Clara at 7 Months

Weight: 20 lbs. 8 oz.

Height: 28.5"

What she can do: Clara can sit up on her own and manipulate and interact with objects.  She has two new bottom teeth and has a host of new expressions as a result.  She likes to feel them with her tongue and lips, which leads to lots of cute nose scrunching.  She sits up in the bathtub and so has graduated from her turtle sponge to a ducky tub.

7 month old cutie.

Showing off her new teeth

What she likes: She likes toys that make noises, sitting, books (they're tasty), attention, riding around on my hip, repeatedly slapping things, scratching things, putting things in her mouth, her bowl and spoon, sweet potatoes, green beans, squash, puffs, trying to drink water (she's not good at it since she doesn't do bottles, but she's very interested), mirrors, staring out the window, and swinging her legs in the highchair.

Drinking water.

Spending some time looking outside.

Sleep: Clara's sleep was NOT GOOD for the first part of the month as she was teething.  She woke up 5-6 times throughout each night.  After her teeth came through she began to wake up less and is now getting up twice to nurse at about 12am and 4am.

This month I put Clara on a nap schedule for the first time.  Previously she had simply adapted to whatever I was doing, taking her naps as she had the chance or sleeping in the car or stroller.  Just after turning six months we had a very rough week through which I realized that she was no longer able to fall asleep under just any conditions and was not volunteering to take naps while at home either.  I also realized that it is very difficult to deal with a tired and cranky baby!  So I watched her for a week to determine what her schedule should be and started her on the following:

7:00-wake up
8:30-10:00-nap.  I put her in her crib.  Our routine is to change her diaper, close her blinds, turn on her fan, and wind up her plush giraffe toy.  It plays a lullaby.
1:00-3:00-nap
5:30-if she's cranky, she goes back to her crib for another little nap.
7:00-bath time/bedtime!


Other information: She is so happy to see me when I come into her room in the morning.  It's the cutest thing!  Those are some enthusiastic smiles.  She has some crazy-looking hair.  It's fine enough to defy gravity, so we get lots of interesting looks.

Watching TV with dad on a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Enjoying having her picture taken.