Mommy Monday: Emilia's 7 Month Update

Hi, I'm 7 months old! ;)

I can't believe this little chicken nugget is 7 months already...where does the time go?!  She's such a big girl!  Here's what's been going on this month.

Height/Weight: I don't know Emilia's height/length but we haven't had to move the level on her exersaucer yet so I'm guessing she's still quite petite.  I did weigh her myself this month and she is 20lbs right on the button!  She definitely feels like a big ol' 20 pounder anyway...it's becoming increasingly difficult to lug her around for long periods of time, ha ha ha!  

Daily: I think I mentioned last month that Emilia was starting to settle into a routine of two naps (mid-morning/early afternoon and late afternoon) a day.  This has become even more apparent this month, especially as her mealtimes are more regular.  She is now eating breakfast, lunch and dinner (albeit TINY amounts) with about 3-4 milk feeds in between.  Her day usually looks like this:

9am - Wake up & play with her toys while I get ready.

10am - Watch Peppa Pig in her exersaucer while I make breakfast.  Eat breakfast with me.

11am - I dress her for the day, then give her a milk feed and maybe a bit of playtime before her nap.

12pm - Nap time

1-2pm - Eat lunch with me, this time varies depending on how long she slept for

3pm - Playtime!  She usually plays on her mat or in her saucer...whichever she prefers.

4pm - Milk feed and a short afternoon nap (if she doesn't have this she gets REALLY cranky in the evening!).

6pm - We start preparing dinner and she usually sits in her highchair to watch.  She loves her Tripp Trapp!

7pm - Eat dinner with us.  She doesn't have the same thing yet but we try to eat together at the dinner table as it encourages her to have more :)  

8pm - I bring her up for her bath and get her ready for bed.  Change her into pyjamas and bring her down for her bed-time feed.

9pm - I usually feed her to sleep on the couch then settle her down.  She normally wakes again right before we go to bed at about 11pm and then goes to bed with us where she "dream feeds" to sleep.

Bedtime: Her bedtime is pretty much the same as last month.  She goes to sleep around 8/9pm but still always wakes up around 11pm for her last feed.  This suits our schedule in the sense that we start going to bed around this time anyway.  The only thing is sometimes the night time "dream feeds" are a bit draining!  I did think that once Emilia started eating more solids they would decrease but that hasn't happened as I think it's more of a comfort thing.  She is still sleeping with us so I suppose that doesn't really help that habit, ahem ;)  But I have to say I don't mind the co-sleeping at all...I find it to be a lovely bonding experience and I know it won't be forever, so I'll make the most of it and enjoy it while this lasts :)

Eating: As I mentioned earlier, Emilia is now eating three meals a day but the portions are still pretty tiny and we are a bit behind on the feeding schedule from Annabel Karmel's book because I decided to take it slower than she recommended.  We are also doing a little of both baby led weaning and purées because Emilia seems to prefer feeding herself rather than being spoonfed.  She LOVES bread, rusks and any kind of carbs really...ha ha ha!  What I have just started doing is sort of spreading her meals on pieces of bread or toast which works surprisingly well at getting her to eat more!  She also really likes those Ella's Kitchen Cheese & Tomato Puffits and is entertained by trying to pick them up for ages...the puppies love them too as the vast majority seem to end up on the floor!

Sizes: We are now in that annoying in-between stage where Emilia fits into somewhere in the middle of 6-9 and 9-12 month clothing!  I haven't swapped her clothes out yet but we're almost at that stage.  Her nappies are now size 4+ and she still uses Pampers.  

Milestones

• First word!  She said "da-da" and more recently has also said what sounds like a mixture between "yes" and "yeah".  She doesn't say these words discriminately though, it's more like she is practising how to make different sounds.
• She hasn't started to crawl yet but she does this funny movement when she's on her tummy like she's trying to do the worm...it's almost like a belly-flop which usually gets her to move direction slightly, ha ha ha!
• Weaning - she has moved from one to three meals a day, as I mentioned before.  It's also nice because now we eat at the table together more as a family instead of in front of the TV which we did when it was just the two of us.
• Assisted standing - now that she has mastered the art of sitting on her own she likes to stand while we hold her or holding onto something else.  We think she enjoys discovering new points of view!
• Moving things from left to right hand - because she is sitting up on her own a lot more now, she can now pass toys over from hand to hand which is very exciting!

That's all I can think of for now.  I hope I haven't missed anything!  Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below :)

Bye-bye! :)