Seven Month Update

Dear Hazel,
It's been quite the month for you, and again... it must be said: 7 months? WHAT?

Yea... you're seven months old now and your little personality continues to emerge and delight us every day. We've already picked up on a few things that you apparently have inherited from your Daddy and I. You know... besides ear infections. (Of which you had another one of this month... awesome.)

For one, you are CONSTANTLY moving your feet. You, my dear, have a case of the Jimmy-Leg. You got this from your Daddy... he who has been threatened (on occasion) of foot amputation if he doesn't stop moving those feet while we're lying in bed and I'm trying to sleep. In fact, as I type this, I just looked over at your Daddy while he's reading a book (written by Karl Rove and no, you don't get to read that conservative propaganda when you're old enough. but don't worry, I've got some nice liberal reads for you when you start reading. namely: The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder. you'll love it.) and he was moving his foot in much the same manner as you do when you're sitting up. The ladies at day care love it as apparently, you're pretty much constantly in motion with those things.

You've pretty much mastered sitting up in the last month... with the exception of a few falls that we managed to catch on camera.

And you're starting to actually choose toys, rather than just play with those sitting in front of you. You love, love, LOVE rattles and have gotten so excited while shaking your rattle that you've hit yourself in the head with it.

Hard.

On more than one occasion.

And then you laugh and laugh and laugh.

You've started to suck your thumb more and more this month. I attribute that to the fact that I've stopped nursing you and it's a way to self-soothe? Of course, I'm a complete rookie with all things baby, so I could just be up in the night.

So, yea... the nursing. We had our last session on Seis de Mayo. It was such a sad thing for me. It wasn't anything you did, sweetie. It was actually a culmination of events that made me decide that it was time to stop. I'd been on medication to help with milk production for about four months. And even with that, the most I could pump in a day was maybe 10 oz and we always had to supplement you afterwards. I had done some "research" online and found that there are serious side effects of this particular medication if taken for extended periods of time. To top it all off, you coughed in my mouth earlier this month and got me sick... AGAIN... and the doc said that the medication he was giving me would mean that I couldn't nurse safely and I would have to pump and dump. So, I decided to go off the medication and then pump to see how it went.

But first, you and I had one last nursing session together. It was so special, Hazey. While you nursed, we just rocked and I thought of all those nights I would get up to feed you and when we finally figured out how to nurse in those first few days of your life. I loved nursing you. It was such a special bond we shared and now that we don't have that, I feel like a piece of me is damaged. It's hard to explain. You don't seem to be too put out by it... you haven't rooted around or anything on me, but it's just hard knowing that we won't have those quiet moments of bonding again.

The next day when I pumped, I got exactly two ounces. So that pretty much made up my mind. I really feel that my body was telling me it was done four months ago... but we stretched it out to six months. I really would have loved to been able to nurse you for a year, but I'm glad we made it to six months.

This month you really became a big, BIG fan of being thrown in the air by Daddy and me. But, honestly... you're getting so freaking big that I don't throw you in the air as much because I'm worried that my lack of upper body and hand strength will come to bite me in the butt and I'll drop you.

Yea... you're getting pretty big, baby girl. You've actually grown out of your 9 month old pj's and we recently had to get some 9-18 month old pj's that don't have the feet so your legs can get as long as they want and they will still fit... mostly.

You're still a champion sleeper and routinely throw down 12-12.5 overnighters. Which is AWESOME.

For some reason this last week you resisted taking your morning nap at day care so you ended up going to bed pretty early each night as you were exhausted. I'm really hoping that one of these days an actual routine will develop where I can count on you sleeping for certain lengths of time... but I guess for now I can't complain about your sleep since you're such a rock star at night.

Currently, your favorite position is one where you're on all fours with your butt in the air. You'll sleep like that all night and there's nothing I can do to prevent you from sleeping like that. And really, why would I?

You've also become so easy to put down at night that I don't really get to rock you down or snuggle with you anymore. Most of the time, you know it's time for bed and are ready to go to bed... and you just want your crib and seriously, Mommy... I don't have the patience for this. Just put me down and walk away, ok?

Yea... that kinda stinks right about now. But I'm heartened by the fact that you don't totally find me useless because whenever you're playing and I walk away from you, you cry. A fake, attention-getting cry, but a cry nonetheless. So I guess that means you still like me? I hope so.

You love to blow bubbles and you love to be outside. And right now, you're all about my necklace and you love to look at it and put it in your mouth. Because it's shiny and is something you could easily choke on. Of course you want to play with it!!


You're a voracious eater these days and are eating only every four hours. Which is really nice and makes life a lot more flexible for us to know exactly when you're going to want to eat each day. You're eating rice cereal and baby food and you love sweet potatoes and bananas. Daddy fed you pears the other day, too, and apparently you're a BIG fan as you ate the entire jar... after eating rice cereal. I'm sure that the ladies at day care that afternoon appreciated your Daddy that day. I'm just sayin'... the diapers are really something special these days. I mean, really... the diapers deserve a story of their own. And, yes.... I'm sure that one of these days, they will.

These days, you're entertained by laying on my legs, sucking on my knees and making noises while I bounce you up and down. It's the new go-to whenever you get bored or a little fussy.



This weekend, you were a little fussy and Daddy and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Honestly, it's hard to know when you're not feeling well cuz you're just so easy and don't really give us that many hints that you don't feel 100%. After you woke up from a nap with Daddy, I noticed that you were hot... really hot. As in 102 degrees hot. Oh looky! YOU'RE FIRST FEVER! Fantastics. So, we took you to the doc to make sure you didn't have an infection... because it's been what? A week since you got off antibiotics?? Lovely. So, now you're on Tylenol that we have to give you every four hours, so it will be interesting to see how tonight goes.

I really hope you start feeling better tomorrow. Cuz if Hazey isn't 100%, ain't nobody 100%.



Love,
Mama