7 Months

Our little sweet pea is 7 months today. I fall more in love with her every day. It also never seems to get any easier leaving her. The older she gets, the more we try to venture out and do things with her. Grammy and Grumpy seem to be more adventurous than her own parents. They have done lots of fun activities with Brooke while they care for her during the week. Fieldtrips include her first carousel ride (at Memorial City Mall), lunch/play dates with her auntie or Great Pa & Ga, and it’s rare if there isn’t a weekly Wednesday visit to Carter’s. Brooke went grocery shopping with Mommy and Daddy recently and rode in the grocery cart for the first time! Nosie Rosie was more interested in what was being put in the cart behind her rather than the toy in front of her, not to mention the bright yellow coupons that she kept trying to put in her mouth! 

   

We don’t get out much; Brooke thrives on routine. We have recently made a few changes, due to her adjusted feeding schedule with added baby food, but she still sticks to it! On a typical day, B wakes up at 8-8:30, eats cereal and fruit. She plays for about 1-1.5 hours, then she has a bottle before her morning nap. She sleeps for 1-2 hours, then eats lunch. After some more play time, she has another bottle before her afternoon nap. She sleeps another 1-2 hours. At 5 she has dinner and plays until bedtime. She gets a bath and bottle at 7 pm before she goes down for a solid 12 hours. She is such a good little girl – great eater and wonderful sleeper! I guess she got both of those traits from her parents. We love to eat and sleep, although sleeping in now is staying in bed until 7:30 am, maybe 8 if I’m really feeling crazy on a weekend!

March 23 her first tooth broke through the gums, and the next day the one next to it had followed. She wasn't too fussy. She seemed a little more sleepy than usual and had some mucus-like spit up, due to the extra saliva, but it wasn't bad at all. Brooke has been quite the drooler for the past few months, and all of the monogrammed bibs from Auntie have been extra handy!

She is really starting to practice talking too. She says “gee-gee”, which I think is a sweet reminder of Grandmere (“Gigi”) looking down on all of us. She says “muh” and “tuh” as well. She is absolutely fascinated with peek-a-boo and laughs out loud when mommy throws her hands in there (touchdown-style) or shockingly gasps for air. She has a breakfast, lunch and dinner – combination of cereal and stage 1 fruits/veggies, along with 4 bottles throughout the day (26 ounces). We tried peas again and…she still doesn't like them. Poor thing tried about 4 bites before she realized it was not getting any better. This time she was spitting it out; it was everywhere – hair, ears, cheek, neck, hands, etc! Our little Sweet Pea does NOT like sweet peas, unlike her momma and daddy who LOVE them! Oh well, maybe in a few more weeks, she will change her mind…

She is over 20 pounds now, wearing 9 month clothes and size 3 Pampers. She still sleeps with her lamb wubbanub, glowing seahorse and duck lovey – she loves them all. Some nights I think she stays up and plays with her “friends” while mommy and daddy sleep; in the mornings, all of them are in different corners than where they started the night. Perhaps in comparison to other babies, Brooke may be lacking locks, but she probably has twice as much hair as she did a couple months ago! She is starting to crawl and getting stronger everyday. She started by scooting on her tummy, which she still uses to pivot around. She knows what to do, but for some reason just loves pushing up on her toes (almost seems to be planking) with her rear in the air. I imagine it won't be long before she is walking too; she is just so strong! If there's a toy, phone, laundry basket...anything that she can get her hands on, she will get there! Our little "baby" is growing up.