Seven Months

I must say that having a baby in December makes it very easy to keep track of how old she is. One month old in the first month of the year, seven months old in the seventh month, etc. A friend's first born just turned a year old last week and it served as a reminder of how quickly these babies grow up!

During this last month, Natalie has changed so much (what else is new?!). Here are some of the things she's been up to:

-Rolling from back to belly and belly to back (as long as she's on a soft surface, like the bed or the couch. This child will NOT roll over on the floor!
-Pulling up on us or a dresser drawer. She LOVES to stand and has even started taking a few very wobbly steps like she's trying to cruise.

-I gave in and decided to let her sample a few foods here and there and have really liked my Munchkin baby food grinder to make small portions of food for her to try. She has tried zucchini, watermelon, sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, and peaches, in that order. So far, it looks like watermelon has been her favorite and carrots are her least favorite. I might not have gotten the texture of the carrots smooth enough for her liking though. We don't feed her solids every day; usually it's only when we happen to be eating something that we could also puree and give to her. I'm just not that into giving her solids yet. Baby-led weaning is sounding right up my alley about now :)

-She sticks her tongue out when Layla tries to lick her face. Gross, I know, so now we're extra attentive to keep their mouths away from each other! *Shudder* She also sticks her tongue out when we try to wipe her mouth off with a paper towel after she has eaten. Silly baby!
-Natalie has finally started saying a few syllables again. So far, she is saying "ma" and "ba". She also does this adorable thing where she curls her lips inward like you do when you're saying an "m" word, but she smacks her lips together over and over and it sounds like bubbles popping. Or, at least that's the best way I can think of to describe it!
-She now naps on her belly about half the time. The first time that this happened, she cried out and I went to check on her and her legs were sticking out through the slats in her crib, underneath the bumper and she was stuck! I really wanted to run and grab the camera before I rescued her, but I resisted the temptation and helped her out. Silly wiggle worm! The past 5 days have been horrible as far as naps go. I don't know if it's because of teething or what, but Natalie will.not.nap. She has gone from 3 naps a day (two long naps and a short nap) to two really short naps. On Saturday, she took two 30-minute naps. Has anyone else's child gone through this? She just lays in her crib and coos or she lays there and cries. Either way, no sleeping is happening. Ugh. I hope it's just teething.

-Socially, Natalie has grown by leaps and bounds. At just two months old, she literally screamed when anyone other than Alex or myself held her. The grandparents were devastated, to say the least. Now, she lets them hold her during church and when we visit with them. It's still not usually for extended lengths of time, but she's getting there. I hope we can work up to her staying with her grandparents for a couple of hours between feedings without her having a meltdown. All in time!