7 Months Old

So month number seven is here! I thought that by month seven I'd had a nice little system down for getting monthly birthday posts like this done, but I don't.  Welcome to motherhood...always changing, always learning. Compared to month one, there seem to be even more pictures, even more stories, and even more things to share about.  So let's get this going.  As you'll soon see from the many photos that follow in this post, Avery's little personality sure has been coming out this month as she's become more vocal and mobile!

Happy seven months to me!
Here's a month-by-month look at her growth...would you look at that tiny little one month old!

Here's some more highlights from the photo session this month:

Going for a stand up pose.

She always has lots to say.

Those two little pearly whites at the bottom are showing
more and more each month.

Happy smiles for who? You guessed it...Daddy!

Okay, I got a few smiles too.

One of her many faces.
Checking out the pictures on the frame I made her
back in this post.

Now onto her stats for this month: 29 inches and 20lbs. Now if you are a loyal follower of my monthly Avery posts you might wonder why this is the same if not less (by height) than last month and that's because I think I've been doing it wrong.  I think I've been stretching her feet out long and measuring all the way to her toes, instead of just to the bottom of her heel. So last month I had her at 30 inches and this month only at 29.  I doubt she's shrinking, but I can't remember where I measured to last month on her feet, heels or toes? Boy this motherhood stuff sure scrambles your brain a bit time to time. ( :  Anyways, to start doing it right from now on, I'm going with the bottom of the heel (as I did with this month) and we'll see where that gets us this next month.

Now although her stats don't quite reflect it this month, Avery sure has been growing.  I did an update to a post I did several months back called, "Body After Birth" where I chronicalled what changes my body underwent from the day I gave birth to 6 weeks postpartum.  Well, now I'm back and posting about additional changes that have taken place from 6 weeks to 6 months out. Check out the pic below, I can't believe how much Avery's grown! Click here to see the update to this post.

Now time to see what we've been up to over the past month.  Towards the end of October, I thought it would be fun to re-create a photo op from our past.  Five years ago to the date, Brandon and I got engaged during a picnic at one of our favorite local lakes.  Granted, this time around things didn't quite go according to plan since it was probably 20 degrees cooler than it was five years ago, brr.. we ate our food fast!  Also, trying to coordinate the timer on my camera with a baby involved was one tricky task! Somehow we made it work and we'll have some funny memories to think back in five more years.

October 28, 2011...with Avery on board now!

5 years earlier...just minutes after we got engaged!
My hair looks quite a bit different right? Oh yes, I used to be very blonde and tan, but when I started phasing out some toxic products out of my beauty routnie, full-hair dye jobs and fake tans were out.  Wah wah wah.  Altough I miss my old look from time to time, I feel like my natural look is well... just more like ME!  ( : Added bonus, my eyebrows actually match my hair color now. 
Smiling with my ring!

Now smiling with my girl.
My food has changed a little bit since then too...
Now it's gluten-free, vegan Rice Noodles and Marinara sauce
from Noodles & Comany, like I blogged
about back in this post.

Before it was a turkey sandwich from Subway with a fruit cup,
Sunchips, and fat free ranch dressing. 

Our company has changed too.  Someone wants some noodles.

Still a pretty sunset though.

Another fun thing we did this month was to get all dressed up (we are pretty casual people if you can't tell) and go to a friend of our family's wedding...Avery included.

Always happy in Daddy's arms.


Baby-Led Solids Update: Solid foods for Avery continue this month with the baby-led weaning/solids approach I blogged about last month and we are all loving it.  I can't imagine giving her solid foods any other way (baby food, spoon-fed, etc.). This method is so stress free, prep free, and fun! Okay it is a bit messy, but I bet spoon-fed babies get a bit messy too...they're babies, what do you expect!  She seems to really be learning a lot too and her little fingers are getting much stronger and more coordinated.  Where last month she was just exploring the food ("Hmmm a banana, that's a cool toy.") this month she has more motivation to get the food and put it in her mouth ("Banana, you're mine!").
"I'm super excited for solid foods guys!"
Now as I mentioned last month, with the baby-led solids approach, the solid food does not take the place of breast milk, I continue to nurse Avery whenever she wants, but instead I provide her with opportunities to explore and eat the solid foods.  In fact sometimes I swear she nurses more now that she has solid food (at least at night) than she did before!

On another fun note, her poop has started to change as well.  It seems like as her coordination improved and more food actually made it into her mouth, that when the consistency of her poop changed.  Sorry if this TMI for you, but some mamas might appreciate it.  Gone are the days of sweet smelling, liquid BMs from breast milk, now we've got thicker, slightly more pungent bowel movements with little bits of food, which baby-led solid books all say is perfectly fine and to be expected.  Now is the time that I am super grateful for the cloth diapering service I mentioned in this post!

Alright, enough rambling and talk of poop, let's get to the fun food pictures so you can see what Avery's been eating these days...

My "Chocolate Ice Cream Smoothies" are always a big hit.

A homemade veggie burger.

Broccoli is her favorite!

Baby-led solids is so easy! I just give her a small portion
of what we're eating, make sure it's cooled off, and
we're good to go.  Here was a spaghetti dinner one night.


Green smoothie and mango, yum!

A Mexican meal one night: grilled veggies with rice and
cilantro...a few fresh green peppers too.

She loves just holding onto the bigger pieces
 of food while eating (like the green pepper here).


Tofu is another new favorite!

Her Keekaroo high chair rocks! I love being able to
push it right up to the table.

Blowing raspberries, a favorite thing this month.

I think someone likes dinner time now.


I always make sure and give her a drink of water after the meal
so all the food gets washed down. She usually tries to
hold the glass herself or play with the water.

Here's her tiny little glass that I found with
vases at Wal-Mart. Kind of looks like
a wide shot glass- lol.

Crawling: Now although I eluded to some crawling skills in the past few months, Avery is officially crawling! This type of crawling is much different than the "crawling" I've seen in the past because this is the kind of crawling where I will leave her on the ground, walk away for a few seconds, and come back to her completely across the room.  Wow! It's like once she figured out that she could crawl when she wanted to and where she wanted to, she was gone.  Lately, she seems to be most happy when she's crawling or climbing, and I don't blame her, I'd love the independence too! Here is some of her crawling and climbing from earlier in the month:


Once she mastered crawling, all she wanted to do was climb
on things and balance on them.

And as you can expect there have been some falls...

Always loves crawling towards the light.


Anything shiny is always is fun...don't worry we were close
by near this fireplace.

Love that spunk.

Aside from trying to stand and hold onto different objects,
she also likes to reach for what's closest and grab a hold
of it...in this case it was Grandma's legs!

When crawling around our house,
she's a magnet for the dog's water
bowl.  Look at her, mesmerized!

Another favorite place crawl, the hallway
from her room to our room.  Here she is
getting ready to go.

On her way!

"Mom, you watching?"

"How about now, still watching?"

Nursing foot stool? Yep, gonna try and stand on it.

"Let's see, I'm standing and holding on
to the shelf, but I think I'll reach for the
book on the floor."

The wheels are turning...check out what my sneaky little girl is up to now: undoing the Velcro on her cloth diapers!
All put together.

Oh no, here comes the hand.

Starting to pull.

Almost got it.

Bam! It's off!
My favorite part? Her sneaky face
while doing it...as if nothing is going
on! ( ;
Now for a few extra fun ones of my girl and I on my grandparent's porch swing.



Although sometimes things get busy, hard, complicated and crazy,
nothing quite compares to the joy of being a mom.
See you all at next month as we prepare to celebrate the holiday season..."Avery Style!"