lucky number seven.

i wish i had more time to blog, i really do. then my posts would be shorter and easier to swallow. but i guess i am doing this a lot more for myself and my own records rather than for everyone else. sometimes i read
really great blogs with tons of followers and admittedly get a little jealous. but most of the time i barely have time to write my own updates much less worry about attracting readers. maybe this will change. maybe i can actually start using this blog as practice for the freelance writing career i one day hope to have. maybe.

on a brighter note, i just got to read all of story's updates and must say mama kayla is a blogger i envy. her posts are always well-written and timely. and after spending an afternoon with a very busy little story, i have no idea how mama has the time to write such wonderful blogs. story is one on-the-go girl! (i have no idea how i will manage when jude can crawl and is starting to walk.) it seemed as though jude really dug ms.story's vivaciousness though. as always, he played the quiet observer, but he managed to procure his first kiss, and subsequent slap for said kiss. it was probably the cutest thing i've ever seen... :)

now about my seven month old. yes, i said SEVEN. i am in disbelief. with all this mothering i have been doing, it appears as
though the half way mark has come and gone (half way to one year, at least). my sweet baby boy is now an almost talker, almost crawler, bathtub swimmer, everything investigator. he has been making da-da-da sounds as well as other vowel-consenant combinations with increasing enthusiam. he is starting to understand "daddy" and almost always looks to zach and smiles. he knows when i am feeding him and i say "bite bite?" to sit up and open his mouth. he will show you his tongue if you stick yours out at him, and this has actually gone from his tongue barely peeping out of his mouth to a full-fledged gene simmons impression. very funny. he still does the ever-endearing fake cough as a means of communication also. on the whole, he is really becoming quite the little verbal thing. except around strangers or when people are paying too much attention to him. ignore him, however, and he jabbers away.

also, he is getting closer to crawling everday. tonight, for instance, I coerced him forward about six feet on the hardwood floor. of course i had to tempt him with his two favorite things: mommy's textbook and a water bottle. but either way he scooted, pulled, and flopped himself forward until i stopped moving them away from him and let him have them. i was very impressed. he is also sitting up very well on his own. he can catch himself when tipping over and sometimes lunges forward or to the side into crawling position.

aside from these milestones, his eating skills are getting both better and worse. he opens his mouth and swallows perfectly but gets increasingly distracted at mealtimes. i also decided to cut back his portion sizes this past week. he had been showing such interest in solids that i decided to indulge his appetite and took some advice i had read that said to basically feed him as much as he will eat. now i understood this to mean that if he finishes his breakfast/ dinner and still acts hungry to feed him another ounce of fruit or veggies. well, he would eat about 2-3oz of cereal and fruit at breakfast, then about a quarter of a banana in his mesh feeder for lunch, and finally another couple of ounces of cereal mixed with veggies/fruit at dinner. so like 6-8oz a day. it would have been fine but he had stopped nursing as much. i always tried to nurse before a feeding, but it was getting to the point where he wouldn't nurse but would readily eat his solids. so i called the doctor and they advised me to cut him back down on the solids and see
how that helped. now he eats about 2oz of cereal/fruit at breakfast and 2oz of fruits/veggies at dinner. and he nurses like a champ once again.

and now that it is past midnight i am going to cuddle with my
little co-sleeper and get some rest. goodnight.


all you need is love. <3