Abby is 7 Months (as of 7.3.11)

 I was writing A's 8 month letter and realized I never posted this one.  Oops!

7 months - 7.3.11

Abby-girl,

What a month it's been!  You are becoming a little girl right before my very eyes and I love it and hate it all at the same time!  What have you been up to this month?

We tried eating baby food again this month and I think you're finally starting to come around to the idea of it.  So far you've tried bananas, avocado, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, and pears.  Sweet potatoes are by far your favorite and at times you'll even open your mouth for more of them while acting really excited about it.  For now mommy is making all of your food (and I really enjoy it), but we'll have to see how long this lasts.  :)  You're eating about 1/2 a cube of food once a day right now and once you show a little more interest in it we'll increase it to twice a day.  You're still nursing like a champ and I'm so thankful that we've been able to make it this far!  Oh yeah, and you've started drinking water out of a sippy cup.  You look like such a big girl to me when you do this and it's so freaking cute.  We're using the straw sippies and you just took right to them like you'd been drinking from a straw your whole life!  We were definitely proud parents!

Nothing new in the sleep department really except you've somehow determined that you now want bedtime to be at 9:30 instead of 8.  You're still getting up 2-3 times each night.  On the recommendation of your pediatrician we did try the whole cry-it-out method.  We did it for 3 solid weeks without much improvement at all before mommy and daddy decided it was not what was best for any of us, but especially not for you.  We may try again as you get a little older, but for the time being we'll just go ahead and label that as a big, fat failure!  It's okay though - I'm happy to get in a few extra snuggles with you, even if they do come at the expense of my sleep and some days my sanity.

Two other really big events happened - you learned to both sit up on your own and roll over from your tummy to your back (FINALLY)!  In all honesty, mommy and daddy thought you'd never roll over because you learned to sit up first (just a few days after you turned 6 months) and when that happened we all but gave up on it - but you showed us!  Obviously, you just wanted to do things a little differently and in your own time.  With these 2 new skills have come a few revelations.  (1) Tummy time is no longer - you've always hated being on your belly and now that you can get off of it on your own you roll over the minute we put you down on it.  (2)  Because of (1) you may never learn to crawl and just go straight to walking (Lord, help me)!  (3) A semi-independent little person you've become - you will sit happily on the floor and play with your toys for what seems like forever.

Some of your favorite things are the exersaucer (God bless whomever came up with this), Sophie, your monkey, anything that rattles, jingles, plays music, or lights up, the remote, mommy & daddy's phones and iPads, watching older kids play, the cats and Lexi.

You didn't go to the doctor this month so I have no idea of your stats, but I'd guess you're around 18lbs.  You're in all 6 month clothes and size 2 diapers.

Abby, you make us smile every day and we can't wait to see what your 8th month of life brings!  We love you, baby girl!

Love,

Mommy