Isaiah turned 7 months old on Thanksgiving. With all the festivities I was a few days late taking his monthly pictures. In that short time he started crawling! He is also pulling up to a stand (more often than not that means face planting into things). He’s clapping, playing peek-a-boo with a piece of fabric over his face, going from crawling to sitting up, starting to wave, feeding himself puffs and devouring whatever baby food we put in front of him. He’s over 19 lbs now and tall. He’s wearing 12 month size clothing. Because he decided to get mobile right after we put up the Christmas tree he’s going to be spending more time that he would like in baby jail (AKA the pack n play) and his bouncer/gym. Zay is a very happy boy and gives the best snuggles, especially when he’s sleepy. Speaking of sleep, he’s regressed a bit and is waking up more often at night. I’m trying my best to figure it out and get him back to sleeping better because Mama is tired! He’s a such a sweet, easy-going guy and hardly complains about anything so I’m trying to be gracious about his middle of the night demands. He’s babbling a lot; occasionally Mama and hi but mostly Dada (or “DerDer”) all day everyday. It’s fun to see his relationship differences with each of us. He loves Jason and gets really excited to see him and knows he’s the fun guy. If anything is wrong, especially at night, no one other than Mama will do. He reached out his arms for me for the first time the other day and melted my heart a little more. And his big sister Ali, his “kissy sissy,” he loves to watch. He smiles and laughs at her antics. I’m sure he’ll be following her around soon. A few times lately she’s thrown a dramatic fit about something and he laughed and clapped his hands. Good show, good show!
Bee at 7 Months Old
12/19/2013Bee turned 7 months old on the 17th. When I have time, I probably should look up what developmental milestones a 7-month-old should be hitting. Clearly I’m not concerned. LOL! She’s eating pureés when I get around to offering it to her. I’ve made all of her food so far besides the oatmeal cereal my mom bought us. She’s had carrots, banana, applesauce, broccoli. I have some sweet potatoes waiting to be prepared next. Banana was by far her favorite. I made a weird mix of carrot, broccoli, banana and oatmeal the other day and she gobbled it all down.
She’s babbling a lot. She yells when she’s upset, which is pretty much only when she’s hungry or lonely. Doesn’t cry much. Her babbles include: dada, baba, hi and mama. She said “mama” for the first time on the 17th and my heart melted. Ali wouldn’t say it until she was over a year old. Speaking of mama, we’re hopefully going to meet her grandmother this week who is trying to get custody. She’s had a couple visits with her mom so far and one with her dad.
Bee loves to stand and bounce (with assistance) and is working on learning to crawl. She’s not very good at sitting up yet but she’s an excellent roller. She’s a stomach sleeper so put down in any position she immediately rolls on to her tummy. At her 6 month doctor’s visit she weighed just shy of 20 lbs. and I can’t remember her height but she’s in the 95th percentile for height and weight. That means she is comfortably wearing 12 month size clothes. In fact, as Ali grows out of clothing, I’m just putting it directly into Bee’s dresser. She can wear some 18 month size too, and it hardly looks too big.
Girl came with a whole tub of clothes…that were too small. Of course, none of us realized that right away because there were lots of 6 month size. Only a few pieces worked. I had a handful of hand-me-downs in our foster care stash that were Ali’s and another foster mom leant me her stash. Eventually as time trickles on I’ll keep buying her more. We’re expected to spend at least $1/day on clothing. Two weeks in, I bought her first lot of clothes and spent pretty darn close to $14. Then this past week, I just broke down and spent over $100 on an order of more clothes from Old Navy. Her case worker raided the donation closet at DCS but said it was mostly 18 month size. I haven’t seen what she found yet but I’ll be happy if she has a decent fitting wardrobe to pass on to whoever she goes to next—which could either be her out-of-state grandmother or her mom depending on how things work out.
It’s safe to say at this point that she’ll definitely be here for Christmas. All of her presents are wrapped and ready to go. Her stocking has been made and hung with the rest of ours. I offered to get her picture made with Santa for her mom so I need to follow through with that this weekend. We’ve never done that before with Ali or any other kids so it should be interesting. Overall, Bee has been delightful. The sickness really knocked the wind out of us. Would you pray with me that Bee gets 100% healthy? She’s had a snotty nose and a cough since she arrived (and probably longer than that…) She’s got a good attitude though.
UPDATE: I was surprised to get the news this morning that Bee got special permission to spend the holidays with her out-of-state relatives! I’m happy for her and them. Baby’s first Christmas is a big deal. She’ll be gone for almost two weeks and is expected back to us on January 2.
$14 worth of new clothes from Target.
Ali tells me everyday that she loves Bee. The jealousy and regression only lasted a few days and now she loves her to pieces. It’s the kind of sibling love I always hoped for for Alianna.
Precious: Monthly Portrait 7
02/22/2012Ali-gator. That’s your new nickname from our first vacation to Florida (and a hint at your real name). In your seventh month you flew on an airplane for the first time when we went on a fun mother-daughter adventure to Tampa and Sarasota to meet up with Daddy for a few days. You are a great traveler and such a joy to be around. You were called a happy machine because of how you affect everyone. Your first time at the beach was a disaster when you face planted into the sand. Sorry baby! But the swimming pool—another first—was refreshing. I am really excited about swimming with you this summer. You have been trying new foods all the time. I’m thrilled that you will eat just about anything and seem to especially love broccoli and bananas. Speaking of eating, your first two teeth came in within a few days of each other at 6.5 months old. You’ve been dealing really well with the discomfort and gnawing on everything, especially your hands or our thumbs if we’re not careful! Sometimes in the morning or after a nap I hear you babbling or cooing in your crib. When I go in to check on you, I see you’re playing with Little Lucy, the stuffed cocker spaniel Daddy and I bought a year before you were born—a special gift for our first baby because it looks just like our dog, Lucy. I used to hold Little Lucy and pray for you—before I even knew anything about you. It makes my heart happy to see you enjoying it. This month we moved out of our home and in with Grandma L and Grandpa. We’ll be here for a few months while our new home is built down the street. It’s exciting to think that our new home will be the one you grow up in and probably the only home you’ll remember from your early life. You get to see a lot of Grandma L and Grandpa now, and Grandma K has been babysitting you more lately, too. I’m so thankful that you get to grow up with your grandparents nearby. Also noteworthy, Daddy’s first solo album came out this month. It’s called Acoustic Lullabies and it’s dedicated to you!
You are a month behind on your check-up and vaccination appointments so you just had your 6-month well baby visit on your 7-month birthday. You are 26.5 inches long and weigh 18.25 pounds—our beautiful, healthy little girl!