Olivia at 7 Months: These are the days

This past month you guys. It’s been the best yet. Truly it has. Olivia is growing, faster than I can keep up with, and she is turning into this little person instead of a tiny baby that sleeps all day.

These monthly photos are getting harder to do because all she wants to do now is eat the sticker (hence its place on the chair instead of on her) or strangle the elephant.

But MAAAAAAN she’s cute.

I’ve been waiting for her to fit into this outfit since she was 3 months.

Every month I would try it on and it would be way too big so I would say, ok, let’s try next month. And so on and so forth. Until…. Month 7.

Now how can I discreetly eat this sticker without Mama seeing?

She’s exploded on her development this month. Little girl! What did you do with mah baybee???

She’s gone, Mama.

This has definitely been a great month. She’s just really getting her own personality and that is really fun.

So what have we been up to?
Besides starting solids (below) we have been spending a lot more time outside now that it’s finally getting nice.

She has been in the swings at the parks and thinks it’s pretty much the greatest thing ever.

She’s been riding in the front of the cart now, which really shows how much she’s grown. Isn’t it the best when they’re so happy sitting up front now? And now I have more room in the cart for, you know, groceries.

We had a pretty low key Memorial Day.

Grilling brats in the backyard with my family and then hanging out on a blanket.

Olivia is fascinated by grass. She loves sitting in it and running her hands through it.

She also loves gazing perfectly at me while I take her photos.

We also took her to her first carnival. She LOVED it, as evidenced by her facial expression in this picture:

And this one here:

I mean, MAAAAYBE the only thing that really excited her that whole day was this water bottle:

She also had her last day of ECFE. We are now in the summer session at another location. But wahhhhh I loved her teachers. It’s just been such a great experience for us both. And she loves all her little black-barred baby friends. Because privacy, you know.

And she’s getting some hair now, you guys! Like, enough that it sticks up.

Like most things in life, I’m pretty indifferent to the sticking up of my hair.

Nicknames: Same old, same old Monkey, Monks, Chunks, Livvie

Weight: 19lb 2oz (84th%tile) according to my home scale

Length: 25.5 in (18th %tile)

Head Circumference: 46 cm (98th%tile)
Diaper Size: 3
Clothing size: She can still fit into some 3-6 month clothes, and mostly 6 month ones. Though I’m finding some of them are getting small.
(I think she carries most of her weight in her cheeks. Obvi)

Eating: She’s eating solids! We started at six months and 2 days and gave her some avocado slices. She loved them! (Baby-led weaning is a mess by the way.)

So far she’s tried avocado, sweet potato, butternut squash, banana, green pepper, egg yolk, corn, pear, cucumber, blueberries and raspberries. She loves when I give her things in wedges or big hunks. I don’t think she quite has the pincer grasp down yet. She will eat dinner with us, but sometimes she is sleeping during that time, or playing happily in her exersaucer and well, why ruin a good thing? She’s had a few gagging episodes but I think overall she is doing well with it and she definitely is excited to eat, though it only lasts for about 5 minutes until she is screaming to get down and play. She’s nursing about every 4 hours during the day and usually once at night.

Sleeping: Sleeping has been going really well this month. She goes down to bed around 8:00 and will sleep anywhere between 4:30 and 6:30 and then with me until about 8 or 8:30am. She rarely wakes in the evening now, though on occasion Chris has to go up to walk her when she screams. She’s in the rock and play (I know, I know I’m so BAD) but with her being buckled in, I feel like she’s ok.

She transitioned to her crib from her swing at six months for naps only and that didn’t go as bad as I was thinking. We had one night where I really felt we needed to get her out of the rock n play and into a pack n play in our room. That. Didn’t. Go. Well. I gave it up and slept with her all night. The next morning I tried to put her in the pack n play for a nap. She screamed. Like for 45 minutes and then I burst into tears and put her back in the swing.

Pre-screaming. Don’t be fooled. She didn’t like to so much sleep in it, as she did playing in there neked.

So I knew I needed a solid game plan. For a few days after that, I kept the swing off and then throughout the day let her play in the crib. Then one Friday, I officially put the swing away forever and that Saturday we started naps in the crib. She quickly learned she liked to sleep on her tummy and that’s how she stayed asleep the best. So we’re three weeks into this and last night, actually, she made the final transition to her crib at night***.
In her own room.
Away from me.
Someone hold me.
Soooo… more on that for next months post 🙂

Milestones: Blowing raspberries! She’s also sitting up with really no support. Though when you least expect it she likes to tilt forward or backward and bounce her head off the floor. That’s fun. She’s now scooting backward (not to be confused with forward that would actually propel her towards her intended destination) and even starting to get up on all fours and rock.

Speech: She started saying “Mama!” Ok, not like seriously calling for me, but more like “Mmmm-mm-ma! Mama! Mmmmm!” (I still count it.)

Health: She has days where I’m like, she’s totally teething, where she is drooling a ton and fussy and then she’ll be fine, leaving me to wonder if I imagined the whole thing. But she does enjoy her frozen teethers. So far, no signs of teeth yet.

Likes: Sitting outside on the grass.

Especially with my doggie.

Going for walks.

Playing with my face while she nurses. Sitting up. Sleeping on her tummy. Eating solid food (most of the time). Pulling my hair, riding in her Ergo (most of the time).

Being naked.

She loves taking things out of containers. I bought this bowl at the dollar store and filled it with a bunch of little stuffed animals. She loves cheap entertainment, just like her Mama.

Dislikes: Being on her back. It’s all about her tummy now. Better yet, sitting up. Getting her hands wiped after dinner. Having things taken from her. She doesn’t like that at all.

(Well, obviously you should just keep doing the things I like. Then I’ll never have to get upset.)

Undecided about: Naps (unless it’s on Mama). Sometimes she is laid in the crib and reaches out for her lovie before smushing it in her face and going to sleep. But sometimes she just screams.

Also, reading books. Olivia’s eyes light up when we take out books to read to her. And then she eats them. Or screams if we, you know, actually want to read the book to her. Coming from someone who loves reading more than anything, it’s quite depressing actually.
She’s also not too sure if she likes her new portable high chair. Every time she goes in there, she only will last about five minutes before she’s hollering to get out.

Looking forward to: Our trip up north at the end of June! Taking Olivia swimming. (She’s starting swim lessons next week!)

All in all guys, life is good. It’s very good.

This girl is my life. I’m just so grateful that I was chosen to be her Mama.

*** Since it takes me FOREVER to write a monthly update, I am actually two weeks ahead at the time this post published. My bad. 

27 weeks

28 weeks

29 weeks

30 weeks