7 month update

 Her repertoire of funny faces just keeps growing. She'll make a little chirp here and give a side way smirk there. Of course her trademark is still that little tongue smile and her rock-on(!) finger sucking.

This month was marked by Edie's little skin fiesco (Oh eczema!), sleep ups and downs, and being able to stay up longer, MUCH longer (yay I love this!).

Size
Weight: 13.5 lbs (She was weighted last week but this was just before an epic poo, hehe!)
If we don't have a checkup at the doctor's, I take Edie to a breastfeeding drop-off center where there's a baby scale. It's walking distance from our house so we go there sometimes. There's a simple growth stats/chart pinned above the scale, and it says that breastfed babies should gain about half a pound per month after they turn 6 months, so Edie is growing like an average baby, or so that chart says. There are so many growth charts out there; the WHO chart, the Asian chart, the exclusively breastfed chart. All I know is she's lightweight but looks alert and healthy.

Schedule
At seven months, Edie can stay up around two hours between her naps, and around three hours before her bedtime. She is much more predictable, which makes life for me a lot easier. It used to be wake up - improvise, improvise - set bedtime, but now there's a rough template for the day. She usually take two long naps in the day, and I'll hop on the bus or take a long walk in the carrier to get a third cat nap if she needs it. I'm loving this schedule because we can hang out, see the world, and still be able to get some good naps in.

7am: Wake up, nurse, change, play, eat solids, walk
9am: First nap (1.5hrs - 2hrs)
1pm: Second nap (1 - 2hrs)
3/4pm: Third nap if the first two were super short
6:30pm: Asleep
Sometime while mom is asleep: Nurse


Eczema
We never figured out what the big source of her eczema was, but probably a combination of her body's reaction to the introduction of solids, teething (low fevers), the heat and humidity. At any rate, it is under control now and we don't see the octopus dance (how Edie scratches her arms) too often. I put Vaseline on her face every time she wakes up and fragrance-free Glysomed (it's a hand cream) on her body every other wake cycle. Steroid cream for her little elbows every infrequently.


Sleep
haha I really look forward to the day when sleep isn't such a preoccupation in our lives. It'll probably happen when Edie is a pre-teen and then she starts to stay up super late and I'll get stressed out with how little she sleeps. There were a rough few weeks when eczema and turning was affecting sleep, but we're now back to status quo, so one to two feeds in the middle of the night. Pretty sure she's not hungry but I think it's fair that she needs some comforting in the midst of teething and itchy skin (or the sudden drop in temperature the other night).

Now that she's older, Edie seems to be more flexible about nap times. If a nap is pushed back a bit, say up to 40min, or missed, she's still able to catch up with a one hour nap later on. When she was younger, it seemed like the window to put her down was really narrow and if it was missed she just couldn't sleep. But one thing that hasn't changed is how much Edie needs a familiar environment to sleep. We had two out of town weddings this summer, and for the first one she did super well and slept till we got back while grandma and auntie babysat. The second time around, she wouldn't go to bed and was getting hysterical so we left the wedding early. But when she is asleep in her own crib, she sleeps through everything, including a smoke detector alarm that went on for five minutes. As I type this, Kel and buddy are watching Captain America and it is LOUD!


Milestones
Two lower front teeth are popping out. Some more drooling but she swallows most of it. We have our challenges (hunger strike, boo) but for the most part it's not too bad. It does feel weird when I'm nursing though. She bit me a handful of times, and when I say "NO" and pull her away, she gives me a mischievous smile.

 As an experiment, I gave her something to bite when she woke up from a nap, to see if that would take the edge off so she would nurse. Half the time it made her more cranky.


She sits steadily on her own and has started to pivot on her tummy. She taps but only with her right hand. She can roll on both sides but still gets stuck on her tummy at night if she's too tired (haha I find this too funny). Not a fan of tummy time still but I make her do it, just to get the poo poo going, haha!

 Content to be parked in between pillows.


 She doesn't like tummy time because she thinks she needs to lift all her limbs off the ground.


I think she sings. When I sing her sleep songs she babbles in a different way. She does the same thing when we watch her favourite music videos. We usually watch Macy Gray's Beauty In The World (FIFA Ford Models version) and The Elephant Show outro on a daily rotation.

Solids is going well but she totally loses interest when I feed her in her booster chair. If I hold her in my lap I have more success, she eats quickly and happily if someone other than mom or dad feeds her. She's still on purees, and will drink water from a spoon only (no bottles or sippy cups).

 She's obsessed with the booster seat belt. Of course it's only because she likes the texture of it in her mouth.


 She used to open wide and be so excited about eating, but now she's not as interested. Is she sick of purees already? Nooooo...



Edie's Favourites
4. Chew toys. Haha that makes her sound like a dog! Favourite items include: the tags on her plush soccer ball, stainless steel spoons, wood spatula, cups, her toes, my hair. She gnaws on her silicone teether rings but isn't crazy about them.

 Who wants to play with the ball when you can eat the tags?


 She used to drink water pretty well out of a cup, but now she just wants to bite on it and water gets everywhere but into her mouth.

3. She loves shadows. When we go for walks, she won't even notice the cars and people passing by if she sees our shadow walking along.

2. The great outdoors. My sister says Edie is a true Canadian cuz she loves being outside. Memorized by leaves and flowers, Edie breathes a sigh of awe when the wind blows on her face. I love watching her take the natural world in.

1. Top love at the moment, PEOPLE! Specifically people who stop to come talk and smile with her. When we go anywhere with a shopping cart, she'll be slumped over (mom is boring), but as soon as someone approaches to say hi, she perks up so fast she'll bang the back of her head against the seat. A million watt smile is always sure to follow. Of course, seeing daddy is still exciting news around here. Even if Kel is fast asleep, when Edie sees his face, she just beams. Sometimes she squeals and raises both arms up like she's doing a "Y" when people play with her.


 You can't really top a picnic at the park with dad. Unless of course, you can pull off some grass and eat it.



 7 month old Edith. I could look at this face all day. Oh wait, I do!

P.S. Why do these monthly updates get harder and harder to write??? I'm so tempted to skip them but I know when I look back I'll regret not jotting things down. My remembery is a slippery thing (-_-')