7 Months Old

Graeme turned 7 months old Saturday!  He is getting so big! And seriously such a cutie. This past month has been a busy one.  Steven and I graduated from LSU with our MLIS degrees this past Friday.  So excited to have that chapter finished and move forward in our careers now.  We've also been having lots of fun introducing new things to Graeme.

He's tried lots of new foods now - banana, sweet potato, avocado, carrots, mango, peas, and pears.  I think that's everything so far.  He was not a fan of carrots and seems a bit on the fence about mango.  Otherwise, he likes everything. Avocados are definitely his favorite!  We've been making most of his purees ourselves, so that's been kind of a fun thing to experiment with.  He loves to take the spoon when he's eating, which generally results in lots of mess because he likes to bang it on his highchair or fling it up and down.  Steven and I have also both experienced food being sneezed all over us haha.  We quickly learned not to get dressed for work until after Graeme has been fed.

Yummy sweet potato!

Graeme also had his first swimming experience.  A neighbor who moved away was nice enough to let us come over and swim in their pool with them and their kids.  Graeme really enjoyed it! He just loves the water.  He even took a 2 hour nap in his crib after swimming.  Definitely good for him.  Too bad we don't have a pool for him!

What do you mean I can't lick the pool water? I like to lick everything now!

Speaking of naps, he's doing better with them.  We've been successful at putting him down in his crib for his naps now, which is a huge help because it gives us a little time to get things done around the house.  I say a little time, because unfortunately he still isn't taking long naps.  If it's an hour or more, we're doing good.  Usually, naps are about 45 minutes.  Sunday's naps were all 45 minutes or less. Ah well, any progress is good right?  Night time sleep is also a work in progress.  He's pretty consistent with 2x a night wakings right now.  In general, he wakes up because he's hungry. We've attempted to get him to eat more during the daytime, but he isn't having it.  We really miss that period of time when he slept until 2 AM. I don't remember when it was, but I remember that it happened...long ago...

Graeme is moving more and more.  He loves to roll now, which is great...except when trying to change his diaper.  Funny story on that actually.  I was trying to change a lovely poopy diaper when Graeme decided to roll over, drag his foot through the poop on the diaper I was in the process of removing, then attempted to crawl across the changing table and drag his poop-covered foot across it.  Washing machines were excellent inventions.  He's still trying to crawl in some kind of snowplow manner.  He puts his forehead down on the ground and tries to push himself along with his legs.  He can't go too far yet, but he's working really hard.  He still gets frustrated that he can't move more.  He wants to follow the dogs, follow us, reach toys, etc. He also likes to try to turn the pages of books when we read to him.  He's much more interactive with his toys as well.  He wants everything to make noises. And everything has to go in the mouth too.

He LOVES being outside.  Unfortunately, Louisiana summers are crazy hot.  He starts sweating after a couple minutes out there.  He is not happy to be stuck inside most of the day.  As soon as we take him outside, he makes happy noises.  I've tried to get creative to find ways to keep him cool outside.  We've done a wet beach towel to lay on, a little baby bathtub of cool water, and holding the hose and letting him splash his hands in it.  He thought the hose was pretty funny, especially when the dogs joined him in playing with the water.  We can't wait until it cools off a bit so he can be outside more and we can enjoy some nice walks together.

Graeme's personality is coming out more and more.  He makes some of the funniest facial expressions sometimes.  He's also smiling and laughing more.  Sometimes he gets excited over the silliest things, like our coffee mugs.  Seriously, he loves them. Not sure why. But when we are drinking a cup of coffee, he gets so excited and reaches for the mug.  He also reaches for our plates, bowls, etc. if he sits at the table with us.  This little guy can't wait until he can have real food!  He's also good at letting us know when he's happy and when he's not.  Right now, he's not happy if he is stuck in one place too long.  This involves carrying and moving him a lot, which has been a great workout.  He's getting heavy!

We also seem to have started the teething process.  Graeme's a drool king right now.  And he spits all the time hahaha.  I call it the "Daffy Duck" speak.  It looks like there may be a tooth coming in on the top, but it's hard to tell.  He does not like it when we try to look in his mouth.

As far as clothes go, he's still fitting in his 6 month and 6/9 month onesies and 3 month shorts/pants.  We've moved up to 6 month t-shirts and are about to make the transition to size 3 diapers.  Of course, his preference is no clothes at all.  He would also like no diapers at all, but that only happens outside and at bath time.  After a bath, he is a happy baby until it's time to put his diaper on.

Seriously...those EYES!

Up next is Graeme's geneticist appointment this Friday. It will be our first time seeing the geneticist since he was diagnosed at 7 weeks, so we're looking forward to meeting with her again and getting her opinion on his progress. I'll try to remember to post an update after the appointment.