Macie at Seven Months

Month seven was big for Macie.  As you can tell by my abundant posts, October was a busy month for our family - and by extension, Macie.  She just continued to blossom.  During the month we saw her increase socialization by starting conversations with herself in the mirror.  She got stronger and pushed up consistently, redeveloped an early skill of rolling from back to tummy, as well as developing a lot of core strength that allowed her to sit with support.  We introduced her to almost all of her aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents, and took her to California.  (Macie still needs to meet her Tennessee aunt, uncle and cousins.)  She also lived through her second cold, ate her first solid food and her first two teeth broke through her gums.  Busy month, indeed!

Stats:
Chronological Age - 7 months
Adjusted Age - 5 months

Weight - 15 pounds, 8 ounces

There is no well child visit at seven months, so her weight was done at home and is the best approximation I can make.

Milestones:

• Met first extended family (Aunt Liel and Uncle Will) - 27 weeks
• Able to suck thumb - 27 weeks
• First airplane flight, first vacation, first hotel - 28 weeks
• First trip to Disneyland - 28 weeks
• Received a name and a blessing (performed by Grandpa Boyce) - 29 weeks
• First teeth - 29 weeks
• Reach for people when picked up - 30 weeks
• First time in jumperoo - 30 weeks
• First solid food (rice cereal) - 30 weeks
• First Halloween costume (peas in a pod) - 30 weeks

Feeding:

Macie continued nursing and consumed 100% breastmilk until the last five days of the month.  I continued to feed her on demand.

On October 24th we strapped her into the high chair and gave her some very runny rice cereal.  She fell instantly in love with the spoon.  (This is probably due to emerging teeth more than anything.)  She ate the entire serving of cereal and seemingly enjoyed it.

Macie continued to take the same dosage of Zantac to treat her severe reflux.

Sleeping:

Macie continued to take two, occasionally three naps a day.  At home she took her naps in the swing.  While we were in California she napped in a rocking chair or her car seat.  Nighttime sleeping occurred in two stages this month.

For the first three weeks Macie slept like a dream at night.  To sleep around 9pm, awake around 9am.  My California family marveled that she slept through nearly any noise while we were there.  I continued to be thankful for such a wonderful sleeper.

Then the teeth started to come and it all changed.  Macie started waking up 2-3 times during her sleeping stretch.  Typically I could nurse or sooth her back to sleep in 15 minutes.  Occasionally, she would be in enough pain that it would take closer to an hour.  Still, this sleep/waking cycle was a walk in the park compared to that of Ephram at the same age.  So I continued to be grateful, although slightly more tired.

We continued to sleep Macie in the swing at night.  In California she slept in a rocking chair built for babies/toddlers.

Teeth:

At the end of the month Macie had two teeth, her front bottom teeth were the first to come in.

Favorite things:

• Playing with her feet and attempting to get them in her mouth.
• Being read to, turning pages, and mouthing board books.  Her favorite was On the Night You Were Born.
• Playing with toys, especially dolls and a set of soft blocks from her Grandpa Kovar.
• Sitting up, with support
• Playing with her tongue - sticking it out, rolling it and spitting.
• Taking baths.
• Being held.

Least Favorite Things:

Really, only one thing here for the month - getting teeth.

Here are a few pictures of my baby girl in her seventh month.