Rebecca,

It is hard to believe you are 7 months old today, little bit.  It is hard to believe that it is time for the weather to begin turning off cold again.  You still wear size 2 diapers, but I've begun pulling out the next size up in clothes.  You are a bit long for some of the 3-6 onesies, so I decided this past week to wash up the 6-9 stuff and begin pulling it out.   However, it's still really too big.  You are just long in the belly.  You can still manage to pull your feet up in your sleepers, and get them both stuck in one leg when you are trying to crawl, so we definitely don't need a bigger size in them yet.  Some of the dresses are also getting too tight, so I might be able to start using some of those soon.  You have outgrown the size 2 shoes, as they aren't long enough, but the size 3 shoes are a bit too wide to stay on well.  The others seemed to grow more steadily, and it was easy to tell when it was time to move up to the next size clothes, but you seem to do things at your own pace.  Just trying to guess at your weight, from getting on the scale with you last night, you might finally be close to 15 lbs.

You continue to be a busy girl, always on the move.  You crawl really well, and are so fast now.  You enjoy standing against the couch, my foot stool, or the little kitchen upstairs to push buttons.  You pulled yourself up for the first time last night and again this morning, and for a little while yesterday I watched you get your feet up under you to squat and try to push up to standing in the middle of the floor.  You would have your palms face down and push and then lift them up wobble there for about a second or two and topple over.  Daddy wants you to know that he liked you better before you were mobile, no need to be in a hurry to walk.  The day after we took your six month pictures you began to sit up all on your own.  I often find you after having crawled across the floor, sitting up and pulling things out of the kids bookbags, or gnawing on the things in my school bag.  You still will not raise your hands to reach for us to pick you up, but you do lift up your elbows to be perpendicular to your body, and fuss at us to come get you.  Leaving just enough room to reach under your arms to lift you up.

You have been in the pool a time or two in the last few months with us.  You don't care for it as much as bathtime.  Once you feel asleep in Daddy's arms by the time he got out in the middle of the water.  You like to doze sometimes in the bath at night too.  I guess it's just that relaxing to be with Daddy and in the water.

You did well at your first doctor's appointment and seemed to have no reaction to the shots.  I think you are almost ready to cut teeth, and perhaps you will have some by your next appointment right at 2 months from now.  I have thought a few times that you were about to cut teeth, since you would be so fussy, and your gums feel swollen, but then it would pass and be nothing.

While on that subject you started eating baby food this month.  Between 5 and 6 months old you started wanting an extra bottle of formula about 2 or 3 times a week.  I was concerned that you weren't getting enough, because I would try to feed you an extra time, and you would just scream at me like you weren't getting anything.  Britt quit nursing just shy of 7 months, and Ruth at just shy of 11, and I didn't want to fail at making it to a year this time too.  The two weeks after you turned 6 months, it increased to wanting an extra bottle every night.  So, I made the decision to go ahead and start you on food, rather than you get dependent on a bottle and reject me outright.  You were such a mess at first, and while you haven't improved much you are a little more efficient.  To start with at least half of it was getting pushed back out, with the way you roll your tongue around in your mouth while you eat.  You also want to eat with your chin on your chest making it hard to get a spoon in.  To top it all off, you grin funny, and won't open your mouth all the way up.  The rest of the day you look like a bird with that mouth open, but not when it's time to eat.  You would eat only about half a serving to start with a day.  Then I got you up to eating half a serving twice a day.  I have finally gotten you up to one serving all at once, one time a day.  That's where I intend to stay for a while.  You didn't really seem to care for the oatmeal, but you've had green beans, peas (which you really liked), pears (which you really didn't), carrots, and now a mixture that has peas, carrots, and spinach.  You've had a little trouble with your diapers since then so I've cut the cereal almost completely out, which is a pain, because it makes the food even runnier and messier.  I'm gradually upping it, since apparently it was just too much at once.

You are finally showing alot of interest in toys.  Some of your favorites are your Britt's old blue puppy that he gave you, your owl, and the singing bear, that stays in the crib, sometimes you can work it by yourself, but most of the time not.  You also have wanted a pacifier more this month, though not for sucking on, you still prefer your thumb for that, but you use it to chew on.  In fact you prefer it to all the teethers I have.

The other big change this month, is that you have really started showing an obvious preference for me.  You can be perfectly content with anyone else or even sitting in the floor by yourself, and if I walk in your line of sight you start crying for me.  It is worse in the evenings than any other time of day.  You also have begun insisting on having me nurse you to sleep.  Perhaps the most trying part is that you have begun insisting that I hold you while you nap.  One day this week, I nursed you to sleep, held you for 20 more minutes, just to be sure, and when I sat you down in your bed you woke up and SCREAMED at me.  I tried patting you, singing, the works, and you just got madder.  I went back down stairs to get some work done, thinking you might give it up.  You continued for nearly 20 more minutes before you quit and went to sleep.  On average you fuss for 15 minutes now before giving up on getting me back in the room with you.  I could probably get alot more done if I would wear you, but I hate those sling things, they never feel secure, and I don't think it's good to have you in the front carrier all day.  I would like to get an ERGO so that you are more comfortable in it, and you could lay against my back even, but I've said that for the last two as well, and they are just so expensive.

My favorite time of day continues to be first thing in the morning snuggling with you while or right after you eat, before the others get up and your last feeding of the night when the others are off to bed, and I can cuddle you uninterrupted.  We all love you very much, sweetness, and can't imagine life without you.

Love,
Momma