7 months.

Dear Beck,

You are seven months old and have 6 teeth.  Soon enough you'll have at least 8.  You poor kid. 

It's been a rough month.  Lots of sleepless nights for all of us.  Well, except maybe Lita.  Lots of baby ibuprofen.  You even learned to enjoy the flavor.  That's probably a bad sign.  Rough days too.  I'm hoping that with the eruption of 4 teeth at once, we are now through the worst of it.  But all those lovely parents I know assure me that molars are even more fun.  Something to look forward to.  :) 

Don't worry, we have had some fun times too!

We celebrated Father's Day.  We did end up going to the Chicago Fire game as planned.  It was still pretty warm.  We sat in the shade.  You mostly enjoyed yourself, only got cranky when it was naptime.  You snoozed briefly on dad and then slept in the car on the way home.  It was a late night out for you, but you did good.  And I know your dad had fun. 

You are LOVING your "solid" foods right now.  Again, "solid" is a relative term as you're only eating mush still.  I expect that will start changing now that you have so many teeth in there!  You LOVE yogurt, peaches, pears.  You've also had yellow and acorn squash, sweet potatoes.  Peas made you throw up.  That was fun.  We're slowly adding new flavors and we should really start meats soon too.  We cannot feed you fast enough when it is meal time.  You have also started drinking water at meals.  We tried a sippy cup for awhile, but that did not go over very well.  You are doing much better with a straw.  Although I do think that about 50% of the time you are blowing back just as much as you're taking out.  Silly boy.

Sleep.  Sleep.  Sleep.  Or lack of sleep.  I successfully re-established your bedtime routine.  Most nights you even happily go to bed now.  In your own crib!  And you'll stay there, again, most of the time, until your first night-time feeding.  It is after that feeding where we run into trouble still.  You are still finishing the nights out in our bed.  Most nights, I am okay with and even enjoy that fact!  Some nights though, some nights I just want to get some sleep.  I try to remind myself that soon enough I will miss having you to snuggle with.  Oh and night feedings?  Yes, you're still eating through the night.  Even though we've started solids, you are still wanting your milk about every 4 hours.  Yes, we are still breastfeeding and I'm actually really proud of that fact.  We have had some challenges along the way, including all those new teeth (ouch), but we've made it.  I have no plans to stop at any particular time, from here on out, I am following your lead in that department.  It would be nice to stop the night feedings though...  Just sayin'.  :)

Last month you were quite the babbler, but you have gone a bit quiet this month.  I am assuming that is because your mouth has been busy making all those teeth and your hands (or some other object) are usually crammed up in there.  Yum.  You are also busy rolling around and I think getting quite frustrated that you are not able to move around on your own just yet.  I often find you on your tummy facing the complete opposite direction of where I put you down.  You use your tummy as a pivot point these days.  :)  From your stomach, you are pushing up with your arms and legs, but not at the same time yet.  Soon, soon.  You love standing up while supported too.  And are just starting to sit for short stretches unsupported, but you cannot sit yourself up yet--the trials of that giant head, I'm sure. 

You are changing so much and so quickly.  Sometimes the days crawl by, but the months are flying.  I just cannot believe it. 

We love you, baby.