Seven Months!

Sweet Hannah Cate,

Today you are seven months old! There is no doubt that we have loved you all along, but this month your Daddy and I are both noticing how much fun we are having with you! It's a joy to watch you figure out your world and with each passing day you seem to pick up a new trick.

Just in the last couple of days you have started smiling with your whole face. Your nose scrunches up and your eyes squint to tiny little slits and the biggest, gummy grin spreads across your lips. It's hilarious and so cute all at the same time. You have also figured out how to pick up things with your fingers and thumb, versus your whole hand, making the process much easier and not so frustrating for you. It also means that we have to be much more careful with the things that are within your reach...earrings, bracelets, hair, spoons, forks, remote controls and phones are all fair game in your mind now!

From a sleeping standpoint, it's been a monumental and frustrating month all at the same time. While we were in Eugene visiting, we went through Swaddle Bootcamp and finally were able to break you from sleeping all swaddled up! We pretty much quit cold turkey and you tolerated it very well and we haven't looked back. You looked to naked to me sleeping without it, but we all adjusted and it has certainly been a good and necessary transition. While we were in Eugene, you also went through a sleeping through the night strike and it lasted for pretty much the whole month. Just in the past few nights have you finally reverted back. So, needless to say, you have been living with some pretty sleepy parents and we are so thankful that you have remembered your old ways! Looking back, it's really our fault, you've had a busy and eventful month:

-cross country airplane travel to Eugene

-breaking of the swaddle

-cross country airplane travel home

-switch from nursing to exclusive formula

-one week in Birmingham

-pink eye, twice

-Christmas, Christmas, Christmas = over-stimulation!

-first stuffy nose/cold

So really, all things considered, no wonder you had trouble sleeping through the night! I'm glad that we're back on track and now you are back to 9-10 hours at night.

You did have your first Christmas and we spent it in Birmingham with my side of the family. We made many stops and visited with lots of family and friends. You also ended up with lots and lots of toys! We went from having 0 toys to needing a toy chest to store all of them over the span of a week. It's been so much fun to watch you play with all them and figure out just how they work. It seems that books remain at the top of your list of things to play with, you just love to turn the pages. I am fearful that we will never actually get through a whole book because all you want to do is turn the page! I can't wait until you can really understand what Christmas is and why we really celebrate it. I look forward to your anticipation of Santa Clause and all of the traditions that we will continue as a family and new ones that we will begin. Christmas is always such a special time of year, but this year was certainly extra special to celebrate it as a family of three!

At this age, most people want to know if you are crawling yet and if you have teeth. So far, no to both. When you are on the floor, you have figured out how to get what you want by rolling and maneuvering your body until you can reach it. When you are on your stomach, you tend to pull your knees up, but it seems that you are a ways away from actually crawling. Which I will have to say is just fine with me. I still like my immobile baby! We still don't see any teeth on the horizon either. You are constantly chewing on your fingers and any and everything goes in your mouth, so the signs are there but we don't see any popping through just yet.

I think that your hair is officially making the shift towards being red. When people that don't really know you see pictures, their initial inclination is to think that you have red hair. It's certainly lighter in the front, but still pretty dark brown in the back. In certain lights it most certainly looks red, but in other lights it is as brown as brown can be. I can't wait to see what the final result will be! Your eyes are still such a pretty blue color, so maybe they are here to stay.

We started offering you rice cereal at four months, but you would have nothing to do with it. We continued to offer it to you with little success, until half way through this month that is! Literally over night you decided that it would be a good idea to start eating. One day we offered some rice cereal with fruit and you refused. The very next day we offered the same thing and you couldn't get enough! Now you are eating rice cereal, sweet potatoes, squash, pears and bananas. When you see the bowl and spoon coming you start shaking your arms and opening your mouth! You don't love to wear a bib, but it's not really an option because you are quite the messy eater! I prefer to just feed you naked as it makes clean up much easier.

You continue to be such a good baby! I think we would have this impression regardless, but we are often reminded by family, friends and even strangers! On our flights to and from Eugene, I don't think there was one flight were someone didn't make a comment to me about what a good baby you were on the flight, that they didn't even realize you were there, what a good disposition you have, etc., etc. You have been welcomed back by everyone who has babysat. We took you to the nursery at church for the first time and the lady that kept you said you could come to her house to play any day! You have spoiled us beyond words and we are so thankful for your calm disposition, good nature, sweet spirit and ability to go with the flow! We tell you all the time, but you really are such a good baby.

We are watching you change before our very eyes and I just cannot believe how big you have gotten. Gone is the little itty-bitty seven pound baby we brought home from the hospital. You are close to double the weight as the day you were born. You are wearing 6-9 month clothes, as compared to the newborn sizes that swallowed you! I just keep trying to remind myself to take it all in, because I know in the blink of my eye we'll be taking you to kindergarten.

I don't have words for the love we have for you. You are the light of our lives here on earth and each day with you is a blessing.

Love, Love, Love!

Mama