7 Month Sassafras Stella

On January 1st, Stella turned 7 months old!!!!! I cannot believe she's on the upward side of one year old. She currently:

• sleeps from 7-7...yes, we are in love. Sometimes this varies from 8-6 or 8-8...it all depends on when she goes down. But overall, this girl is sleeping soundly through the night
• has transitioned from nursing to formula - no judging, peeps...it was just the right TIME...we are happy with our decision and are happy that SHE is happy - the main goal, right?!
• hasn't rolled over yet, but sits up by herself most times (for a few strong seconds, at least) and still masters tummy time for about 5 minutes before she goes bananas
• LOVES chatting...she's now saying "mamamama" occasionally, but it's usually in mid-cry, so I don't know how I feel about that. She loves saying "dadadada" and "babababababa" and "gagagagaga" and "aaaaaaaaa"...of COURSE she said "dadadada" first, but what can I say...he is pretty cute to look at. Also, right now she is SQUEALING in delight in her crib...I mean SQUEALING! She gets really loud and surprises herself by how loud she gets, and then does it again because it sounds so cool. It's hilarious to watch and listen to, especially when she doesn't know you are lurking:)
• She's just discovered her feet and grabs them every chance she gets. I am hoping this will strengthen her core so she can start rolling over, then scooting and maybe even crawling. I try not to compare, but I know other babies are crawling at her age and I don't want her to be too far behind. The doctor said it is not a concern that she hasn't rolled over yet, because she isn't skipping any other milestones. She said it's probably because she has no desire to move yet...and I know exactly why. Why struggle for the toy across the room or try to reach the puppies when they will just come to me if I wait long enough? Can we say lazy bones?! At least it's precious at this age! I'll be the first to admit that I'd like to keep her a baby as long as possible...I can still lay her in a position and pretty much bank on the fact that she'll be there after I run to get that cup of coffee I left in the kitchen. Don't worry, folks, I've already had nightmares that she's rolled under the couch or out the front door, so I'm never far away.
• She is getting BIGGER every day, and by BIGGER, I mean she's one fat cookie.

This girlfriend weighed 16lbs 15oz on December 1st and when we went to get the second round of her flu shot  (btw, peeps, GET the flu vaccination for your babies age 6mo+...having a tiny one with the flu is not fun...ask my cousin who had to nurse and sick 10mo old back to good health with NO medication...little ones are too small for Tamiflu and the like) on January 8th she weighed over 19lbs!!!!! My girl is clearly not being starved, even though I just realized that babies between the ages of 5 and 9 months should be eating 7-8oz of formula. Oopsies...Stella's been on 5ish ounces of formula...but let me explain. We just switched to formula after nursing for 7 months and I may or may not have read how many ounces she needed before I just started giving her a 5oz bottle. (Interject great reason for nursing...you never have to measure ANYTHING, thus mistakes like how much to feed your baby are not an issue)

The good thing is, this girl has been growing FINE with her mini bottles and baby food...speaking of baby food, let's see all the things Stella likes to eat!

• rice cereal
• oatmeal cereal
• both cereals mixed with bananas
• both cereals mixed with apples
• peas
• carrots
• sweet potatoes
• green beans
• squash

She's got such a sophisticated palate already! She LOVES her breakfast cereal with apples and cinnamon! Now, the sippy cup is another story...she isn't really a fan, so I've resorted to giving her the occasional bottle of juice....gasp....I know...it's not something I plan on continuing, but the poor thing gets dehydrated with only 4 bottles a day and only a few drops of juice from the sippy cup. For those of you who know what happens when babies don't get enough fluids, its enough to break your heart. Matt and I had to "assist" our sweet girl one night during an intense BM (hey, I never said this blog was PG) so I'd like to avoid ever having to do that again.

In other, more appealing news, I think we may have found another house! We signed the contract on a big ole subdivision house (something we never thought we'd do) and will hopefully close in less than a month. It is fascinating how much your housing specs change once you have a baby. SPACE is a huge factor...as is safe location...not to mention a home that is either on a slab foundation or has sub flooring...the house we are in right now has no sub-flooring and let me tell ya....even Matt is wearing slippers around our house for fear of getting frost bite on his toes! So maybe in a month or so, we'll be moving! Fingers crossed!!!