Max - 7 months

Look at this growing boy!  Such a big fat baby!

He's actually been sick a couple of times lately so I don't think he's quite as big and fat as he was on track to be...at 7 months, he weighs 19 pounds, 9.5 ounces.

A few weeks ago he seemed to have a cold that was giving him (and us!) some trouble sleeping and one night he was having trouble catching his breath so Daddy took him to the doctor in the morning - he had croup!  He seemed to recover quickly from that only to catch a stomach virus that had him throwing up for about three days!  He was sweet enough to share that one with his big sister but luckily Dave and I were spared.  And though his hung around for a few days, Lucy's was (literally) out of her system within a few hours.

Despite his ailments, he's a pretty happy dude.  He is pretty friendly, too, and smiles easily.

He's still giving us a hard time at night - he continues to wake frequently - sometimes to eat, sometimes not...it's so frustrating but then he's so good and so happy during the day so it's hard to stay mad at him...we'd just love to know what we're doing wrong so we could fix it and get some sleep of our own!

We start him out in his own room in his own bed but most nights he ends up in this little lamb infant seat.  Maybe because it puts him at an incline or maybe because it snuggles him, he seems to sleep a little better in it.  Then again, maybe it's just because by that time, he's pretty exhausted, too...

No matter the reason, he's got to get over it because he's quickly outgrowing this seat!

Note to Max: this is where you should be sleeping - all nigh long!!

He's gotten really good at sitting up and loves doing so...he sits and plays so well - he loves sitting with toys and can keep himself amused pretty well for pretty long.  He still likes tummy time and has been moving around quite a bit - he can rotate on his belly in a circle and seems to be scooting around a bit - particularly backward.  He's super close to crawling - he just hasn't quite figured out how to lift that belly up!  Lucy never was much of a crawler - she figured out how to pull herself up and cruised around the furniture and then learned how to stand then walk on her own and never was too interested in crawling.  I have a feeling Maxyboy will be doing a lot of crawling, though...

He definitely loves being in his high chair, probably because he knows he's going to get fed!  He loves his cereal (especially when mixed with fruit - we rarely give it to him "plain" anymore) and has loved all of the fruits and veggies he's tried so far.  He got some puffs from Aunt Terri for Halloween and recently tried those - BIG fan!  He can't get enough of those little snacks - he had it mastered pretty quickly, reaching down and picking them up and sending them straight to his mouth.  He still usually has at least one or two trapped in his fist at the end of mealtime, though!

Super Baby Guy!

 

He hasn't done it much yet, but he's learned to clap!



This guy is a rolling fool!

He has one new, not-so-cool trick - he's recently decided not to drink milk from a bottle. 
Suddenly he won't even let the bottle make contact with his mouth!  He turns his head back and forth and starts crying...at first, I thought maybe it was just because he was sick, or maybe because of the breast milk / formula combination...but he got well and I tried breast milk only and he still wouldn't drink from the bottle.  I already use a wider bottle / nipple to make the bottle experience more like nursing...plus, he's been just fine with bottle feeding for 6 months!  He's one tricky baby!  He's refused the bottle from several people - Dad, multiple grandparents and both sitters, so it's nothing against any one person...and since we're in the middle of me being off for two weeks, I think it will probably be even harder for the sitters to get him to take a bottle once he's finally away from me all day again...we started offering him a sippy cup so maybe he's just ready to make that transition with a little more practice...

But all in all, we love this little guy and can't imagine our little family without him!