We have been so busy in your 7th and 8th months that I am writing to you about the last two months! I can't believe how fast time is going and how much you are growing and changing. At your 6 month appointment, you were 25 inches and 14 pounds 13 ounces. We won't get your next measurements until your 9 month appointment! You have been rolling over front to back and back to front non stop! You love to laugh and smile and play. You love to be held and walked around and shown things and want to be with Mommy and Daddy all the time! You now eat " at breakfast, lunch, and dinner" and before bed. You have rice or oatmeal cereal with fruit (bananas, apples, pears, peaches, or prunes) in it every morning for breakfast. Sometimes you have a second serving of fruit for lunch. At dinner, you have a fruit mixed in with a vegetable. The only vegetables that you and your tummy seem to be going for right now are sweet potatoes or carrots, but we will keep trying to give you more variety as you get bigger. I tried to let you try a jar of baby food chicken but you didn't like it! So we are going to pass on baby food jar meats and soon I will try to research how to puree "real" food for you. But for now I love to spoon feed you your fruits and veggies. You pretty much take two naps a day, one around 10am and one around 2pm in your swing, car seat or stroller, and then you sleep pretty good overnight in your crib,You have 1 little bottom tooth that just started to appear this past week and the one next to it looks like it is on the way. Teething has made it a little hard for you to sleep some nights, but a little Tylenol or Motrin seems to really help. I've been making you frozen strawberry or banana pops using these little mesh bags and you like to chomp and suck on those! You also started getting physical therapy for a weak neck muscle called torticollis at our house. Basically, you were stuck in the same position in my belly when you got big and almost ready to come out, which made you favor tilting your head one way, causing the left side of your neck to be not as strong as the left side. The first two weeks, your PT Miss Mary came twice a week, but you are doing so well that now she only comes once a week. Even though you have only had 5 sessions, she already thinks you will "graduate" soon as oppose to needing the 6 months of therapy that you qualified for. Overall, we just stretch and play in PT and you don't seem to mind it at all. In fact, each week we are amazed at the new things you are learning. Like this week you started being able to put little balls in and out of an open toy, which Miss Mary said is really a skill for older babies, who are 10 months! You constantly amaze us at all you can do. Lately, you haven't loved being strapped into your car seat or stroller. I think you feel restricted by your straps and want to be out and about with all of us! Hopefully, you will learn that it's important that you are safe wearing your straps and that we will only confine you when we really have to! Overall, watching you grow, playing with you and loving you has brought me daily joy these past 2 months.
April 2016 : Month 7
On your first April Fool's Day, Daddy and I played jokes on each other. I put a silly picture of Daddy holding a horse and buggy waffle in a bunch of our picture frames and waited all day for him to notice! But he got me back with an electrical tape cockroach on the dishwasher! I am so glad we can laugh together all the time!
A fun day at Peconic Park
A fun day at Heritage Park when we met Daddy for lunch one day!
We also had a lot to celebrate in April. First, your older cousin made his First Holy Communion at Good Shepherd, the church that Mommy and Daddy got married in. We went to the ceremony and dinner afterwards and then the party the next day.
The last major event for April was your baptism! We had the ceremony at St. Isidore's in Riverhead. You looked so beautiful in your Christening gown which was a gift from your Godmother, Aunt Sally. Uncle Eric and Aunt Sally made the perfect Godparents. The ceremony was lovely and you didn't even cry one bit! Afterwards, we came back to our house to have a big party for you! I created a baa-ptism theme and had a lot of little lambs everywhere! I made lamb lollipops as favor and lamb cupcakes too! I am so happy you are part of the Catholic Church officially and I can't wait to teach you all about our faith which is so important to me!
Overall, your 7th month was filled with wonderful celebrations, but honestly Kacey everyday with you is a blessing!
May 2016: Month 8
This month was filled with some fun days filled with playing, snuggles, and fun. You are always so adorable in every day life that I am constantly taking pictures of you. We played in the backyard a lot now that the weather is warming up and you even took a ride on Daddy's tractor!
Here were your seven month pictures! We used some of your favorite characters from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Daddy is always the best at getting you to smile for your monthly photos!
This was my first Mother's Day being a Mommy! (Although I did feel like a Mommy last year when you were in my tummy, but it was the best having you here on the outside to celebrate with me!) On Saturday, we went to baby animal day at the Suffolk County Farm. You loved looking at all the animals. On Sunday, you and Daddy gave me a pancake breakfast and for lunch we went to Joe's Crab-shack. Then Daddy took us to a really fun beach in Orient Point. You both gave me really sweet cards and a rocking chair to sit on with you for our loft. I love being your Mommy, it is the greatest honor of my life. I will always miss Grandma Phyllis on Mother's Day, my Mommy, but you have brought me such happiness on a day that is normally very hard for me.
Here you are eating your first baby cookie!
A major event in May was that Daddy had to travel for work to Massachusetts. We were lucky enough to get to go with him! While he worked, you and I hung out at the hotel and the mall that was connected to it, and then on the last day when Daddy didn't have to work, we went to the Southwick Zoo! It was an amazing zoo and you loved seeing all the animals, and we did too! Other trip highlights included your first ferry rides, swimming in the pool (you loved it and looked totally adorable in your strawberry bathing suit), walking through the Ocean Spray cranberry bog, and visiting Bass Pro Shops (Daddy really wishes we had one in NY!) We can't wait to take more family trips with you and have every experience with you!
The final event in May was Grandpa held his annual Memorial Day BBQ. Unfortunately, teething made you a little cranky when the party first started, but after a little Tylenol, you were your usual self!
