Dear Chase – Month 7

Dear Chase,

Tomorrow you’ll be 7 months old and I can’t even believe it! It’s time to recap this month, but if you need to catch up first, check out my previous letters:

•  Months 1 & 2
• Month 3
• Month 4
• Month 5
• Month 6

This month was a big one so we have lots to talk about!

It was a month of firsts! You:

• Rode in the grocery cart like a big boy.
• Got your first sippy cup.
• Sat in a high chair.
• Painted your first picture for Mimi & Grandma for mother’s day.
• Survived 4 days home alone with mom while dad was out of town.
• Saw mommy hold another baby- and you didn’t like it.
• Went on an airplane.
• Stayed in a hotel.
• Went to the zoo.
• Met your second cousins!

Lots of exciting adventures!

Eating is going well. You LOVE food. About halfway through the month we dropped your early morning feeding so you currently get 4 (6oz) bottles a day. They’re usually around 9am, 1pm, 5pm and 9:30pm. I feed you Cheerios in the morning while I eat my oatmeal to keep you from sticking your hands in my bowl. Around 12pm you have lunch with daddy when he comes home from work. You tried a bunch of new foods this month. After your six month appointment, we started working our way through some of the 8 major allergens. You’ve tried:

• eggs (scrambled, fried and hard boiled)
• tree nuts (almond butter)
• wheat (pancakes and puffs)
• fish (salmon)

We still have milk, shellfish, soy and peanuts left to try. You’ve also started eating meat. You’ve had chicken thighs and pork tenderloin so far. You’re still loving all your favorite fruits and veggies from previous months as well. Depending on our schedule for the evening, sometimes I’ll give you some more food while we’re eating dinner to keep you busy…other times you’re sleeping while we eat. Around 9pm I give you some oatmeal mixed with scrambled egg and prunes. (You have some issues with pooping regularly so we give you prunes every day).

More big news this month- you’ve been sleeping in your crib at night for about 2 weeks now. I was planning to transition you when we got back from our trip to Minnesota. While we were there, you slept in Mimi and Grandpa’s room and you slept through the night several times so I knew you were ready to drop your early morning feeding. You usually take a good nap in the morning, an average nap in the afternoon, a quick nap in the evening and then fall asleep on the couch around 9:30 or 10. I carry you up to your crib when I go to bed around midnight and you usually sleep until 7:30/8 am.

I wrote a Day In The Life post last week to share a typical day for us, and as soon as I hit publish, you threw things totally out of whack by refusing to nap more than 30 minutes at a time for 4 days straight.

Turns out you were getting your first teeth! One has poked through and the other is close…but not through yet so we’re still struggling with fussiness/not sleeping/etc.

When you’re not teething, you’re generally a pretty happy guy. We took a trip to Minnesota. Mommy had to work for a couple days so you hung out with daddy and Mimi & Grandpa, then we stayed a few extra days so you could meet more friends and family. You did great on both flights. On the way there we gave you a bottle at takeoff and you fell asleep after about 30 minutes and slept until we landed. On the way home you fell asleep about 2 minutes before takeoff and woke up about 30 minutes before we landed so we gave you a bottle on the way down. While we were there you got to meet your second cousins who are a couple years older than you, you got a new snail toy that’s supposed to make you want to crawl and daddy took you swimming. It was a little too cold for you to enjoy swimming and daddy accidentally took his phone along into the pool, so that was a major bummer!

Speaking of crawling, you’re oh so close. You get in the right position but you just don’t like to stay up on your knees. You can still spin and roll your way around in all directions and you’ve started to cover quite a bit of ground, so we ordered you a nice little gated community (aka play pen) that’s supposed to arrive today. Hopefully that will help keep you contained but also give you room to play.

Another big development- you’ve learned how to push yourself up into a sitting position from your stomach. That mean you’re pretty much doing that constantly and it makes it a lot harder to get you to lay down and take a nap! You can sit up on your own but you still tip over occasionally, especially when you’re tired. Unfortunately for mommy, you’ve taken to sitting up in your crib when you wake up early some mornings around 5 am..and then you fall over because you’re tired which results in you smacking your head against the wooden crib and screaming…and then not wanting to go back to sleep for an at least an hour.

You’re wearing mostly 18 month clothes now but can still wear 12-18 month in some brands.

Mommy works from home and you’re always very helpful when you’re awake.

Your Aunt Katie came to visit you for a couple of days and you had lots of fun playing with her.

 

Mommy and daddy did a Memorial Day workout and mommy wore you in the Ergo while she did it. You loved it and smiled the whole time! Then we had a cookout and all your second cousins loved playing with you!

 

You still love the animals but you’re particularly fond of Tucker and Marcus. You smile so big when you see them and you LOVE touching Tucker’s feet.  You also love watching him chase the ball. I can’t wait until you’re big enough to throw it yourself.

It’s amazing how much you change and grow every single month. You’re developing such a spunky personality and you’re always full of smiles. You love making fart noises, smacking your lips together and making noise.

 

Mommy and daddy love you so much!

Love,
Mom