. . . Liam lately (7 months)

Wow. My baby boy is seven months old and is changing every day. My friends were right when they said how different kids get at this stage. He is doing and learning so much on a daily basis and it is so amazing! I love how interactive he is, "talking" with us, playing with toys, and looking to us to see if we are watching him or if we see what he sees -- absolutely precious!

We had his check-up this week (along with a vaccination -- yuck), and Liam's 7 month stats are:

weight: 19 lbs. 10 oz. (8.9 kg)
length: 27.5 in. (70 cm)
head: 17.7 in.  (45 cm)

Liam has moved into 9 month clothes (or size 74 for us here in the NL), so every time I put something on him that doesn't fit we're retiring it to the bottom drawer . . . so now it's time to put all that stuff away! While I was pregnant we were lucky enough to receive SO many clothes from our generous friends and family. I even had one classroom parent who brought me five big boxes of her son's clothes -- it was overwhelming how sweet everyone was. We are now getting to the point where we have some clothes in each new size he grows into, but not a ton. So that means I get to shop guilt-free for new clothes for him! Before Liam was born I always thought girls had it easy because there are so many cute girly clothes out there . . . but now I'm finding that boy clothes are super cute too! I'm having so much fun mixing and matching his outfits, adding layers, choosing the right color undershirt -- haha! My mom says I treat him like I'm dressing a doll, but I say why not have fun with it now because in a few years there's no way he'll let me dress him! : ) Liam has also grown into size 3 diapers, and I think we'll be here for a little while (hopefully!).

Liam is still doing really well with his solid foods. So far he has eaten:

rice cereal
banana
avocado
sweet potato
Greek yogurt
pear
butternut squash
apple
peas
oatmeal
egg yolk

He also moved from one to two to three meals a day! He still nurses four to five times a day, and eats his meals after nursing around 9 am, 1 pm, and 6 pm. Right now he eats oatmeal for breakfast (sometimes with some banana smashed in it), and his lunch and dinner are a couple veggies with some fruit and yogurt for "dessert." He's up to about 12-16 tablespoons of food at lunch and dinner (which is about 3/4 of a cup to a cup of food per meal). He likes mostly everything except for peas, but I think that has more to do with consistency rather than taste. And boy when he gets his dessert he loves it! Apples, pears, bananas -- basically anything sweet -- with yogurt is like heaven to him! Even if he seems full, when he gets that first bite of fruit he opens big for another bite! : )

His sleeping his getting better and better -- he sleeps most of the night, sometimes waking once or twice, sometimes not at all. Right now we are letting him go to sleep late and wake up late so that his schedule while we're in the States isn't totally screwed up. But when we get back from our trip I will start moving his bedtime back to an earlier time. He is also napping longer, which is nice. He normally takes a long hour to two hour nap in the afternoon, with two other 45 minute naps in the morning and evening.

Liam is on the verge of crawling -- he definitely wiggles and moves around to whatever he wants, and lately when he wakes up he will turn himself completely around so that he is facing the door and can see us when we come in. One morning I looked at the monitor and saw his feet instead of his head! Liam can push himself backwards and wiggle himself forwards to get his paci or a toy or anything else he wants. I have begun distracting him with stuff animals while changing his diaper so that he isn't constantly trying to flip over on the changing pad -- no one wants poop flying everywhere, especially Mama!

Liam is having a lot more fun doing play dates with friends and being around other kids. He is really interested in other people his size! He still loves to Skype with family and friends, look in the mirror at his reflection, and pet Murphy every chance he gets. I'm so in love with my little boy and am amazed by how much he grows and changes on a daily basis. I love you Liam!

~Mom