Always & Forever: Carter: 7 Months

Monkey,
You are SEVEN MONTHS old today! Wow...that sounds so old to me! You may as well be a teenager! Time is seriously FLYING by at warp speed and you are a'growing and a'changing with it. S...L...O...W...D...O...W...N!!! To think that you are closer to being a one-year old than you are to being a baby makes me happy and sad at all once. And looking back at your six month post, you have continued to perfect a few of your six month tricks as well as add a few new items to your list. I'm so proud of you, little boy! You make me so happy and always put the BIGGEST smile on my face.

This month will forever be known as the month of the bronchiolitis. Never again do I ever want to watch you go through this terribleness. You, my poor baby, have been through the ringer and just can't seem to kick this sickness to the curb. And the bad news is that Dr K says you are at a high risk for this to hit you every time you catch a cold. Poor baby! We will keep our nebulizer close by and pray that your lungs clear up and stay clean.

To go along with your bronchiolitis you stopped sleeping through the night. Not awesome. Your cough was so bad that you would start coughing in the middle of a deep slumber and you couldn't stop coughing. This would quickly turn into gasping for air which would scare you and, once you had your breath back, you would start crying. Poor baby! We moved you back into our room for a few weeks so we would be closer to you when a coughing fit started but you moved back to your crib by the end of the month. We are still working on getting your sleep back on track but boy, were we surprised to see how drastically an illness can change your sleep habits.

One thing that has really ramped up in the last few months is your weight! Big boy! My teeny tiny little preemie has turned into a chunk-a-monk with some serious thighs. You were in the 62%ile at your last appointment and just keep growing! Pants are hard to find, especially jeans, that go over your hips and thighs but aren't too long or big in the waist. We rock a lot of pajamas around here, especially since you've been sick most of the month! I think that's okay for anyone under the age of 5 so no worries!

Another big step for you this month is baby food! I'm making most of your food and some of it is even coming from PawPaw's garden. Talk about saving some money...that stuff is expensive! You started the month with carrots and sweet potatoes and you LOVED your carrots. I think you get that from your Mama :) Then when you got sick you stopped eating anything altogether and I could only get you to nurse when your little nose was clear enough that you could breathe. As of today you have tried carrots, sweet potatoes, apples and bananas and seem to enjoy everything we give you. I also have some pears and apricots ready to go in the freezer and will soon have some peas and broccoli from Paw Paw. Right now you eat oatmeal for breakfast and dinner with a fruit or veggie for lunch. I think we are about to add a snack in the late afternoon so you will get a fruit and veggie everyday.

You are still nursing 6 times a day, but you are much faster and only take about 10 or 15 minutes total to eat. We went through a terrible biting phase at the beginning of the month but we fought through...I thought seriously about switching to bottles but Dr K assured me it was a phase and you would stop biting as quickly as you started. Thankfully, she was right and you rarely bite me anymore. Please don't go back through the biting phase again! I beg you!!

You have lots of "favorites" now: your toothbrush and blue teether toy could both keep you entertained for hours. You love to flap your arms and I catch you doing it in your sleep when I'm watching you on the monitor and even do it with just one arm while you are nursing. When you are in your high chair you slam your arms on the tray repeatedly with all of your toys in your hands. I think you like the sound it makes. You also still really like to be held and be with us doing whatever we are doing and will fuss when you lose sight of us.

You are a rolling machine! You can officially roll from tummy to back and back to tummy over both shoulders. You can even roll multiple times over the same shoulder and if you see something you want will roll to get it. And you officially sleep on your stomach or right side every time we put you to bed. Oftentimes we catch you with your arms or legs hanging through the slats on your crib. You seem to really like to lay on your right side with your left arm hanging over the edge of your mattress. I think you also get that fror your Mama. :)

You still don't sit 100% on your own, but boy are you close! You will sit for awhile on your own, but inevitably you fall over at some point. Sometimes I wonder if you do it on purpose so you can be on your belly. Your thighs are almost too big for your bumbo so you better learn to sit unassisted quickly!

The other BIG milestone this month is you became a BIG COUSIN! Baby Graeme made his appearance early and just in time for y'all to both experience your first Christmas together. We still have not been able to meet and hold Baby G, but I just can't wait for the day the 3 of you boys are all together making a mess and getting dirty. I have visions of Mason driving the two of you to high school one day, just as me and Steph did not too long ago.

Carter Man- I could go on and on about how amazed I am with you. I just love watching you figure things out and learn new "tricks." You are my heart and soul, baby boy, and I just love, love, LOVE you! Six months has been my favorite age so far, but I'm sure that will change and just get better and you get older. I love you, sweet boy.