Seven Months.

Seven whole months. And what an exciting seventh month it has been! Here is an update on Charlotte:

• Charlotte definitely went through a growth spurt. She is 18 pounds 6 ounces and 28 1/2 inches long (that's the 98th percentile for her height!). We have had to retire most of her 6 month clothes, except for a few pairs of pants which are now being worn as capris. 
• Due to her height, we will be graduating her from the infant carseat to a convertible carseat as soon as I can decide which one to get.
• In case you missed my last post, she is now mobile. She is crawling and already trying to pull herself up on a few things here and there. We have had to start baby proofing the house with outlet covers. Next on our list are corner guards for our coffee table so that she doesn't pull herself up and hit the corner.
• Now that she is mobile, Charlotte has taken her love for the animals to a whole new level. She goes after them when they are close, especially Romeo.
• She is developing even more syllables and talks up a storm. All. The. Time.
• She is really taking to solids. She loves her oatmeal. As for veggies, she is picky. She HATES avocado with a passion. She tolerates green beans, peas, and carrots. She loves sweet potatoes. Fruits are a hit so far. She loves pears and mangos.
• Charlotte experienced horrible teething symptoms. I ended up taking her to the doctor one weekend because of a runny nose and vomiting, which ended up all just being due to teething. However, she has yet to cut any teeth. I am hoping she cuts her bottom teeth soon as her gums are so sensitive she shakes from pain when chewing on things.
• She loves FaceTiming with her cousin, Penelope. She will pout when we hang up and just stare at the iPad.
• She sits like a big girl when we go out for dinner or run errands (i.e., in the high chair or in the shopping cart).
• Lately she will go to bed great, wake up for several hours, then sleep through the night. It's sometimes a pain that she is awake for a few hours after initially going to sleep, but I don't mind it when she then sleeps for 7 or 8 hours. And she normally has a reason for waking up for a few hours such as not feeling well or needing to poop (yuck!).
• When in her pack'n'play (where she sleeps) or in her exersaucer she will reach up for us when she wants us to pick her up. It just melts my heart!
• She is picking up on the idea of "kisses". If we give her a bunch of kisses, she will then open her mouth wide and just put it on our cheeks. It's a slobbery "kiss", but it makes us smile!
• We are working on sign language with Charlotte. Right now we are only working on "milk". She will do it most of the time if we ask her if she wants some milk right before I nurse her. She will also do it by herself when she is getting tired - my theory is that she knows I nurse her before naps and bedtime, so she wants milk when she gets tired. I plan to work on "more" next when giving her dinner.

An update on our seventh month as parents:

• Bryan and I are protective over different things when it comes to Charlotte (which is not a bad thing). He is really concerned when the dogs lick her so much. I freak out when I think she might be developing hives from trying a new food (this hasn't happened, but I have so many food allergies that I worry she will too).
• I am weirded out when people I don't know touch her. I mean, I get weirded out when people I don't know try to touch me - so touching my infant is a whole new level of that.

Seven month picture update (and there are a lot to share):

She has started holding things in her mouth so she can still use her hands.

Twenty-six weeks.

Twenty-seven weeks.

Twenty-eight weeks.

Twenty-nine weeks.

Thirty weeks.

This is how it went trying to get her picture on the floor.

And this is how it went trying to get her picture in the chair.

Seven months.

Crawling.

Well, we have a mobile baby on our hands. Charlotte has started crawling. She still prefers to roll around or scoot, but she can definitely crawl when she wants to. She is still getting the hang of it, but she is fast when she gets going. I wasn't able to get her first time on camera as she just started crawling after Romeo one day. However, I got a video later in the day. She also learned to get into the sitting position by herself the same day and I did get that on camera as I was recording her hoping she was going to crawl (the first video).

Disclaimer: We were catching up on The Real World in the first video - so the background noise may be a little inappropriate, but don't worry Charlotte was NOT paying attention and we turned it off shortly after.

Crawling is exhausting.

First Easter.

Even though Charlotte won't remember her first Easter, we wanted to make it special. We dyed Easter eggs, which is a big deal because I am allergic to eggs and Bryan doesn't eat them - so I made hard boiled eggs solely for the purpose of dying them. She had an Easter basket, which three Easter bunnies contributed to (myself, my mom, and Bryan's mom). She wore her Easter onesie I made. And we even took her to the park for the first time (total success!). I also made Bryan and myself a small Easter dinner. We are trying to start our own family traditions, so I thought it would be nice.

We took over 100 photos on Easter, so it is hard to pick my favorites. But here they are - be prepared for picture overload:

Just hanging out while we dye eggs.

"Are you sure about that, mom?"

Easter morning smiles.

The teething toys were by far her favorite thing the Easter bunny brought.

She wasn't sure about the swing at first, but she ended up loving it.