7 Months

Dear Olivia,

This month you turned 7 months old.  Our days together just get better and better as we figure out what routine makes you the happiest.  Usually you wake me up between 6 and 7am.  On a good morning, you might play in your crib for a while and let me sleep until 8.  You have the biggest smile on your face when I go in to get you like you have been saving that smile all night just for me. Sometimes Daddy will go in and get you so he can have some time with you before work.  You will nurse and then it's time for playing! We play on the floor with all of your toys until it's time for breakfast around 9.  Nana and Grandpa Jim got you a new highchair this week so we have trying that out recently.  You have oatmeal and some pureed fruit and love all of it.  You are a good morning eater! 

Then we do different things depending on the day. If it's a worknight,  we will take a walk and play outside and try to make it back for a nap around 2pm so that Mommy can sleep before going to work. That rarely happens to be honest.  You are just starting to get the hang of a good nap, usually around 2 hours.  If it's a day off of work, we will go for a run or walk and then either visit with Nana and Grandpa if they are home, do the grocery shopping, and run our errands.  I haven't been very good at making dinner lately so Daddy has been taking over that job. And to be honest, he is way better at it.  You got him a chef's mat for Father's Day so that his back and feet don't hurt so much after slaving away at the hot stove all day! 

You have your dinner around 5pm and then Daddy comes home from work and you either play with him or sit in your highchair and watch him make us dinner. Then you have an outdoor bath on the deck and play with all of your bath toys.  We have been giving you olive oil hair rubs since you have cradle cap.  That's been pretty hilarious to season you with olive oil and then put you in a tub of hot water. We are making Olivia Soup! 

Then we take an evening walk around the neighborhood (not recently since it's been ridiculously hot!) and we sometimes find a swing to try out at one of the playgrounds.  After our walk, we come home and get ready for bed. We will read a few books and now we even brush your teeth too.  Then around 7:30 it's off to the nursery for a nighttime nursing.  I try to sing to you but I know how bad I sound so I try not to subject you to that too much. Usually I just end up telling you stories or humming a tune.  

I feel so torn when it's time to put you in your crib to sleep.  I want to sit there and hold you for a few hours, and have even debated just taking you into bed with me while I watch tv and you sleep in my arms.  But I know that's not the best thing for you.  And once you fall asleep, it's my only time to wind down and have some time with Daddy or do all my blogging. That's basically all I have been doing in my free time this month to try and win you a couch! But it's a struggle every night to let you go.  You curl up in my arms and hold onto whatever stuffed animal I decide is worthy of you that night and suck on your paci until it plops out of your mouth and yet you will still suck away as if it's still there.  When I go to bed, I sneak in to see you one more time.  It would just be too long away from you if I didn't!

The silliest and most random things make you giggle.  I am willing to dance with a curtain over my head, make a silly grunty breathing noise, or bounce you up and down over and over again just to hear that giggle! You are sitting up all on your own now and I am sure you will be crawling in the next few weeks.  You can push and slide yourself all over the floor and usually end up underneath the couch.  I come rescue you when you start to disappear.  You can say Mama and Dada, but it's really just the syllables you say over and over again. I don't think you know it's us you are talking about yet.  But we pretend it is! Daddy's favorite nickname for you is banana face.  Maybe that's why you said Mama first?! This month you tried avocados, watermelon, mangoes, and pumpkin.  The watermelon was the favorite by far.  

I know that a lot of Moms feel bonded to their baby immediately. And they can't imagine their life without their baby and don't remember what life was like beforehand.  While I loved you instantly and was willing to do anything you needed to no end, I don't think I "knew" you right away.  This past month has been a huge leap forward for me in that regards. Going to work has been harder rather than easier because I will miss you so much while I am there. Putting you bed seems unfair because I won't see you for 12 hours while you are sleeping. My heart literally aches for you when you are not in my arms. I hope so many things for you and pray that whatever your life has in store, you will always remember my love for you.  I will always be there for you Livy girl.  

Oh dear. What hard teenage years you will have trying to assert your independence from me. Sorry, you are gonna have to work pretty hard to do that:)