Seven months.
Last year at this time, we were thrilled to find out we were having a girl — and I was finally starting to LOOK pregnant {not just chubby}.
It’s crazy to even think about our lives last summer. Many things were the same {like living through construction projects} but unless you currently have children, I can’t even begin to explain how much they really do change your life!
Yes, everyone told us how different our lives would be after Nora was born… and we believed them. However, it was impossible to REALLY know how much our lives would change until she was here (which means there wasn’t time to plan ahead).
Nora has quite the little personality already. She knows what she wants and is determined to do whatever she has to do until she gets what she wants…. and let’s just say she didn’t want her pictures taken 🙂
Who would have thought a 7-month old baby could be so stubborn?
A few Milestones this month:
1. She cut her first 2 teeth.
After an entire week of horrible diaper rash, a completely stuffed up nose, more drool than I’ve ever seen in my life, and SO much crying, she finally cut her first two teeth. Whew!
Aren’t they so cute 🙂
2. She’s officially crawling.
And boy does she move!
We set her down on the floor and before we turn around she’s taking off somewhere… her favorite destination so far is our master closet!
When she get’s tired, she resorts to scooting around kind-of on her side, pushing with one foot and the opposite knee.
It’s pretty funny to watch, but of course, she gets where she needs to go — which means she’s a happy camper.
3. She can pull herself up almost anywhere.
Now that she can crawl, she can easily get to the couch, the end tables, the stairs, the side of her crib, etc. and pull herself up… which she is simply thrilled about.
Every time she stands up, she gets a huge grin and wants to make sure we’re looking at her. Unfortunately, I don’t have many pictures of her standing because she falls frequently so I try to keep both hands available to catch her 🙂
We’re currently using our Pack N’ Play (which she seems to really like) to keep her in one spot. This has been especially helpful when we’re trying to keep her out of the messy kitchen renovation area.
Seriously, what a life!
4. She LOVES being outside, in the grass.
I’m told that many babies are afraid of the grass… but not Nora. She just loves pulling at the grass, walking in the grass, and sitting on a blanket in the shade. It’s kind of nice because it gives me an opportunity to get outside too.
She tries to eat the grass… and I try to stop her as much as I can. But if she’s starting to get fussy, I pull out the blanket and we head outside. She’s even fallen asleep outside a few times!
5. She also loves the water.
She’s always been a big fan of bath-time, but we recently took her for her first “swim” and she seemed to like the pool too.
7. She thinks she’s really cool.
I can’t wait until she gets a little older so we can really see her personality shine through. I have a feeling it’s going to be a BIG personality!
8. She is the most stubborn baby I’ve ever met.
I’ve mentioned this several times already, but this child does not sleep! There have been a few days in these first 7 months when she’s taken an hour-long nap… but otherwise, she’ll take a 20 minute nap and then she’s wide awake for several more hours. We’ve even had days where she only takes ONE 20-minute nap all. day. long.
Yes, that makes for a very long day — even with Dave home to help.
I “jinxed” it last month when I mentioned that she was starting to go to bed around 7:30pm. Not any more. She’s back to her unpredictable sleep schedule — often being fussy/crying for hours (yes hours) until she finally gives in and falls asleep around 10:30pm… only to be wide awake again by 3 or 4:00am (no I’m not making this up).
She regularly wakes up multiple times throughout the night… not even because she’s hungry either — just awake. Most times she cries until we get her, but sometimes she’ll sit and play in her crib for hours in the middle of the night.
Needless-to-say, Dave and I are exhausted.
Oh, and she also still refuses to eat anything.
She’ll suck on pieces of fruit or raw veggies but she always spits them out. She gags when we try to feed her anything like baby food or rice cereal, and she won’t swallow anything but milk.
At least she’s cute 🙂
So yeah… our lives are just a bit different with Nora around for the ride.
Happy 7-months to our silly, sweet, and VERY stubborn little girl.
Leah says
Love the new toofers pics! What a cutie! Hope she starts to nap longer. I struggled with both of mine being short nappers for awhile, but then they eventually learn how to put themselves back to sleep (or actually just sleep thru those lighter-sleep phases instead of waking).
As for not wanting food…..She sure looks pretty healthy to me! I honestly wouldn’t worry too much about it as long as she is nursing well and happy. Every kid doesn’t start eating at the same time!
Shannon says
I have a 2.5 year old boy who did not start sleeping thru the night until he was 2. I can so feel your pain! Being a “problem solver” by nature, I just couldn’t accept he was just a bad sleeper until I checked everything out. It may just be coincidence, but there are a couple things we dialed into that **may** have helped him start to sleep thru the night …
1. Food intolerances – you mentioned she doesn’t eat much – only milk. She may have an intolerance – not quite an allergy – to the proteins in cows milk. We stumbled onto this when our peditrician noticed my boy had ‘shiners’ – darkness below the eyes. This is indicative of some kind of intolerance/allergy. In a couple of your pics, it appears she might have shiners but may just be the lighting, etc. For my son, we severely limit his dairy intake and moved him to almond milk. I’m not sure if you’re nursing or she’s on formula, but it may be worth checking out.
2. More/less stuff in the crib – my son sleeps a ton better when he has stuff around him like blankets, stuffed animals. I guess he’s a mini-hoarder but it works for him. I know she’s still at an again where they don’t want anything in the crib, but we also had a fair amount of success in getting him to sleep longer when he was a baby when he was swaddled. Again, tough at her age.
Again, only suggestion and you may have already gone down these roads. Good luck and know you are not the only ones out there! It is so hard when you are going thru it but know at some point it will change and you WILL get a full nights sleep again. Keep at it – she’s a beautiful baby!
Tammy says
Hi,
Your daughter has similar symptoms to my oldest child. He had issues with sleeping and feeding too. Turned out he had two problems, that often go undetected.
1) Reflux. This is when stomach acid enters the esophagus, it is worse when they are lying down, and the pain wakes them up easily, and then the pain resolves when they are up right so they fight sleep with all their might. One solution is to raise the end of the bed where her head is by propping it up with a couple of towels under the mattress. This can sometimes kinda calm things.
2) Her epiglottis may not be closing properly. The primary symptoms of this tend not to appear until they are older and start solids (my son was not diagnosed until he was 18 months). And this condition, tends also to go hand in hand with reflux. It results in a hyper sensitive gag reflex, as the body prevents food from entering the airway in any manner that it can see fit. My son had tertiary diagnosis, but still grew out of it as the body adapts and creates new methods of eating. My son still (9 years old) has a hypersensitive gag reflex, but he has a double swallow the forces the epiglottis to close appropriately with solid foods.
We were told, not to feel bad that we did not catch his issues until he was 18 months. Kids with these issues have no outward appearance of problems outside the symptoms described. They are happy carefree and meet all milestones except appropriate sleep patterns and feeding problems.
You may have already gotten these items checked, and I am a complete stranger with no investment in your life. It just sounded eerily familiar and I know I would have loved to have helped my child sooner than the later we did.
She is gorgeous.. Good Luck.
Natalie says
Awe! how cute!! So fun to watch them grow and become their own little person!
Pam O says
Nora is a cutie! My granddaughter, Aria, turned 7 months this month, too (born 11/12/11… due 11-11-11; darn, that would have been cool!).
They sound very similar. Aria also just cut her two bottom teeth, is pleased as punch when she pulls herself up, LOVES the water (bathtime, always – but also went for her first pool swim this weekend), and does not nap – only sporadic cat naps. And she brings joy immeasurable!
Blessings to you and your happy family.
Bronwyn says
Congratulations! I’m loving your updates on Nora’s progress. Our 2nd (Caleb) is 8 months tomorrow so I’m with you on the sleep deprivation and crawling and eating… :o) I agree with Becky’s comment above. The Munchkins mesh feeders were great for our 1st (Jonathan – 2yrs). If Nora won’t eat the solid stuff she can suck it through the mesh. In summer it was fun to freeze some pureed food in an icecube tray and put those in to suck on for some extra nutrients. Plain ice is great for teething too. We still put frozen berries in for J now. He requests it for an afternoon snack on hot days.
Jessica says
Seriously….too cute. Kinda makes me want another….almost, heehee.
Both of my girls established a personality at 6 months and they are EXACTLY the same now (ages 3 and 23months) the only difference is now they speak instead of jabber. Lol.
Also…my oldest girl never slept well as an infant and has never taken a mid day nap. No matter how hard I tried. I’ve always thought it was strange. My little on can sleep for 3 hours during nap time if I let her.
Nora is so cute, and it only gets better!
Jess
LP says
she is precious. good luck with month 8. 🙂
Kelly says
Cute, cute, cute. I can relate with the no naps during the day. My little guy is about 2 weeks older than Nora and takes 1 or 2 twenty minute naps. I am exhausted and not a lot gets done around the house. But they are only little once so my house can wait.
Library Momma says
Your doing great, really you are, you just can’t see it right now because you are in the middle of living it. Wait till one year you will really see all Nora, you, and your little family have accomplished in a year. You will feel like you have achieved so much by making it to the one year mark. My little ones are similar to yours and some days were survival, especially when friends would say their baby slept through the night, took three hours naps, etc. It made me feel defeated, a little blue, and kind of like a failure. Then I had my second and I really got it, that everything is a phase, it will come and go, and you might even miss that stage when it is gone! There is a light at the end of the tunnel and our little spit-fires who refuse to sleep now really know how to light the world on fire when they get older. Nora’s “stubbornness” might turn out to be one of her greatest assets in life! Hang in there, Momma, you are doing great!
katie says
She is beautiful. We had difficulty with our now 1 year old eating solids too. We convinced her to eat with avacado! She loved it and still does! Now she eats all the time 🙂
Rebecca says
Kudos to you for running such a cool blog when your baby doesn’t sleep!
Andrea says
haha… thanks Rebecca! I NEED my blog to give me some sense of normal and routine each day. Plus I LOVE writing for my blog 🙂
donna wigley says
Love the photos. She is precious!
Becky says
When my boys were little, we used these little, mesh, chewy things. You open them up, stuff in a piece of fruit and they can suck on the juice and mash it between their gums. They can get it all the way down to a pulp. Maybe that would help with the gagging but still allow her to get the fruit juices, at least.
Here’s a link:
http://www.amazon.com/Munchkin-Pack-Fresh-Feeder-Colors/dp/B000GK5XY2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340478087&sr=8-1&keywords=infant+mesh+feeder
I think having two was quite nice because I could reload while my son was eating the first as fast as possible and freaking out when he finished it. 🙂
Andrea says
Yes, we’ve tried these… many times but she just holds the mesh part and sucks on the plastic “holder”… and then food smashes all over her hands.
Sigh…
Minerva says
She’s exactly one month older than my little guy! Isn’t it a blast?
Kjrsten says
She is a beauty! Cherish these moments, they grow so fast.
Mine are all teenagers now, but my maternal clock, it still ticks. I would love to have another child, but my husband keeps insisting that another puppy would be a better idea. Ugh! I love him dearly, but UGH!
Laurel says
Cute pictures! That sleep (or lack of) is crazy. I can understand why you are exhausted. Loved looking at the photos. You are a great photographer 🙂
JD says
Wow, I had three children and none would take a nap. I couldn’t believe it! Then they didn’t sleep through the night. All my friends had babies that would sleep through the night and take 3 hour naps. Sigh. I survived but a few times I did appear a bit ragged.
Pronk says
And #9 should be; She starts to look more and more like Dave everyday!
She looked so much like you when she was younger and now she really looks like Dave!
Andrea says
Yes, the past 2 or 3 weeks, so many people have told us that she looks more like Dave!