Somehow time has gotten away from us and Elias is 7 months old (and has been for almost a week)!
Our happy boy has had a big month! We took our first long road trip to Maine and got to spend time with lots of family. Eli did really well on the 16-hour drive. He slept most of the time and really wasn’t fussy at all until the last hour on the way home.
We did have one terrible car ride while we were in Maine though. We were driving to Acadia, and Elias was NOT happy. He cried and cried for hooooouuuuuuurrrrsss in the car. But we made it there and had a good time once we were at the top of Cadillac Mountain. And I guess if that’s the only screaming car ride we’ve had so far, we’re doing pretty well.
We also had a bad poopcident while we were in Maine. A lot of you have already heard the story, but all three of us ended up with poop on us at a very inopportune time. When we tell this story to people who don’t have kids, they’re super grossed out by the fact that we had Eli’s poop on us. When we tell it to people with kids, they’re sympathetic that it was so inconvenient to clean up. Having your child’s poop on you just isn’t that gross, for some reason. Of course, I’d rather not have Eli’s poop on me, but it really doesn’t disgust me (like maybe it should?). Maybe that’s one of God’s ways of preserving the human race. If parents were really disgusted by poop, everyone would stop having kids after the first 🙂
Poopsplosions aside, though, we’ve had a really good month with Elias. There are sometimes days when I feel like I’m counting down the minutes til bedtime, but Elias is usually a lot of fun and I’m happy that I get to spend so much time with him.
This month’s updates:
Eating: Elias is doing really well eating real foods! He likes pretty much everything we give him, and he’s especially excited if we give him little pieces of things that we’re eating. He usually nurses 4 times a day and has two “meals” of puréed foods, normally 3-4 ice cubes of fruit or vegetable mixed with oatmeal or rice cereal and water/milk. He’s also digesting real food better now, which makes for a happier tummy and happier baby.
Sleeping: Eli’s still a good sleeper, with the exception of when we’re traveling. Then it’s pretty hit or miss. At home, though, Elias normally goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:30 and sleeps until 6 or 7 the next morning. He’ll still wake up once in the early morning a few times a week, so I’ll just feed him and put him back to bed. Depending on what time he wakes up and how sleepy he is, I can sometimes put him right back to bed after feeding him in the morning and he’ll sometimes sleep for a couple more hours. He normally takes two naps a day, ranging anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours each.
Eli hardly ever cries at bedtime anymore. He still does sometimes at naptimes, but he does really well going to sleep and taking a nap in the crib. When he was really little, he would only nap if I was holding him or sometimes in the swing, and we made a point to break him of that habit. Now that he’s been napping in the crib so well for so many months, I kind of miss being able to hold and snuggle him during naps!
Other developments: Elias isn’t officially crawling yet, but he’s definitely moving! He manages to get to whatever he wants (which is normally something he shouldn’t be getting into–daddy’s toys are just so much more fun than his own!)
He’ll get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth, and occasionally he does a little baby plank. I think he’ll be figuring out how to crawl really soon.
Elias is sitting up really well unassisted, but hasn’t figured out how to get into the position by himself. He’ll lie on his back and strain his muscles and try to sit up, but he hasn’t figured out that he can use his arms to help. He gets frustrated that he can’t do it, but you’ll get it soon, little one!
Elias also had two little teeth (or “teefies,” like I say to him in my weird mom voice) come in this month! They’re the two bottom, middle teeth. I noticed the first one barely breaking through on the first of this month and then the second came just a few days later. He was fussy and had a slight fever as the teeth were coming in, but it wasn’t too bad. So far, he’s bitten me twice while nursing. Those little teeth are sharp! Both times, I’ve told him “no!” and he’s cried.
Elias loves playing with his feet, grabbing them and putting them in his mouth.
I love seeing his little personality develop, and I love his sweet, curious nature. He’s such a fun, goofy boy and we’re constantly laughing at the silly things he does. Elias gives us the sweetest smiles that I wish I could bottle up and keep for when he’s a teenager 🙂
Weight: 19.2 lbs, according to our bathroom scale
Dislikes: getting his nails cut, being put in the car seat, not being able to crawl/sit up
Likes: eating, playing with mommy and daddy, watching people, giving kisses, being tickled, bouncing, getting his teeth brushed
Clothes: 6-9 months, 9 months, some 12 months; size 3 diapers
