Charlotte: 7 months in this BIG world

-Charlotte hates having her little pigs confined. We put socks on her feet, she pulls those suckers right off! And while we are on the subject of Charlotte’s feet, I should add that she hasn’t quite figured out that her feet aren’t the same as her hands. She tries to grab things with her toes, it’s quite amusing to see! She will also clasp her toes together just as one might clasp his/her fingers.

-Teeth. Last month I wrote about how Charlotte cut her first teeth. Turns out that was a false alarm. Not quite sure how that happened….especially since Ben and I BOTH saw that tooth peeking through! Nonetheless, it’s not there now. HOWEVER, there ARE now TWO teeth preparing to cut their way through on the bottom. They aren’t quite through the gums yet, but they are there and ready to do so.

-Food. Charlotte enjoys her baby food! She especially loves carrots and pears. Pears are hands down her favorite. She will not tolerate peaches. Not even if they are mixed with other things. Peaches are a big YUCK for Charlotte. Her favorite brand of baby food is “Plum Baby Organics.” She can’t get enough of those squeezable pouches! Which, if they weren’t so expensive, we would probably feed them to her at every meal….but she gets either Gerber or Hy-Vee brand most of the time.

-Charlotte’s about to outgrow her carseat. Sad day. This means we will need to spend upwards of $300 for a safe backwards facing carseat that stays IN the car. For those of you who don’t know, babies are now required to face backwards until the age of two. And I am not bending that rule. We will follow the Doctor’s orders on that once folks. Non-negotiable.

-Movement. Charlotte is chomping at the bit to crawl. I really thought she would be an early crawler since she was rolling, etc. so early, but so far she is content to roll and scoot everywhere. We are getting close though and I anticipate the crawling to come within the next monthish. Did I say that last month? Oh well, that’s why I added the “ish” to the end of month!

-Hair! Her hair is growing in thicker every day. I love it.

-Expressions. More and more of these every day. And attitude! Yeah, it’s pretty awesome. She’s awesome. I love being her mom and experiencing her expressions every day. She has so many! The crinkle-nose laugh, squinty eye smile, dazed and confused look, PICKMEUPNOW look, distressed-don’t-leave-me-mama look…amongst many others. Oh my goodness. I love her.

-Babbling. She says “dadadadada” the most. Although, I have my sister to back me up on this one, we think she is associating her “mama” with ME! She has, on more than one occasion, said “mama” and looked right at me. But I will admit, she has also begun doing this with “dada” so it looks like she has her first two words covered. And are we lucky or what to have her say “mama” and “dada” as those two!?

-The curiosity just multiplies every month. She wants everything. And she does all she can to get to everything. Cracks me up. She especially wants things that look like things she can’t have. For example, large cooking spoons. We have spent many a meal in peace as Charlotte manhandles a large cooking spoon and measuring cups. I highly recommend this if you haven’t tried it with your own sweet baby!

Well, that about sums up the changes that have occurred in Charlotte’s life during her 7^th month of life. It was a quick and busy month for sure…and there are all sorts of other details I would like to write about…such as Easter, the March of Dimes , our first house guests (the Gaspers!) and a visit from the “Welley” family! However, I think I will write about these fun events separately. I do want to reiterate the fact I can’t believe how quickly time moves. My sweet girl is going to be all grown up before I know it. And I know I am so blessed to have these days with her….I pray I am always aware of the blessing that is Charlotte!

Just in case you were wondering...no...she doesn't always keep her headbands on...