Elyse Love ~ 7 Months

So I finally had time for Elyse's 7 month photo shoot...we have officially moved into the "Mom, I have better things to do and am distracted by every little thing" phase...which makes for some pretty interesting photos!   

Weight/Height: We don't have any official stats this month, but she continues to grow in length & from our best estimates she is probably 18ish pounds. She's got the most adorable rolls on her thighs...which I realize this is the only time in life that thigh rolls can be adorable! 

Clothes: Last week I packed up every bit of her 0-3 month items and even some of her 3-6 month clothes. I replaced those with all of our 6-9 month items because we've got a growing girl on our hands!  She is still a skinny-minnie so some of the 6-9 month stuff is only too big because the shoulders are too broad or the shirts are too wide.  She definitely needs the 6-9 month items for length!  We're still in size 3 diapers and will be for quite some time. 

Food: We've definitely got an eater on our hands!  I hope that continues on as she gets older.  We've made another adjustment to her schedule this month and she is now nursing/taking a bottle between 6:30-7:00 am, 11:00 am, 3:00-3:30 pm & 7:45 pm.  With adding in solids she has decreased her milk intake just slightly but not enough to be concerned about.  She is probably taking in somewhere around 26-28 oz of milk.  We are feeding her solids 2x a day at 12:30 and at 6:00pm.  This is working great and she's eating so well!   Currently she has had sweet potatoes, carrots, yellow squash, peas, avocados, oatmeal, pears, bananas, and peaches.  The only thing she hasn't really enjoyed is green beans, but I'm hoping to introduce that again soon maybe mixed with another veggie that she loves! 

Sleep: Wow...this is probably the biggest roller coaster we've been on.  She was truly, truly teething right before turning 7 months and sleep was HORRIBLE!!! Other than that she continued to wake between 4:30-5:00 am and wouldn't go back to sleep unless she was being held.  She was sleeping great through the night, she was just waking early.  So...we've since then bumped up her bedtime another 30 minutes or so and that seems to be helping with her waking early!  yay!  This means bath at 7:30, bottle at 7:45, and hopefully asleep by 8:00-8:15...those 30 minutes seem to be making a huge difference so far! 

Activity:  Well contrary to what I wrote last month, we still don't have an official crawler, but she's Oh so close!  We will get up on her hands & knees with assistance and will rock back & forth.  She will also move all around and scoot when she's on her belly....she can end up in a totally different place within a few minutes!  My prediction is that once she figures out how to crawl there'll be no stopping her!  She still enjoys just sitting and playing with her toys & also being in her activity saucers...so glad for a happy baby who enjoys playing on her own! 

Personality:  I seriously could just eat this little girl up!  She has such an incredible personality of her own & loves people.  She makes us laugh on a daily basis & we also try our best to make her laugh hysterically.  She will get to giggling and it melts my heart.  She has started being a little more cautious around strangers as if she now can tell the difference between people she knows and those she doesn't.  However, after a few moments she'll warm up to most anyone and is her happy, smiley self! 

Likes:
~Playing with her rattles, activity balls & Sophie
~The "tickle monster"
~Puppies...oh all the puppies in our family are in trouble once she becomes mobile! 
~Water...She still LOVES the water whether it be bath time or Papa & Gigi's pool!
~Solid Foods...She normally LOVES to eat and will eat practically anything you put in front of her

Dislikes:
~Nose Issues:  She does not like it when I pick her nose...which is sometimes just the only option when the aspirator doesn't do it's job! 
~Late Nights:  She has started to get really grumpy if she's up much past her bedtime, we've learned that we have a very small window when we need to put her down! 

7 Month Milestones:

~Elyse's 1st Parade: Neighborhood Independence Day Parade on July 4

~First Tooth: Bottom Right, first actually felt it on July 7

~Mamaw & Pappy moved to Missouri: July 11

Mom....in case you couldn't tell...I'm done with the photo shoot!