7 months old

    Brody turned 7 months old on March 26th. He is now officially sitting up well on his own. He is no longer a "supported sitter" as it says on baby foods. haha. He is not crawling yet but he is rolling everywhere. He is a  pretty fast roller. If I turn my back for a minute he will have rolled all the way across the room. He is also scooting. He pulls his knees under his chest and scoots.  Brody is a big diver. He will be sitting and will all the sudden dive face first on the ground trying to go or trying to grab a toy.
    He has his two bottom teeth, and his two top teeth have started to come in. This month he has been teething more than ever! I have noticed he has been in a lot more pain from his teeth. I have been using lots of Oragel, Motrin, and cold teethers.  As a result of his teeth he can chew harder foods better such as puffs. I started giving him puffs when he was 6 months old.He was sort of interested at first, but now he is obsessed with them! I have to ration out the puffs where I give him a few puffs, and then several bites of baby food etc. If he had it his way he would just eat puffs! He also has started picking up the puffs and feeding himself!  That was a huge step! He is pretty impatient with food. Once I feed him a bite he is already grunting for more! He is now eating 7 ounces of baby food at lunch and usually at dinner. For breakfast he usually eats 1 and 1/2 jars, not quite 2. He has quite an appetite. Around 6 months I was having to supplement with formula because he was not getting enough to eat from me nursing him alone. My pediatrician told me to increase how much baby food I was giving him so he would get fuller off the baby food and then not need the formula. This has worked because now the only time I give him formula is if I leave him with Phillip. I started the formula because even when I would pump I was only producing about 4-6 ounces of milk. Brody will drink an 8 ounce bottle in a feeding. Increasing the baby food has helped with this problem, and it is quite a bit cheaper than formula! He is drinking from a sippy cup quite well. I have only given him water so far. He is obsessed with "big" cups. I have let him drink water out of my cup several times and now that's all he wants to do. We are working with him on drinking out of a straw.
       He moves all the time! He will let me hold him, but always will be moving or wanting to do something. I always come prepared to places where I might have to hold him still for a little bit ( ex. church time before I take him to the nursery) I bring puffs, sippy cup, toys, books, etc. anything to keep him preoccupied and not pulling on my hair or earrings as entertainment! He is now to the point where he is curious about everything! He is very aware of his surroundings. He wants to touch and put everything in his mouth!
      He loves toys that make noise, light up, etc. He still likes reading books together. We usually do two at one sitting because he doesn't sit still much longer than that, he is usually ready to go play. I also have to hold on to the book because he wants to chew on it!
     When I am making dinner at the end of the day I have been turning on "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" for Brody. This keeps him preoccupied while sitting in his high chair and keeps him from screaming because he is hungry. It also gives me a chance to put his dinner together. I have been DVRing this show and each episode is 25 minutes which is perfect.
    Brody has now found his voice officially! He talks all the time! When he is in the car with his toys he will be chattering away. In the mornings when he wakes up I always hear him talking. I always wonder what is going through his head when he is talking. His favorite thing about his voice is he has figured out that he likes to scream! Not because he is angry or upset, but out of excitement and he enjoys hearing the scream! It's actually pretty funny.. well when we are in places where it is ok to scream... which rarely happens because he usually screams in the most inappropriate situations.
   I love that his personality is really starting to shine through. He doesn't meet a stranger. He really likes everyone that he meets as long as they pay him attention, make faces, and will talk to him. He will stare at people out in public until they look at him and then if they start talking to him, he will chatter away! He doesn't have much loyalty to me or Phillip! As long as there is someone there to play with him and talk to him he is ok. When I take him to the daycare at the gym he seems to really enjoy himself. He will watch me leave over the shoulder of the person who has him and then he becomes preoccupied with the toys in the childcare area. There are four people there that are regulars that have started to recognize Brody since we go several times a week. That has been nice and it makes me feel comfortable to leave him there. At Brody's 6 month appt. he weighed 18 lbs. so I imagine now he weighs around 20 give or take a few lbs. He is wearing size 6 month clothes, 9 month PJ's, and size 2 shoes. Some shoes he has started wearing a 3.

    Happy 7 month old birthday Brody! We love you and are looking forward to what next month has in store for us!