Life with the Leibrocks: 7 months!

It's hard to believe it, but Jan. 9 marked 7 months with our little Brinley Joy. By far this last month has flown by the fastest, with all of the celebrations around Christmas and New Year's. It's amazing just how much you have changed sweet girl!

One of the biggest developments over the past couple of months has been with food. We started you on oatmeal cereal right at 5 months since you seemed to want more than just milk. You were kind of wary at first, but then slowly warmed up to it and began really enjoying it. Mommy then got a bit too excited and rushed ahead with too many new foods too quickly and you weren't so sure about that. So we backed up and stuck to cereal until 6 months. Then right at 6 months, we dropped the cereal and switched to all fruits and veggies. Mommy has made a bunch herself, but we also buy some of the Earth's Best organic ones in the jar. Your favorite food by far is peas, but you also really like sweet potatoes and squash. Carrots and yogurt are okay too. You are not a big fan of the pureed fruit, but we have gotten you to eat a bit of apple sauce on occasion.

A few weeks ago, Mommy was reading up on a technique called baby led weaning, where you give little ones chucks of foods to let them gum. Daddy was a bit nervous about his idea, but we have given you pieces of banana and cucumber to try this way and you loved it! We have compromised though and have used this nifty little net thing that allows us to put chunks of food in it without the risk of choking. It also has a nice handle for you to grip on to. You really like it and gobble up all the food we put in it!

It's really funny, you really don't like any pureed fruit but when we put the exact same fruit into the mesh thing, you gobble it up. I've even had to mix your fruit with peas to get you to eat it pureed. Silly girl!

You really like eating though and smile and talk a lot during meal time. You also kick your feet the whole time and it's really sweet to watch. And of course, you can get super messy. We definitely give you more baths these days.

We are still nursing, but a week before Christmas we began giving you one bottle of formula before bed to help you sleep longer. It has kind of worked. You are pretty across the board on how well you sleep. Most of the time you only wake up once, but sometimes you are still up a couple of times. You did have one glorious night where you slept for 13 hours straight! It was absolute heaven and Mommy and Daddy were so grateful! Top of the agenda this month is sleep training though, so hopefully we will have good results to report when you turn 8 months.

In other big news, you are getting super strong! You are pretty much sitting completely independently now, but can still tip over or fling yourself over, so we don't leave you sitting unattended. Unless you are on our bed. We noticed your sitting starting to improve around 6 months and it's just gotten better and better ever since.

You are also quite the mover and the shaker. You've always been very active, even before you were born, but now that you are stronger and can actually move yourself, you love to! Right at about 6 months you became quite the floor baby, and really liked it when we set you on the floor on a blanket and let you play with toys. Before that, you were not a huge fan of tummy time. Now, at 7 months you are pushing yourself up on all fours, rocking back and forth and giving us a look that is warning us that you are about to take off! Each and every day Daddy and I pray that you won't crawl for a little while longer because we know that once you start going, we are never going to be able to catch you!

You also grab at absolutely everything and put everything in your mouth. You've learned a few lessons in cause and effect as well when you are sitting with Mommy at the computer and manage to grab my water glass. You've gotten a bit wet a few times : )

You are still incredibly smiley and animated. It's awesome to watch you take in new things (like the duckies at the zoo) and giggle at them excitedly. You love to watch people as well and when we take you out and about, you are constantly looking around at everything. And since you're just about the cutest little thing in the world, people love to come over and smile at you.

I'm not quite sure what you weigh these days, or exactly how long you are, but I do know that you are growing! You are wearing 9-12 month clothes already and still in size 3 diapers.

You're still an incredibly "good" baby, and besides some sleeping issues, you are an absolute angel. Always happy, always smiling and always such a joy! We love you to pieces sweet girl and count our blessings everyday, that God gave us you!

We actually don't have tons of pics during this month as most of them were taken over the holidays and posted already. Adding a few though and of course the "official" 7 month pic.