Our life with a 7 month old

Well another month has past and our peanut is now seven months old.  She continues to grow and amaze us more and more everyday.

This month Noell has been working on her crawling skills.  She continues to "scoot/army crawl" across the floor.  She gets up on her hands and knees, rocks back and forth, and then plops back down to scoot.  Also, in preparation to crawling, Noell has mastered some yoga poses such as the plank and downward dog.  She is a strong little lady.  Our little mover scoots herself all over now and is getting quicker.  She enjoys crawling to the hardwood in our dining room and banging her hands on the floor...she likes the sounds it makes.  She also enjoys crawling over to Katie's toy basket and play with her toys instead of her own.  She also found the entertainment center and touches the playstation and the wires to her swing.  We quickly go over and say, "No" and move her to a new spot.  We also purchased a gate for our stairway.  She hasn't made it over there yet, but it would only be a matter of time and we want to be safe!

Working on crawling.

Downward Dog

Baby Plank

As for eating, Noell enjoys trying new foods.  Her main diet is still breastmilk and will be until she is one.  She gets one "meal" a day.  It is usually a mix between rice cereal, breastmilk, and a pureed fruit or vegetable.  Her favorite so far has been sweet potatoes (and prunes--which she needs...poor girl).  I also read an article on baby led weaning which is where you put non pureed food in front of her and she chooses what she wants to eat and how much.  I have tried this with some different foods such as peas, watermelon, crackers, and noodles.  She has gotten better and chomping down with her gums and the swallowing process (less gagging).  Once she finally gets teeth that will help her with some of those foods as well.

Noell has had some fun firsts this month.  She made it up to Lake Wissota on Father's day and got her toes in the sand and the water.  The water was still cold so she wasn't a fan right away.  Noell also went swimming in our little pool that we got for her.  We are hoping to get some swimming in this weekend on our first family vacation to Bayfield, Wisconsin for Kirk and Alex's wedding.

 

Another first for Noell was spending the night away from mommy and daddy.  She stayed with Grandpa Todd and Grandma Rachel while Mike and I went to Milwaukee for the Brewer game.  She did awesome for grandma and gramps and of course they loved having her as well.  My mom and dad were very good about sending picture updates!  The Brewer game was so fun.  We went with our friends, Krista and Heath.  We had Gold parking so we were just a couple rows away from Miller Park and our seats were 16 rows up behind home plate looking down the 3rd base line.  It was finally the first Brewer's game I had been to that the roof was open.  They did have to shut it towards the end of the game...but it was still a beautiful night.  We drove home from Milwaukee that night and right outside of Milwaukee we drove into a storm.  I was in the middle lane and I could barely see anything so I finally made it to the right lane where I had a straight, solid line to follow.  I was going about 20miles per hour.  There was a guy on a motorcycle that passed me...crazy man!!!  Thank the Lord we got through that because it was not fun.

This past Sunday we met my sister-in-law, Erica, and her parents, Mike and Deb, out for supper at the Stout Ale House in Menomonie.  She was home for a week for a friend's wedding, and I'm so excited that it worked out to see and visit with her!  Noell has grown a lot since she saw her last!  Now Noell just cannot wait to meet Uncle Chad (in person).....the time is getting closer!  We have been very fortunate to face time with my brother on Sunday afternoons.  It is great to see him and hear his voice AND know that he is okay!

I am excited to be spending the summer with my little precious girl.  The first week of "vacation" I organized and cleaned some rooms in our house.  Then last week I helped with the little girls volleyball camp...so this week is our first week home together!  Our summer will be short as I accepted the high school C-Team volleyball coach position this year.  So, practices start in mid August and then teacher inservice will start the week after. I am excited to be coaching the girls I coached last year as 8th graders.

There will be a new blog post soon I'm sure!  Have a great end of June and beginning of July!