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Wow, seven months. Adele is now closer to being a one-year-old than to the day she was born. When you put it like that you really realize how fast time goes by. I think month seven wins for most milestones so far. Lots of new changes and exciting ‘firsts’.

STATS
Weight = Not 100% sure, but I’m assuming 15ish Pounds
Diapers = Size 2
Clothes = 9 Months (and a few 6 months still)
Eyes = Currently they are Hazel
Teeth = None! What if she never gets teeth?!

SLEEP
As I told you last week, sleep was a little wonky this month. She’s still getting her 12-13 hours of sleep a night but a few times a week, it’s sometimes interrupted by a simple 2am diaper change. Luckily she always goes right back down, but it’s still an adjustment after not having to do that since July! We know we can’t complain since she’s otherwise doing great.

She’s got pretty clear cues when it’s time for bed. When she rubs her eyes, we know it’s time for La-La Land.
Our nightly timeline is usually 6p Dinner, 6:30p Bath, 7p Storytime and Bottle and lights out by 7:30p. She’s pretty consistent and I think she likes her schedule. Babies love routine!

FOOD
This was a fun month for food! We’re doing half Baby Led Weaning and half purees. At home and at restaurants, we’re giving her real food (bites of whatever we’re eating). We even let her order her own side of steamed carrots this week and she was so happy to be part of the food club!

Our daycare won’t do BLW, so we also introduced her to purees. On Sundays, we buy fruits and vegetables and I puree them myself in our food processor. No need for any fancy equipment, so far, it’s working out great! I’m still learning which foods you have to steam vs. boil, but we’re taking a pretty laid back approach to it and it’s been a lot of fun.

As far as real foods go, she’s had too many new ones to count (everything from breads, Cheerios and muffins to avocado, carrots, salad and more!) And for purees, we’ve done pears, green beans, squash and bananas. She definitely prefers to hold her own spoon and feed herself with the purees. Probably a result of successful BLW!

Other Milestones:
-So so so close to crawling! She can push up onto all fours and rock back and forth! She can even crawl backwards and in a circle, but so far, no real forward crawling yet. Whew!

-She can easily stay in a sitting position for a long time now. She prefers to play sitting up! But so far, she can’t get into a sitting position on her own yet. She’s close though!

-Speaking of playing, Adele LOVES to play with toys now! This is huge! I can plop her down with a bunch of toys and she’ll sit and push them around, pick them up, move them from hand to hand, talk to them and clap them together! Her favorites at the moment are:
1.) Anything fabric — she’ll play with bibs or blankets for a long time!
2.) Stackable Rings
3.) My Pretty Learning Purse (and all its contents, especially the credit card— we’re in trouble!)
4.) Her Huggable Pink Kitty
5.) Toys in the Bath – Especially these stacking cups, these bath toys and bath books
6.) Storybooks – We read a few every night!

-Talking!! She talks! We hear stories all day long from her now! Lots of “Da Da Da Da” and “Dad Dad Dad Daddddd”! As much as I try to prompt her to say “Mama”, she always responds with “DADA DADA DADDDDA”. No fair. We are also starting to here “Gee Gee” and “Kisk Kisk” sounds now too! She’s definitely found her voice and she’s not afraid to use it!

-She sleeps on her belly now! She used to scream whenever she ended up there, but now we catch her sleeping on her tummy all the time with her little tush high in the air. Kind of like this:

-We met another Baby Adele this month! We were out at a restaurant in our town and met a 9 month old girl with the same name. It’s not super common and I was surprised to find another Adele. Wonder if they’ll be friends someday! Adele was last ranked #627 in popularity in the US. I hope it stays that way, I like that it’s sort of rare right now. I always look to see if her name is on bike license plates, and other knick knacks and so far, I haven’t found one yet!

-She has amazing super powers and can find her pacifier in the middle of the night. I’m not sure how she does it (especially since her pacifiers are clear!) but she somehow she always finds it hours after she spits it out!

-She dances to music sometimes! She bounces her head from side to side when she hears a good song. Baby’s got rhythm!

-She holds her own bottle! Whoo hoo!! Parenting for the win!

-We’re almost done breastfeeding. 😦 I’m down to one nursing session in the morning and I’m able to pump one more bottle throughout the day. That means that two out of her six feedings are my milk and the rest are formula. It’s tough to come to terms with that, but ultimately, I’m proud that I’m still able to give her anything at all seven months in. Nutritionally, I know that there’s nothing wrong with formula, but I know I’ll miss our cuddle time in the morning as she snuggles up close to me to drink. I definitely don’t take it for granted.

Oh no! I’m all done my updates, but I still have pictures left to share with you! Quick, think of something else to write about….

Oh, I know! She started wearing shoes now! Her socks became toys to her and never stayed on her feet, so now she’s rocking the Robeez and loving them! We had a ton of pairs gifted to us in all different colors and they have been fun so far.

My little girl is coming into her own, it’s such a gift to watch her grow. She’s very patient and gentle but she’s got a feisty and stubborn side that I truly admire. She’s generous and fair, but when she wants something, she doesn’t give up. I hope she always fights for what she believes in and knows when to pick her battles when it’s worth it. I hope we’re raising an independent child with a free spirit. She’s got our blessing to pursue anything she wants in life as long as she keeps her values intact. I hope she’s always this happy.

Happy Seven Months, baby. Mommy and Daddy love you so much it hurts. We root for you to achieve these milestones, and then sit back in awe at how smart you are and how much you’ve grown. Part of me mourns the newborn we used to have, but we’re having too much fun now to look back for long. You really are my sunshine.

Why do new parents LOVE to talk about sleep? Though we don’t stress about it in our everyday lives, I’m a little obsessive about tracking Adele’s sleep. I think I’m still amazed at how well she slept for the first six months of her life. It all changed on December 8th though. She started waking up once a night… and then TWICE a night! (I know, I know, this is supposedly normal for a baby, but pretty abnormal for us! We weren’t used to this!)
When we headed to the East Coast for Christmas, we knew that her schedule would be off and her routine would be turned upside down, but we were not prepared for the long nights we had to deal with. She woke up 3-4 times a night every single night we were there! I tried to not wake up everyone else in the house, so as soon as I heard her, I jumped out of bed and went into her room to nurse and rock her back to sleep. I think she got used to this and thus created a bad habit of ‘needing’ me in the middle of the night. Suffice it to say, she got TOTALLY spoiled.

One night in particular, the only way I could get her to sleep (and ensure my own sleep), I strapped her to my chest and we both slept in a chair like this for five hours straight. Photo taken the following day when we recreated our sleep style during naptime.

Once we got back to LA, I knew we had to break the habit fast, so her first night at home, I heard her get up twice in the night, but I ignored her and within 10 minutes, she had fallen back to sleep on her own. The second night back, same thing again. A few whimpers and she was fast asleep again.

And the third night home? She slept a solid 12 hours through the night. After a month of broken sleep, we finally got our baby back! And mama couldn’t be happier! YAYYYY!!!!!!!! Let’s hope this is the beginning of another 6 month sleep streak! Teething ain’t got nothing on us!

Who says Adele doesn’t look like her mama?

HAHAHAHAHA

I purposely didn’t pack my schedule when I was home last week. I wanted to maximize the relaxation time and give my family as much time with Adele as possible. I’m so glad I did, it was so nice and we had a great time.

My grandparents, Laurie and I played a few rounds of 45’s!  They only play that game in Massachusetts I think and I really miss it!

Someday, I’ll teach Adele how to play!

Aunty Mikaela introduced her to Little Einsteins. She doesn’t see much TV but I think she liked the music.

Adele also met her future boyfriend, Evan. My mom and her friends are all becoming Grandmothers now and I think they’re having fun together. So funny. It must be such a weird  feeling to see your kids become mothers themselves!

And just to round out this random post of mish-mash stuff, we also did some art projects with Adele! My sisters had been bugging me to bring home some art that Adele made, so I bought some washable paint and told them to make some!






We actually got some pretty good handprints out of it by the end. But Adele was not a fan of having her hands dirty with the paint. It was fun.