7 Months

It's hard to believe that we're more than halfway through July, but even harder to believe that Ella turned seven months old last Friday! Seven months in the span of a lifetime isn't long or overly monumental... except when it is the first seven months of a new life. When I think about the past year and a half of our lives I think of the excited anticipation we felt as we waited for her arrival (a tad late I might add), all of the preparations from picking out the perfect fabric for her curtains to the pain-staking detail it took to get the tree mural just right, and even all of the worry we experienced last fall. All of the time and energy spent on one moment in time when our lives would change for the better. Fast-forward seven months from that moment and I find myself at the end of another week, filled with more milestones and even some new challenges. While I've always been happy throughout the various stages that I've experienced in life, I must say that becoming a mom has by far been the most rewarding and sweetest yet.

While today was just another "[extra]ordinary day", it was filled with lots of fun things ~ starting with the morning, which continues to be one of my favorite times. Ella's waking time has slowly and surely been getting earlier and earlier - and it was early to begin with. What used to be 6:45 on a good day is now turning in to 6:30, 6:15 and now even 6:00 am somedays. While I'm secretly jealous of those mom's whose babes snooze in until at least 7 - even 8! - one of my favorite parts of the day is seeing Ella first-thing in the morning. And lately, I've been spoiled with not even needing to leave my own bed to experience the first joy of the day. Justin, about ready to leave for work, brings Ella into our room. She immediately goes into a frenzy of excited kicks, squirming, smiling and reaching out. And while we may be up a few minutes later, snuggling ranks at the top of my list on ways to start your day off. :)

The rest of the day included a play-date with Jodi and her kids (where Ella will be spending her afternoons while I'm teaching) and a special visit from Auntie Cara filled with lots of squeezes, but most importantly... fudge brownies topped with peanut butter ice cream. Ella and I may have even sneaked in a quick snooze to top off a pretty perfect day.

Here is what Ella's up to at 7 months:

• Nursing full-time and doing great! This is something that, looking back to the beginning and the hurdles we first faced as well as keeping up with it while working full time, I'm pretty excited about!
• We recently added apples and peaches to her list of solids, and next up will be her first green veggie - peas! Now we're at rice cereal oatmeal, sweet potatoes, carrots, banana, avocado, apples, and peaches.
• Sleeping through the night from 8pm until 6isham, although the past few nights she has had a few spells of sitting up and crying. I don't think she has worked out how to get back laying down when half asleep.
• Still no teeth, although we're seeing some white under her gums and based on some behaviors, I wouldn't be surprised to see one any day now. She is quite happy to chew away on her fingers, ours, or her teethers.
• Crawling is going well and she has certainly increased her speed! She crawls to explore areas, to go to toys she wants, or comes when you call her name.
• Found the steps going up and was able to pull herself up onto the landing.
• Loves to crawl after Neko and is quite fascinated with Sadie's paws.
• Pulls self to standing position when holding on to your hands and pulls self up in her tub - with no help, although with plenty of worry from mommy!
• Babbles and has a variety of conversational sounds, with the newest and most frequent being an "eh, eh?" She has added lots of expression and intonation to her babbles.

... As I finish this post a week later (because sometimes life just gets in the way) she has already accomplished a few more feats, including the sippy cup and coming to realize that peas aren't so bad after all.