7 month update

To mark her big 7 month birthday, Avery decided to do something that made me, and really made Wade, happy: she said "Da Da"! It happened while we were at the beach...she was sitting in her pink bouncy seat and Wade was sitting in front of her on the floor. She was babbling something like dabuhguhdabada...and then those sweet little words came out so clearly: da da! It was wonderful! She's said it a few times since and it is precious. Definitely the highlight of her 7 month birthday!

Here's what she's been up to lately:

-- Eating 4 times a day (every 4 hours; 3 nursings and 1 bottle) and having solids 4 times a day. She has oatmeal + maybe a little fruit around 7:30 am; a vegetable around 11:30 am; fruit about 3:30 pm; then oatmeal + little fruit around 6 pm. Then, it's a bottle at 7:30 pm and then straight to bed! Sometimes it takes her until 8:30 pm to fall asleep for good, so she gets about 10.5 hours of sleep a night.

**Just FYI: I read somewhere that you should offer something with vitamin C in it if you give your baby some cereal to eat because vitamin C helps your baby absorb the iron in the cereal. Glad I read that! So, now we do oatmeal AND fruit twice a day:)**

--Naps twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The length of each nap really varies, with the morning one usually longer than the afternoon one (even though it seems that the afternoon nap should be longer). Sometimes the afternoon nap will last 1 hour, but sometimes it's 30 minutes and she's done. You never know!

--Rolling over a lot both ways

--Wears size 3 Pampers "Cruisers" (For her, they're the only ones that don't leak!)

--Sitting up very well and doesn't fall on her face as much any more, thank goodness:)

-- She has a few new skills: While she lays on the floor, she is pulling her legs under her belly; pushing up on her toes, while her face is still pressed on the floor (imagine the letter "V" upside down); and pushing up on all 4s and rocking back and forth. She can also slide herself across the floor on her belly, but only if she grabs the blanket she is laying on and uses it to pull herself along.

--And, because she is pushing up now, we've lowered her crib mattress all the way to the bottom. We don't want her discovering that she can pull up to standing and then something bad happens!

-- I haven't tried the sippy cup or finger foods yet and, honestly, it's because I'm nervous! It seems silly, but I just don't want her to choke or anything. I'm going to have to just bite the bullet soon and offer them to her...I need to just pick a day and mark it on the calendar and do it. Sigh.

--Rides in the front of the shopping carts and sits in the highchairs in restaurants! I bought a shopping cart cover and she loves it!!! She really likes to be able to look around now and see more of what's going on. It also has 2 toy attachments, but I think she is entertained more by all the lights in the stores and the people that stop and say, "Look at those blue eyes!" - ha!

--I rarely keep her in her carseat when we're not in the car now. She is pretty heavy (and I'm not that strong), so I just leave it in the car and put her right in the stroller or in the grocery cart. However, if I'm in a hurry (like on Sunday mornings) or if she falls asleep in the car, I just take a deep breath, lift her and her carseat out of the car (the Tahoe is pretty tall), and plop her in the stroller. She's going to out grow her carseat soon - her feet are almost off the end of it. Any suggestions for a bigger carseat?

--Enjoyed a visit from my aunt Linda and uncle Ross, as they were driving back to Florida from Maine!

--And, of course, she said dada. Ahhh:) Can't wait to hear it again!

Here are a few more of her 6 month pictures from Elaine Floyd Photography (Elaine did my bridal portraits, our engagement pictures, and Avery's 2 month pictures):

At Riverfront Park...I just love Avery's expression in this picture!

So tired...we left the park and went to church to finish up the pictures

In the hallway at FBC

Happy girl!