Baby Love

     Simon turned 7 months old 10 days ago and my babymoon stage with him is still going strong. He is at that fun age when he has really started to interact tons and is picking up new tricks and sounds daily and he just lights up with smiles and wiggles the second he makes eye contact with you. We go to the YMCA almost every day for an hour or two and he is known there as “the happy baby” and all of the women at the daycare just swoon over him and his many charms. They also never want to give him back and tell me that he is the most perpetually happy and smiley baby they have in there. I won’t ever stop being grateful that both Addie and Simon have had such similar, easy-going baby dispositions, it makes the monotony of being a stay at home mom much easier to face every day.
       My particular new favorite trick is how he blows baby raspberries with his tongue, they are so funny and cute. He just exudes happiness and I can’t help but be cheerful in his presence. Here are some quick examples of what I’m talking about.

     So here’s what this baby has been up to! He has been sitting up really well totally unassisted for about 6 weeks now. He loves the view from up higher and really enjoys playing with his hanging toys while sitting.

He’s been working really hard on crawling since january and is SO close! He rocks back and forth constantly and gets pretty ticked when he winds up falling on his face.

He learned how to army crawl about 10 days ago, so between that and his amazing rolling skills, he can get pretty much anywhere he wants to go now.

This kid LOVES to growl back and forth with me, it is hilarious. He's trying to grab the camera here, but his is a great example of his growling prowess:

     He also really loves to stand up. He can balance himself while in front of the couch for minutes at a time and he gets pretty giddy at the prospect of being so big. I hardly need him running around and making my life crazy though, so I’m not even considering trying to help him learn how to walk. We’ll hold off on that for as long as possible for sure!

Oh, and if you haven’t noticed… he has his first two teeth! These guys just burst right through about 3 weeks ago. He went from all gums to 2 full-fledged teeth in under a week, it was crazy! He hasn’t been fussy from the teething, just a bit more drooly and chewy is all.

      I guess that for my records, I need to get some quick stats in: He turned 7 months old 10 days ago and is 19 pounds and 28 inches long. He eats between 32-37 oz of milk a day and has a stage 2 baby food at dinner time. He really loves his baby food and snarfs the whole thing down in no time at all. I’m sure he’d be happy to have 4 baby foods a day, but I just don’t take the time to feed it to him that often, since milk is what’s the most beneficial for him at this point in time anyway. He is a very good sleeper and takes 2-3 big naps during the day and sleeps 12-14 hours straight every night. We rarely have to do anything more than just toss him in his crib when he’s showing his tired cues and he just plays a bit then drifts off to sleep.
     He did have a pretty nasty double ear infection 2 weeks ago that was rather disconcerting because his tubes should be preventing such severe infections from happening, but I think that ear troubles are just going to be in our future with him. We will face each one as it comes and do our best to do whatever we can to figure out a long-term solution if at all possible.
    But aside from ear problems, everything is super shiny fantastic in Simonville. I am definitely bursting with mommy love for this sweet baby pretty much all day long. I can’t get enough hugs and tickles and kisses in to satisfy me. I hate so much that these days are so fleeting and he’s changing so fast. I am doing all I can to love and appreciate every moment of my sweet, happy baby. Here’s a link to the rest of the videos I uploaded to our computer, for the grandparent and sibling types that like to see all of the action.