days, you were rolling over a ton, but since then we can't seem to get you to do it again!

- you are working on sleeping through the night. We've been down to one night time feeding for awhile, and now your dad and I are trying to get you to skip that, especially before I have to go back to work. You lasted until 6am two mornings this week, but you didn't make it past 2am last night, so we'll see. 

And now for a plethora of pictures, many from our photo shoot this morning :)