Our 7 month cutie

Sierra is 7 months old today.  I swear I just wrote her 6 month blog.  She's our chunky little giggle box.  She's still such a happy girl, but has had some issues lately.  She's still allergic to dairy, which we found out when I accidentally ate cheese in a sandwich, she cut her first bottom tooth at 6 1/2 months and is on the verge of a second on the bottom which is causing many sleepless, restless nights.  She seems to be always going through a growth spurt, nursing nonstop, but totally uninterested in eating more than a couple of tablespoons of solid foods.  We had to go back to the drawing board where that was concerned because of a really really bad diaper rash, so we're back to only eating rice cereal and applesauce.  She's not really into the avocado and we think it might've been the sweet potato that caused the reaction.  We took her to the ophthalmologist because of her droopy right eyelid, but he said there is nothing wrong and probably as her face grows the skin will stretch and it will be hardly noticeable.

She's sitting quite well these days and has become pretty adept at getting from her butt to her tummy, but hasn't mastered getting back yet.  She's also getting closer to getting on all fours.  All this practice has made for many face plants.  She's pretty good at getting around by rolling and squirming and bouncing on her butt but becomes very frustrated and desperately wants to crawl.  She's making all kinds of vocalizations now, mamamamama, squealing, grunting, blowing raspberries.  She waves to imitate you but hasn't done it spontaneously yet.  She's playing with the shape sorter and the stacking rings now.  Mostly she just chews on them, but she loves to hold a shape or ring in each hand and bang them together.  She also loves to hit the peg board with the hammer.  Trying to get Peyton to let go of these toys and let her play with them has been pretty difficult.  He has no interest until she's playing with them and then he steals them.  For the most part she takes it pretty well, but every once and a while she screams bloody murder.

Speaking of screaming bloody murder, she's gotten better at that.  She used to be so even keeled, now she screams when she can't do what she wants to do or get what she wants.  Boy does she have some lungs on her.

Sleeping has not been going well.  Everything affects her sleep and, in turn, mine.  Teething has been awful and on top of that she has her second cold right now.  Hoping this one doesn't turn into an ear infection too, but if sleeping doesn't improve by next week, another doctor's visit may be in order.

7 months flew by.  Before we know it we'll be celebrating a birthday.  Love that sweet baby.  

1/2 a year old!

Sierra went in for her 6 month well baby visit today.  Wow, how she's chunked up in the last month.  When she went in for her ear infection just a month ago she hadn't even crossed the 15 pound mark.  Now she weighs in at 16 lbs 8 oz!  She's also supposedly 27 inches long (putting her in the 85th percentile for height, which I have a hard time believing).  I guess adding solid foods packed on the pounds.  She's actually not eating a ton of solid food, probably a 1/4 of a cup a day or less, but she definitely was ready.  We started at about 5 1/2 months because she was desperate to eat everything we were eating.  So far she will eat rice cereal, applesauce, avocado, and sweet potatoes or any combo of them.  She likes to sing while she eats, making "nom, nom, nom, mamamamamama" noises.  It's so adorable.

She's sitting well on her own now, can roll from her tummy back to her back so that makes her modestly mobile.  This means I can't just lay her down in the living room anymore and leave since she can roll and wiggle her way to things she wants.  The jumperoo and sitting her on the floor are my saviors now (or a big brother who yells for Mommy any time anything goes slightly wrong with Sierra).  If I sit her down she can't gently let herself down to laying, so she'll just sit there.  It's only a matter of time though.  We're almost ready to come up with a new sleeping arrangement.  The co-sleeper mini is almost too short, but Peyton is still using the crib as a daybed and I'm not ready for them to be roommates just yet since she doesn't sleep through the night and probably won't for a long time.  I'm guessing the Pack-n-Play will become her nighttime home here soon (along with our bed because we do still co-sleep once she's woken up at least once at night).

She's got so much personality now with her constant babbling.  You can see the wheels turning in her head as she tries to figure stuff out.  She's sweet and cuddly at times and extremely squirmy and independent at other times.  I hope that is an indication of her personality down the road.  She had her first Christmas.  Santa brought her her first baby doll and she got a couple of books and a tea and cook set.  Obviously she can't use them yet, but she likes to chew on them.  That's all she wanted to do Christmas morning too, eat the packaging.

We are making an appointment with the ophthalmologist after her well baby visit today, just to check to make sure everything is right with her eyes.  Since birth one eyelid had drooped more than the other and it hasn't resolved.  Hopefully this is just a visit to put our minds at ease that nothing is wrong.  Better to be safe than sorry.  Developmentally and weight wise she is doing so well we hope that is indicative of nothing major being wrong.

Overall we are looking forward to the next 6 months of her growing as a person.  I look at her and her brother and can't believe how quickly time flies and how soon we won't have babies anymore, just kids.  As I think about that I squeeze her a little tighter, kiss her sweet chubby cheeks some more, play with her tiny baby feet and blow raspberries on her tummy.