7 Months!

Dear Henry,

   You are the sweetest baby! We just love you to pieces and there are lots of pieces to love. You are covered in rolls and are so squishy. Mama loves a chunky baby and there is a lot of chunk to you.

You are wearing size 3 diapers during the day and size 4 at night. That extra size at night keeps the sheet changing to a minimum and keeps you a little more comfortable. You nurse every four hours and demand complete silence. Not one sound or movement can occur while you are eating. If it's loud than you just wait until later to eat. That might be a sign of your stubbornness but you are perfectly content sometimes waiting 6 or 7 hours to eat. You will take a bottle but it is certainly not your preference. Our college sitters cannot get you to do it and neither can Daddy. Karen, your favorite sitter, is a grandmother and she is able to convince you to take it. You eat lots of fruit but your favorite seems to be peaches. They sure smell delicious. Evie still encourages you to eat prunes on a daily basis because she wants some too. Your constipation is finally improved! It only took 10 weeks and four doctors to figure out a way to help you. Keep up the good work, Henry!

Sometimes I feel like a pharmacist dispensing medicine to you all day for all your various ailments - reflux, constipation, teething and now you have a double ear infection. We keep our pediatrician busy!

None of this makes you cranky during the day but it does impact your sleeping at night. Mommy has a major incentive to get you back on track: sleep!  I am not too worried there is plenty of time for sleep. You go to sleep around 7 and wake up for the day about 7. You still wake up once, twice, twenty two times a night.  Only kidding, it has been pretty rough the past few nights because you have not been feeling well. Sometimes, you fall asleep when I am putting you to bed and I just rock you and cuddle you because you are literally growing before my eyes. You are not swaddled to sleep anymore! I just waited until you were ready and you barely even noticed.

It seems like just yesterday that we brought you home from the hospital but it has been seven whole months. You have such a gentle, happy personality. People make you smile and you have not met a stranger - yet! This is all new to me because Evie did not like strangers even looking at her until recently.  You do whatever you can to get anyones attention. You are content to play by yourself or with Evie. She puts on little shows for you that entertain you quite nicely. You love things with wheels even baby strollers. You like blocks, paper and plastic spoons.

Evie continues to adore you! She has a new hugging game that basically involves tackling you and it seems to be your favorite too. Evie always has your best interest at heart. She keeps everyone in line - "Be careful with Henry. Both hands, Mama. Him's little. Don't forget Henry. Read him a book too" It's just so much sweeter than I could have ever imagined watching you form a special bond with Evie. She tells people "that MY brother" whenever anyone gets a little too close to you. Evie did feed you a leaf this month but she was so sorry and felt terrible about it. Perhaps, the way I felt, when I fed Uncle Ben a Hi Ho Cherry O when I was a little girl.

You sit up all the time and you are beginning to move. Daddy says that we cannot leave you unattended anymore because you end up in some crazy predicaments. He got out of the shower to find you playing in the cords to the hairdryer. YIKES. Life is about to change for us when you become mobile. Evie gives you a fair amount of reprimands already for "tasting" her toys. She's really going to be surprised when you can literally crawl after her and her toys. You are beginning to pull up a little bit too and it's so fun to watch you exploring your environment. Everything is just as exciting seeing you do it as when we watched Evie learn new things.

You will always be our special boy and we are so proud to be your parents. I have a feeling this next month is going have some major changes. Can't wait to see what happens!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy