7 Months

The babies had their Seventh Monthday on Thursday. Time is really flying lately. I can't believe they are closer to one than birth. What a thought. They've become more interactive, more vocal and more playful than ever.

At 7 Months Reese:

• is getting up on all fours and rocking.
• has two bottom teeth and you can see the mounds of the two top teeth in her gums.
• can sit unassisted using her hands (like a tripod) for long periods of time and can sit up tall (unassisted) and interact with toys for short periods of time
• is screaming like a banshee - when she's happy, when she's sad, when she's tired, when you look at her, when you don't look at her. It never ends.
• rolls all over the place, we have to be extra careful about where we put her now, constantly thinking about what she can roll into/onto/over.
• can hold her own bottle.
• can stand and take practice steps.
• recognizes her own name, and who Ryan, Mommy, Daddy and Gracie (puppy) are, if you say one of these things she will look at that person/object.
• loves to jump in the jumperoo and pretty much anytime she's being held upright.
• loves music class - she squeals, laughs and talks through the whole class and is an entirely different baby for the rest of the day.
• loves bathtime and rolls all over the tub. Lately she's been practicing crawling in the tub and the buoyancy has really helped her improve!
• is a champion eater, I think she has a hollow leg. She is able to chew a few kinds of finger foods and eats anything I give her. She recently tried and loved garlic powder, peccorino romano, cinnamon and nutmeg (mixed into her food, of course).
• loves her puppy and will go to great lengths to reach her (she still kisses her puppy back when her puppy kisses her).
• laughs when her puppy plays with toys, but rarely laughs otherwise. 
• pulls you in to give kisses. Big wet ones that last forever <3
• can stay awake during our daily runs, she just watches everything going by and chills out the whole time. If I'm running particularly fast that day she'll kick her legs and squeal and laugh. She's definitely my adventurous, wild child.

At 7 Months Ryan:

• is just starting to roll with regularity. He rolls to his belly a lot now, and will work on crawling when he does. He gets frustrated by his immobility much more than Reese does and will often just lay flat and unmoving after a few seconds of struggled "crawling".
• has two bottom teeth, has just started to cut one of his top teeth and has started to work through his other top tooth and his two lateral incisors have large swollen mounds as well. Poor baby is a drooly mess with lots of bleeding gums :(
• can stand on his own when holding onto our hands or a stationary object.
• is a finicky eater, but when he gets going he can eat you out of house and home. He's not so much into finger foods and is funny about foods with different textures. He's not above spitting something back at you and he's become very observant during meals. If you try to sneak in a bite of something he doesn't like between bites of things he does like he will watch the spoon as you approach him. I don't know if he can determine the color difference or the difference in smell, but he knows when you are giving him the thing he doesn't like and will purse his lips and turn his head away until you put something yummy on his spoon. Little stinker.
• can hold his own bottle.
• talks and chatters incessantly. I mean seriously all.day.long. When he's tired he moans to himself. It's ridiculously adorable.
• laughs all the time at pretty much everything, the more tired he is, the more he laughs. I call it the storm before the storm.
• loves the sound of his name and has a special Ryan, Ryan, Ryan song that makes him giggle like crazy.
• loves bathtime, especially chewing on rubber duckies and washcloths, but is terrified is soap or water gets on his face :)
• smiles everytime he sees the Baby Einstein caterpillar.
• LOVES sophie and loses his mind when you pull her out of hiding for him to play with.
• chews on spoons and tries to feed himself. All of our spoons have tiny tooth nugget marks in them.
• is a crazy flirt and will make googly eyes and smile at women in stores who pay him any attention.
• is obsessed with his exersaucer, especially the parts that spin with balls/rattles inside of them.
• gives hugs on his own, will nuzzle into your neck when you hold him and is, in general, a very cuddly baby. But even more so when he's tired.
• falls asleep as soon as he's in motion (car/stroller/otherwise) no matter how recently he's napped.
• is definitely my cautious and apprehensive child.

 

{ little miss sassy pants, can you sense the attitude?
what a flash forward this picture is! }

 

{ my big, big boy. Just up from a nap, cutting a top tooth,
and not wanting to deal with his crazy mom and her camera at all. }