7 Months Old

Our angel baby is 7 months old today. I need someone to pinch me because I can hardly believe that we have a 7 month old. Closer to one year than newborn. It seems like 5 min ago that I was timing my contractions and planning for her arrival. I still feel like every day with Ellen is a gift. She is such a sweet, sweet baby that makes us feel so special when she smiles at us.

At 7 months old Ellen is getting ready to move. If we put a toy just out of her reach she will scoot, lunge, reach, grunt and wiggle until she gets her hands on it. She is figuring out that it works best when she gets up on all fours because she can lunge toward the object, although lately she's been losing ground by moving backwards.

She is showing tiny signs of separation anxiety by sometimes crying when we walk out of the room. She will still go to anyone and responds to them as if they are an old friend, which makes them happy. I hope that she keeps this personality trait.

Lucas is still her hero. Her face lights up when she sees him and she still giggles around him the most. It will be fun to see how they interact when she can keep up with him.

Ellen still really doesn't take a bottle. She will gum it and take a few sips, but nothing substantial. She is eating some oatmeal, apples and bananas, so if we leave her with her nanny then this holds her over until mommy gets home with the good stuff. She doesn't seem that crazy about solid foods, but we offer them about once a day. And for the record, we have seen no sleep improvement from starting solids.

We are completely amazed by this because it's so different from our experience with Lucas, but for Ellen's first nap we can put her in the crib, insert her pacifier, and put her bunny in her arms and she will go to sleep on her own! Wow! It's like magic. She does it more often than not for her second nap, but needs a little more snuggling with mommy when she goes down at night.

She still makes her bird noises, which are high screeches of delight. She also throws in some babbling - da, da, da, and bah, bah, bah.

In the past month she has shown signs of a temper... and it is really cute! She gets so mad when she wants something and can't have it. For example, if Lucas has a chip and won't give it to her (we won't let him) she screams! I'm talking open mouth, red face and tears. And she holds a grudge - if we give what she wants to her (not the chip example), she doesn't care. She screams and screams. It's nice to be able to say she's cute even when she screams : )

We love our little bird so much. I can't believe that we are so lucky to have been chosen as her parents. I am thankful for every moment with her.