Isabel Therese is 7 Months!

(Side-note - wrote most of this post a couple months ago, just finally getting to adding the photos!)

Wow, little girl, over halfway to 1 year! At the start of this month, I started a new phase with you and your big sister - I'm home for the summer, and only going back to work in August on a very part-time basis. Yay! I have LOVED staying home with you girls every day, playing and adventuring and back-yard pooling and play-dating. Such fun! It's also fun for me to get into my own daily rhythms with you girls. When I was working every day and just home on the weekends with you two, I didn't really have a daily routine because weekends were always somewhat different. So I have been learning your daily rhythms, and trying to get some consistency in your nap times.

We also started you with solid foods this month! You've done pretty well so far, first up was rice cereal. We also moved you into the nursery with your sister! Well, sort of. We always start you out there in the evening, and then sometimes we end up moving you back into our room early morning if you're being fussy and we don't want to wake Madeline up. And we go back and forth for naps as well, since Madeline is more likely to wake up from your crying during nap time than the middle of the night. One night recently, it was probably 2am and you woke up (wanting to eat, because you are still eating a few times/night, bummer!) and Madeline woke up. She started talking about getting up with us, and I told her to go back to bed; that I was just taking you out for a bit because you were having a hard time. A few minutes later Madeline walked into our bedroom and said, "Mom, I just needed to get out for a bit because I'm having a rough time." Ha! You two make us laugh. 

This month, girl, you have become a mover! You're not crawling yet, but you've reached that phase where you land all over the place via rolling and sliding. I put you down on your play mat one minute, and then I turn around and you're halfway across the room! So needless to say, we've had to be careful what's out on the floor around you. We have also brought out more of Madeline's old baby toys that you can engage now, ones with lots of spinning things and gadgets to grab onto. It's so fun to watch your little mind process how these toys are working, and your eye-hand coordination improving. 

Another sweet thing you've started doing, is grabbing on tightly to me if I bend down to put your paci back in your mouth or something. Sometimes you just know that you want to be held, so you grab on to me and let me know that what you want is me, not some toy I'm trying to give you. Along with that, you've become slightly more difficult to put to sleep. We used to be able to just put you down in your crib, and you'd drift off to sleep. But you do that less easily now, because you are more cognizant of being left alone and just want to be held. 

Another new thing this month - you've started using a Lovie just like your big sister! We weren't really sure if we wanted you to have a paci or a Lovie since you're big sis is so attached to both, but here we are with you now attached to both. You started breaking out of your sleep sack swaddle because you move so much now, which has made it a lot harder for you to fall asleep. So cue the Lovie - which helps a lot. You grab onto the little blue puppy and snuggle with it while you fall asleep. As I recall, that was exactly the situation when we introduced a lovie to Madeline. Parents just do what they have to do sometimes to aid with sleeping!

You're auntie Emily came to visit this month as well, which was so fun! We went to the Farmer's Market, and the River Walk for a picnic, and all sorts of fun.

You sure are loved, sweet girl!