7 months old

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Brooke is 7 months old tomorrow and has learned a lot in one month. She is crawling more and more each day. She now crawls about four or five steps, takes a break and then starts up again. I can already see things that I am going to put away and cover up. Her clothes are always dirty after she crawls on the laminate; I pick her up and she is covered in dog hair. She has a tendency to scoot and slide more when she is on the laminate. She loves playing on the floor with all her toys and we went to an antique store in La Mesa and she fell in love with this Minnie Mouse that talks. She gets so excited!

She is also pulling herself up using just about everything she can- the coffee table, baskets, my leg, crib, Bernard (if he will let her), and much more. She also likes to go into the crawling position and then does the bridge on her tip toes. Brooke also loves baby mum-mums and has now discovered that if she holds her hand out Bernard will come and eat it out of her hand. Bernard loves it and always stays close to Brooke whenever she eats. Also, now that she can crawl, she will crawl to Bernard and grab his paws and every time he gets up and lays somewhere else. Yesterday, he had to find a new spot three times, she was all over him!

When I turn the TV on for her she really enjoys watching the Wiggles, Sesame Street and anything else with puppets and doesn’t really like animated cartoons. She enjoys watching some TV in the morning and then when I am taking a shower. I usually only turn it on when I know it will distract her long enough for me to get some stuff done, like right now. She still isn’t sleeping through the night, but more time is elapsing between feedings. There were a couple times this month that she would go 5-7 hours between feedings, but usually it is around 4 hours. She usually wakes at 11pm, 2am, 5am, and then up at 6:30.

I love how her face lights up when Kyle walks through the door and she can’t wait for him to hold her. I love how she stands up in her crib when she wakes up for a nap and reaches up to me to pick her up. I love that she is finally getting some hair. I love that she is a good eater and eats lots of yummy vegetables. I love that she sleeps well in her car seat and enjoys talking walks in her stroller. I love that even if she doesn’t get a good nap, she is still a pretty happy baby. I love that when she is really happy, instead of laughing, she smiles and opens her mouth up wide and you expect there to be a sound but there is nothing. I love that she loves to cuddle now and will lie on my chest and fall asleep (something she didn’t use to do). I love that she scrunches her face and snorts when she is done with something.

I am excited to see what adventures this next month is going to bring- maybe some teeth!

Crawling

She isn't quite there but she is getting so close.

And here is a picture of the new face she likes to make

Baby Food

This last month and a half she has eaten, peas, butternut squash, winter squash, avocado, carrots, sweet potato, banana, pear, apples, mango, blueberries, and apricots. She liked everything but the butternut squash; it didn't make her gag, but she was never very eager to have more. I think the blueberries made her butt a little red, so we are going to hold for a couple more months on all berries.

Last night, I spent two hours cooking baby food. It was actually a lot of fun and I think we should be good for then next two months. I decided to make her one orange vegetable combination and one green vegetable combination. For one dish, I sauteed a little onion in unsalted butter. Then I added carrots and leeks and sauteed those for a couple more minutes. Then I added potatoes and covered all of it with a cup of water. I ended up using yukon gold potatoes because that is what I had in my fridge. When the potatoes were fork tender I added a cup of corn. Cooked it through and then put it in my food processor. I blended it well, but really liked the texture a little coarser so she could get used to thicker textures in her mouth.

For my green veggies, I sauteed sweet potatoes with a little butter. Then I covered it with water and when they were fork tender I added cleaned baby spinach and peas. I tired both of these after they were blended and they were yummy!

For her fruit, I kept it simple this time. I peeled apples and boiled them until they were soft. I then chopped up a mango (no need to cook) and added that with the apples. For her other fruit dish I made it a little special. I boiled apples, pears, and dried apricots (without sulfur dioxide) with a little cinnamon and one sprig of vanilla bean ( I stole this recipe and combined it with another to make this combination). Kyle said it tasted like Christmas in a bowl.

I plan on mashing up bananas in the morning to go along with her apples and oatmeal. For dinner, I will also mash up avocado to go along side her other vegges. I like giving her the avocado, because of all the good fat that is in them. She could use some good fat!

This morning she seemed to really enjoy her breakfast and I am interested to see what she thinks of all the other combination's. She hasn't been a picker eater, but she isn't a very big eater (sometimes). I usually breastfeed first and sometimes she only eats a little bit after, but then other times she seems to eat a ton!

She is making these new face that I think are hilarious. She makes them when she is irritated and when she is laughing. As soon as I get in on tape I will post it.

Easter

I don't have time to write a blog, but wanted to post some videos from our festivities. I will have to write later.

Easter basket hunt! Playing in her saucer



Playing with Grandpa