A Letter to Carter at 7 Months

You wouldn't keep your hands off the chalkboard, hence the messy letters!  Oops, I just noticed I wrote 18 inches instead of 28 inches!

Really, has it been 7 months?!  It’s hard to believe we’re another month closer to your first birthday.  I’ve gotten to spend the entire month at home with you and it has been amazing.  You have such a sweet disposition and I just can’t get over what a good baby you are.  I keep joking with your daddy that if we got paid a dollar each time someone told us what a good baby you are, we could buy a new car!

I have finally stopped worrying that you will stop breathing.  I no longer check on you constantly in your sleep.  I don’t freak out while you are on your activity gym, if I leave the room for 2 seconds, when I turn my back, while I go to the bathroom.  I now have faith that you are healthy and strong enough to sustain yourself without my constant watch.  You still love to sleep on your stomach and I’ve stopped going in and rolling you onto your back once you’ve fallen asleep.  I will admit I still go into your room to watch for the fall of your chest as you breathe and sometimes put my finger down by your nose to check for air if I can’t see that, but you know that probably will never end…

Last month you had become really vocal and I was really excited, but you are even more so now.  You love to hear your own voice and especially love to screech.  Every once in a while you will babble “dadadadadadadada” but for some reason only do it for me, so your daddy hasn’t gotten to hear it yet.  I’ve tried to record you doing it to send to him, but then you switch over to a different sound.

I thought by now you’d have a tooth, but we are still waiting on the first one to pop through.  You’ve been drooling and slobbery for months along with chewing on everything in sight, but no pearly whites to show for it.  I keep thinking any day now, but who really knows!  

You are getting even better at sitting up and can sit up for longer periods of time.  You still eventually topple over, especially if you see something interesting you want to reach for.  You even army crawled a short distance this month.  Go figure, you were going after your buddy, Harper.

Smiling at Harper

Speaking of Harper, you love her dearly!  She never fails to get a belly laugh out of you.  It’s so cute because she will bring you one of her toys and drop it for you to play with.  I watch closely to make sure it doesn’t end up in your mouth, ick!  Just today you would grab an arm of her frog toy and she would get another leg and play tug of war really gently with you.  You laughed the whole time.  It sure was precious!  I know you are only going to love her more as you get older!

Playing tug of war with Harper.

You are still waking up twice at night.  Once around midnight-1am and another time between 3-5am.  Usually the second time is 3:30 or so.  I keep reading I should let you cry one of those times because you should be able to sleep longer than that, but you eat quite a bit both times you wake up.  Plus I can’t sleep when you’re awake anyway, so I might as well go in to help you out.  Hopefully soon you’ll start only getting up once and then eventually sleep through the night, but I don’t mind right now, especially since I don’t have to get up super early for work!  

It’s been so nice being home with you because your naps are back on schedule.  You don’t sleep as well at daycare so when you go you don’t nap as well.  You are back to waking up around 7am, being awake for an hour and then taking an hour nap.  When you wake up you are usually awake for 2 hours and then take a 2 hour nap.  Your next awake time is 2-3 hours and then you take a shorter nap 30-45 minutes and are awake until we start your bedtime routine at 7pm.  You are asleep by 8-8:15 most nights, but occasionally don’t fall asleep until 9pm (that normally means you are overtired, either we started your bedtime routine too late or you skipped your last nap).     

 

You love your blocks!

Eating is still one of your favorite things!  You are even more interested in daddy and my food.  You try to reach for our plates and will grab food off them if they are too close.  We’ve still been doing rice cereal, fruit, or veggie for lunch and a fruit or vegetable for dinner.  The only new foods you’ve tried this month are prunes and zucchini.  So you’ve had sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, peas, green beans, apples, bananas, avocados, rice cereal, pears, peaches, prunes, and zucchini.  We still haven’t found anything you don’t like.  

You keep getting smarter and smarter!  You have figured out you can hook toys with your feet and lift your legs to bring your toy up to your hands.  You also reach for toys and knock them around to pull them toward you.  You like to scoot yourself around by pushing your feet against the ground and will roll around the floor to get to things.  Sometimes I worry you won’t crawl because you’ve found so many creative ways to get what you want without moving too much.

The ball your great grandma and grandpa got you is one of your favorite toys.  You love to reach for it, get your fingers in the holes, and swing it around.  It is one thing you will work pretty hard to get to.  Sophie is another favorite and you love all of your stuffed animals.  You also love reading and you grab onto the pages and turn them for me when we read.  When we are finished with a book you like to grab it and feel the cover.

Finally you have a decent amount of hair!  Some of it is darker brown and some of it is so blonde it looks white.  We joke that you have Uncle Paul hair because it is more like fuzz than hair and sticks straight up especially if it hasn’t been brushed.  There’s a picture of your Uncle Paul right after a bath where his hair is sticking straight up from his head and looks just like yours!

We went on our longest car ride this month to visit family in St. Louis.  You met lots of family members and they were all very impressed with you.  We also went to the zoo which was quite a bit of fun.  We were so busy!

We are transitioning away from using your car seat adapter with the stroller.  When we go on walks I put you straight into the stroller.  When we are running I worry you will bobble around too much, so I put you in your car seat.  I also love to watch you and it’s much harder to do when you are in the stroller.  I have to lift a flap to look at you, but then the sun shines down on your poor little head!  I’m going to miss you facing me on all my runs.  I love watching you as we go!

No doctor’s appointment this month so your daddy and I measured and weighed you.  You are up to 18 pounds, 8 ounces, whoa!  You are now 28 inches long.  I’m not sure how accurate those measurements are because that would mean you have gained a pound and three ounces and have only grown 3/10 of an inch.  Maybe you have just been chunking out this month!

You are now wearing size 3 diapers.  You are wearing 6 month and 9 month along with 6-9 month clothes.  Our favorite outfit this month was your striped romper.  The shorts of the romper are long enough to actually look like shorts and it just fits so well.  I love how collars look on you!  

Now you are reaching for things and people you want.  There were a few times when someone else was holding you and you reached for me.  You have also reached for daddy and for grammy.  You are constantly reaching for Harper.  You always want her!  It is such a great feeling when you want me and reach for me.  I look forward to you asking for me and giving me kisses.

Every month I think about how much more fun you are than the last month.  I get sad thinking of you getting older and changing, but then we reach the next milestone and I realize how much fun it is.  I don’t miss you being a baby at all because I love how you are now.  All laughing and smiling and reaching for your mommy!  I love you to the moon and back my chubby thighed snuggle bug!

Now on to daddy:

Sooooooo close to moving my little man! Right now you need some serious motivation (Harper) to move a few inches but you have done it! You are dominating your jumparoo every chance you get and loving it. You now spin around to play with the different toys. It’s great that it spins 360 degrees for that!

This month you have started reaching for people. Once while I was holding you, your mom walked by and you reached for her. The time you did it to me, I was changing you on the kitchen table (dumb, I know, we made a huge nasty mess) and you reached up and grabbed my collar bones. I leaned in a little farther and sure enough you put my hands around my neck! I loved that so much!! And then you kicked your diaper over smearing poo on your Grammy’s table cloth and while I was battling you for that diaper, you rolled over and peed on the table cloth! Good thing you and I are in good standing with her, she wasn’t mad at all!

I also want to mention how great you are in new surroundings, always so calm and easy going. Makes going places just you and I a lot easier! You are always so entertained with whatever you can get your hands on, always studying it. Makes me think you are going to be a tinker when you grow up, always working taking something apart and putting together!