Seven months

Where does the time go? This past month has flown by faster than I care to admit. Between Nick’s birthday, Thanksgiving and preparing for Christmas there has barely been time to breathe. And through it all Ben has been hitting milestone after milestone --- and I’ve been lamenting the fact that my baby is inching closer to becoming a toddler. Now I know how women end up with 10 kids. I want my baby back!

In  the past month this little guy has:

• managed to grow like a weed even though he isn’t eating any more than he was last month. He’s still only drinking six ounces every three hours. We are working on the food, but it has been slow going. He did really well for the first few days but then started rejecting almost everything. After puking up everything he ate one night (I’m pretty sure we had overfed him) we stopped food completely for a few days to let his body readjust. After about a week we reintroduced cereal and are just starting to try vegetables again. He’s still not a huge fan and I’m beginning to think he doesn’t like baby food. Judging by the way he stares at and grabs for my food I’m thinking he wants to skip the pureed stuff altogether.
• stopped sleeping through the night (unless he’s in my bed). He wakes at least two or three times and despite sleeping in my arms he will scream like a banshee as soon as his body touches his mattress. I’ve been too tired to fight it and usually just end up bringing him into bed with me. I’m worried about starting a really bad habit, but I’m still enjoying it for now so I will worry about that later.
• stared to army crawl wherever he wants to go. He still rolls around, but usually once he eyes his prey he will take off in an army crawl for his target. It’s cute as can be watching his little butt poke up in the air but it makes me sad that it is happening so fast. I believe it is a matter of survival of the fittest. He knows that in order to survive our house he has to be able to dodge his brothers and whatever they are throwing his way.
• started getting into everything under the sun. It is impossible to babyproof a house that already has two young kids in it. The boys are always leaving their stuff on the floor and Ben beelines for it as soon as he is free.
• comfortably grown into his hand-me-down 12 month clothes. We will have to see after Christmas how the new stuff fits (it looks SO big).
• not cut any teeth, but continues to drool all. the. time.
• outpaced one of his brother’s on the growth chart (Zander) but has yet to catch the other (Nick). I took him in for an ear check and he weighed about 8 pounds 13 ounces.
• mostly outgrown his swing, though we keep putting him in it, mostly for his own safety. He is also outgrowing the baby tub. And I’m thinking we will need to lower the mattress in his crib sooner rather than later.