Seven Months Old!!

Annelise Marie, we've had a lot of fun this month! You've grown and changed quite a bit, and your personality is so vibrant.

We started the month with a doctor's visit. You are happy and healthy and the doc was impressed that you can sit on your own. You now (almost a month later) weigh about 17 pounds and are 27 inches tall. I can't believe that you've doubled your birthweight and grown half a foot! You had to get two shots this time, you were supposed to get three but the clinic was out of the third one. You don't have to go back to the doc until you're 9 months old and other than the shot we're still waiting on, you don't have any more immunizations until you're a year old! I am very grateful for that, you're always so quiet and sad when you get shots.

We spent plenty of time with friends this month and made new friends, as well. You got to play on LYNX's piano and you're such a ham that you would bang your fingers on the keys and then turn and look at us to make sure we saw how cute you were being. We took Lisa and Yazmin to the kimono shop and I found an obi with butterflies on it, I'm going to use it to make a wall hanging of some sort for your room when you're older.

We went to Shipwreck Beach twice this month, you like being outside but are not fond of the SPF 70 sunscreen that I slather all over you. It doesn't help much, you've still picked up some color even though I reapply it every two hours. We also went canoeing on Lake Ogawara last weekend. You liked sitting on my lap and watching the world move by, but you did not like wearing a life jacket. I guess you'll just have to get used to it, though, because Daddy and I like going out on the lake.

We felt our first two earthquakes this month, they feel like you're driving over railroad tracks even though you're standing still. When we felt the first one, you looked at me with this confused look on your face, you wondered how we were moving without actually moving!

I had two spouses' events again this month, but this time you stayed home with Daddy for both of them. I left bottles of pumped milk so you wouldn't go hungry and you actually drank some of it the first night. You also fell asleep in Daddy's arms, you haven't done that since you were only a few days old. The second night, you decided that you didn't want a bottle and went to bed without dinner, but then I accidentally woke you up when I was putting a heavier blanket on you (it was very cold that night) so you didn't go hungry.

Your intelligence is sometimes overwhelming, Annelise. First, you taught yourself how to play peekaboo, now you imitate the elephant sound on your jumperoo. I get a big smile on my face every time I hear you chattering with your animals, and you also like to hear your voice echo when we go up and down the stairs. You are a very smart child, sweet girl, and I can't wait to see what happens next!

The most exciting thing we've done this month is started you on solid foods. We bypassed the pureed baby foods and jumped directly in to feeding you table food. You're so independent that I'm not sure how you would have handled me spoon-feeding you anyway. So far you've tried bananas, apples, watermelon, avocados, carrots, cherries, pineapple, and little bits of bread that I tear off of my food. You're not fond of avocados or apples, and your favorite is definitely cherries. We're going cherry-picking next Friday, I'm going to make sure we take lots of pictures!

There are so many things to look forward to in this next month. You are very close to crawling now, you can get your baby belly off the floor and move your arms or your legs, but not both your arms AND your legs. You've got a pretty cute scooch going on right now, you look like a little inchworm. You are also working on your top teeth, although I'm not sure how long it will be before they appear. You're more drooly and are chewing on your hands all the time, so I know it will happen soon!

I don't know who you look like anymore, some days you look like me and some days you look like Daddy. We even have a picture where you look like your Grandaddy! (He's pretty proud of that.) All I do know is that you're so beautiful it hurts and that everyone who sees you is charmed by your beautiful blue eyes and sweet, sweet smile. You're quite chatty and love talking to your grandmothers on the phone, I just have to keep your hands out of the way because you're really good at hanging up on people. You also like telling Daddy all about your day when he gets home from work. We greet him at the door every day and you're always so excited to see him and talking to him, he loved celebrating Father's Day with you and getting the card that you 'signed'.

Well kiddo, I guess that's it for another month. I know this month is going to be lots of fun and full of adventures, but could we keep the poosplosions to a minimum?