seven months!

Oh my gosh, SEVEN months now. Like...I blinked, and there they went. Cliche though it may be...dang. Time flies.

It flies by like woooosh!!!, Mommy!

And my deepest apologies for the excess of pictures here. I can't help it that she is just insanely cute.

Aliases: Millie, Nugs/Nuggie/Nuggles, Snugs/Snuggie/Snuggles

 Stats: Well, how convenient that she's sick again and had to go to the doctor yesterday...at least I know that she's 20 pounds and 7 ounces! Large and in charge, this one. And at her six-month well visit last week (you know, the one where she probably caught this virus that has caused two sick visits in the week since...) she was 27 inches long.

She is just moving into 9 month clothes. Most of her 6 month clothes still fit except for one-piece footie jammies- she's too long for them and can't straighten her legs out. So it's all 9 month sizes for the jammies, but her other clothes are about an equal split of 6 month and 9 month. She's still in size 3 disposable diapers, although we spent last week using up a forgotten pack of size 2s, and they really fit okay, too. 

For as big as the percentile charts make us think she is, she has a surprising lack of fat rolls. She has a few good ones on her upper thighs, but a nice flat tummy (#sojealous) and no good rubber-band-wrists to speak of. I think she tends to carry most of her weight in her cheeks, which is obviously amazing.

Habits

• Eating: She's back to eating five 6-ounce bottles a day. We normally add a nice splash of prune juice to each bottle as well (maybe 1/2 an ounce) to help things...ya know, move along. Baby-led weaning is going well and she enjoys playing with eating solids at dinner time. So far she's tried bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes, zucchini, carrots, strawberries, venison, and black beans. Her favorite is strawberries by far. It's so much fun to watch her pick and choose through her food!
• Sleeping: Staying strong with being an awesome night sleeper (8:30 p.m.-7:15 a.m. on the weekdays, 8:30-8:00ish on weekends), a terrible daytime sleeper at school (a handful of 20-30 minute naps, maybe), and an okay daytime sleeper at home (3 or 4 40-60 minute naps...ish). Matt and I have realized that she doesn't sleep at school and she doesn't poop at home, but she'll poop at school and sleep at home, so...it's great that she has the chance to do both!! (And I think we got the better end of both of those deals...ha. Luckily, we pay them a pretty penny to clean up her poop and watch her not sleep, so I don't have to feel too guilty about it.)
• Bathing: It's still her favorite! She's become super interested in her bath toys (little rubber sea animals) and the bubbles...she really wants to catch and eat all of them!

 Likes: Putting things in her mouth, making TONS of noises, her bunny and Sophie toys, Lola, her jump-jump, going outside, music, and very sadly- electronics. Womp womp. We don't let her watch TV or look at cartoons or apps on the phone, but just the fact that the screen lights up is enough for her- she is always reaching for my phone!! It's so sad. And if the TV is on (you know, since someone in this house is always trying to watch Parenthood...), she'll break her neck craning to see the screen. It's terrible! She also loves fire- candle flames or a fire in the fireplace- but her doctor said we can't have them anymore because they trigger her wheezing. Waaaaaah. Fireplace channel?? (Actually, this would be like her ultimate dream! A fire on the TV?!?! Woooo!) She has also become genuinely interested in books, which I LOVE! She's always tolerated them, but now she really seems to pay attention to the pictures and grab for the pages...it's so much fun! 

Dislikes: Still anti-tummy time. NO chance she'll be learning to crawl (or like...ya know, roll over...like most four-month-olds can do...) any time soon. She also despises having her snotty nose wiped (but she's fine with the NoseFrida, oddly) and when the doctor dares to use the otoscope.

Undecided About: Not much. She likes 98% of things in life and despises the other 2%. Not a whole lot of room for lukewarm with this one!! She's a little iffy on letting other people hold her when Mom and Dad are around, though, so...just don't take it personally. We're clearly way more awesome on anyone else on earth, so how could you possibly measure up?? ;)

Special Skills: Her jumping skills are renowned throughout our city, I'm pretty sure. Her teachers marvel at how tirelessly she jumps all day. She's really good at balancing on her legs and I feel like she'll be able to pull up soon. She's also proficient at reaching up when she wants to be held now. That is my FAVORITE. And she's a great talker!! She makes a lot of different sounds (consonants, vowels, and our personal favorite, the blah blah sound. It sounds just like she's mocking people, going blah blah blah!! and so Matt and I like to call her the Blah Blah Baby when she's talking like that. It's awesome). She's really communicative, rarely cries (unless she's just insanely overtired) (or you put her on her stomach, or stick an otoscope in her ear, or startle her), and is pretty easily soothed. Even when she's sick, she's happy.

Looking Forward: It will be fun when she starts actually swallowing her food instead of dropping it on the floor or spitting it out!! Most people think she should start crawling soon, but given her aversion to her stomach being anywhere near the floor...I just don't see it happening this month. I imagine she'll start pulling up on things first. Or doing some version of scooting on her bottom. I'm starting to think she may be getting too long and strong for her Rock 'n Play...I really feel like she could propel herself out of it if she felt so inclined. She hasn't technically maxed out the weight limit yet, but she practically sticks out of both ends...so I'm wondering if we need to be considering moving her to her crib at night. File this away under things I'm NOT looking forward to...having her sleep right next to me is the best thing on earth and I never want her to move out. Waaaaah. Oh, I'm also looking forward to spring and hopefully the end of stupid respiratory viruses! And her spring wardrobe!! Spoiler alert: she has white skinny jeans...

She's the best duet partner ever.

What can I say that I haven't said before? She is the joy of our lives. I feel like the luckiest person alive every minute of every day. It's funny, but sometimes I even feel thankful for the stuff that used to hurt the most. Mangled, endometriosis-ridden ovaries and tubes. Crappy AMH levels. Useless, malformed, non-swimming sperm. Failed infertility treatments. And now I look at those things and I'm like thank God for all that...because if we didn't have that, we wouldn't have her. We might have some other baby, but we wouldn't have our Millie. And I just...I don't even know. It's hard to process it all and make it make sense, but maybe it doesn't have to right now. Right now there is just joy. Exceeding, abundant joy. 

Six Months

Five Months

Four Months

Three Months

Two Months

One Month