Personality: Still a charmer, still usually happy, but doesn’t smile ALL the time anymore (as Bob already noted on here). I guess 7 months got a little more complicated then 6 (mostly because she keeps getting constipated). But she still is usually smiley and giggly. She is definitely getting more opinionated though—if she wants to nurse, she wants to now, if she needs to sleep, it is harder to put her off, and if you take something away from her that she wants she will definitely yell at you—almost a mini tantrum! She also certainly is aware of who she knows now and who she doesn’t. If she is rested and happy anyone can hold her, but if she isn’t in such a great mood, mom is #1, dad and brother might do, and anyone else, not so much.
One thing that is very similar to her brother is that she is always after new things to play with. Meaning any random item that isn’t designed for babies is probably way better then one of her old toys she has already seen a million times. My kitchen utensils—wooden spoons, rubber spatulas, etc, are always dirty now, out and about I usually hand her something like a plastic cup, paper plate, water bottle, or napkin to play with. She is all about trying to steal peoples jewelry. One of her current favorite things is some plastic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle num-chucks of her brothers’. How do you actually get babies to play with baby toys? It would be very convenient…
Oh, almost forgot waving! This is one of the most adorable things. She has two methods of waving, and does not do them consistently but has been sporadically for a while. First she started sticking her arm out strait in front of her face. Totally melts my heart. Now she kind of sticks her arm out and waves it a bit, or tries to wiggle her fingers. She also seems to be trying to clap and do the “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” hand motions and sign more, but isn’t terrible successful yet. But she really concentrates and tries!
Physical: Big girl of course, though she still hasn’t even caught up to Joseph at 4 months! (He was 21 pounds 12 ounces at his 4 month appt.; she was 20 something at her last appointment.)
She’s getting some beautiful soft fuzzy hair—so cute.
Her eczema is usually pretty well controlled these days, though it flairs up here and there, and it is never completely gone. We will probably eventually get rid of our cat, as this seems to be the biggest trigger for Nora, but haven’t yet…
She can sit like a pro and she very much likes to sit! She will often sit around and bang her toys and be very contented. If you plop her on her butt she is stuck in one place still, but she is on her tummy she is moving all over. She doesn’t officially “crawl” yet on all fours, but she rolls and scoots. She absolutely will not stay where placed and is always in search of any little tiny lint or lego laying about on the floor. She probably would move more if she had more practice but when her tummy is bothering he she doesn’t like laying down.
Also at about 6 1/2 months her first tooth came in and then the next week a second one.
**I wrote this two days ago and of course the next day she learned how to go from sitting to laying. We are getting to the age were things seem to change faster and faster!
Eating habits: She loves to eat and is getting better and better at it. We were giving her all sorts of things, 2-3 meals a day, BUT she became super constipated and developed a horrible diaper rash. It was definitely the most painful thing she has yet endured and very sad for me to see her so uncomfortable. It continues to be a battle. I cut back on her eating a lot to try and alleviate these issues. Right now she is getting breakfast (usually some sort of fruit cut up—apple, banana, or avocados mostly, maybe some toast, and a babyfood puree, no cereal for now), maybe a small snack or some puffs for lunch, and then a little baby food, puffs, or small amount of what we are having for dinner. She gets a sippy with watered down pear and/or prune juice atleast once a day. Puffs are by far her favorite, followed by baby food. This is due to how easy they are for her. She gets really frustrated if she is trying to pick something up and it is too slippery (pears and things like that). When I am feeding her baby food I usually put food on the spoon then hand it to her and she feeds herself. Very cute.
I cut back her nursing a bit, but I think this also contributed to her constipation issues, so back to probably every three hours, sometimes more, sometimes less.
Sleep: Improving! (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Yay!! Probably jinxing myself…Currently she typical takes a naps around 9 and 1 for 1-2 hours goes to bed at 7, nurses around 1:30 AM and 5:30 AM and wakes for the day about 6:30. She sometimes still wakes at about 10:30PM, but will just cry for a couple minutes at the most and then go back to sleep. This is how we have improved—as long as she seems healthy I let her cry a bit. Amazingly it took hardly any time at all for her to learn to go back to sleep. The longest she ever cried was maybe 10 min? And it isn’t even a frantic cry…I am now debating weather to start letting her cry during another feeding to break the habit—but haven’t decided. 2 wakings a night at 7 months is awesome and amazing compared to what Joseph was doing at this age! She almost always sleeps and naps in her crib now, unless she really isn’t feeling well (like when she was constipated). She really likes her sleep and loves her luxurious naps at home, but I have found that she does ok if we are out and about and not on schedule. She also sleeps in complete dark, as suggested by our dr. and hopefully and improvement over Joseph who always wanted a light on and still needs a nightlight.
**these are of course all generalizations. I wrote this two nights ago and that night she was up an extra time, then last night she only woke once!!!
Nicknames: Smiggles (smile+giggles), Squeakers, Babystein, Norastein, Noranator, Norabelle, Stinkerbelle, Noni
Likes: bath time, rubber duckies, any teeny, tiny thing she can try and pick up, brother being crazy silly, car rides, people she knows and loves, strangers who smile and giver her attention, grabbing everything, tickles, smooches, talking to her toys and food, eating, her sippy cup
Dislikes: getting dressed, having toys/items taken away, being tired
