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7 Months Old!!

Another month has gone by and our little squirt is now 7 MONTHS OLD!! This past month, like the other months, seems to have gone by so fast until we stop and think about all that has happened and how much Hunter has grown. All it takes is a quick tour of the collection of pictures taken in the last 30 days and the realization that none of his size 6 month clothes fit him anymore...

Some highlights from the last month are that we endured an insane amount of snow and Hunter's worst illness to date (see "blizzard of boogies" entry). Luckily, the illness didn't last as long as the snow, which is still in piles throughout the neighborhood. His greatest development of the last month has undoubtedly been in the "talking" department. Hunter has really taken to babbling, and his vocabulary has expanded from just grunts and giggles to a variety of consonant sounds. That is not to say that he doesn't still grunt and squawk like a bird on a daily basis though.

The other area (not surprisingly) that he has shown a lot of growth is in foods! We have been steadily pushing the boundaries of Hunter's palate, and we have yet to find a food that he will refuse to eat. Hunter has tasted most of what the fruit and vegetable world has to offer, and we're now moving on to exotic things like yogurt and pasta. He is also now able to feed himself small pieces of cereal from his tray at dinner. He has also quickly grasped how to drink from a cup (not a sippy cup) a real cup! We're both a little surprised that we still have not seen any sign of teeth in his mouth, but imagine that they will start poking through soon enough.

Hunter sits up unassisted, rocks on his butt back and forth, quickly grasps items large and small, transfers them from hand to hand, and is currently perfecting his pincer grasp. He is also learning object permanence, so it's not as easy as it once was to hide something from Hunter that we don't want him playing with...now he goes looking for it.

Hunter has not yet reached full mobility. While he has shown promise for crawling over the last month, he still hasn't quite put the motions together. We think he certainly has the strength, he may just need someone his own size to show him how to do it. Some people have suggested recently that he is just going to skip crawling and start walking soon... we will soon see!!!

Most importantly, the past month has just been another genuinely amazing month of parenthood. The thing we are starting to notice with our son is that whatever age he is at the moment is clearly the best age a kid can be. It certainly can't get any better than 7 months old right??? It's such a perfect age... he's so cute... so loving... so full of energy and fun to watch... he's sleeping through the night... has such a great laugh... We'll let you know next month, but our guess is that we'll think the same thing about him being 8 months old.

Up next... Hunter's first trip to Vermont where he will get to watch Shaun White tear up the half pipe at the U.S. Open, and hopefully some warmer weather at home here in Maryland so that we can work in some more outside playtime...

Mother & Son Duet

Where's Hunter?

What did you say??

New skills keep coming at a rapid rate!! Hunter started babbling few days ago and it seems he has a lot to say; he goes pretty much nonstop! Whatever he is trying to convey must be very important because he concentrates pretty hard to get it across properly...

My Little Valentine

What a lucky girl I am to have 2 Valentines this year!!

Toys! Toys! I LOVE TOYS!

A Blizzard of Boogies

We have seen more snow this year in Maryland than we thought possible. We had 2 back to back blizzards this past week with over 3 feet of snow, then continued to get a bit more snow a few days later to pile on top of it. Seemed like every time we were able to dig out, we got more snow and had to start over again! Jack the Cat, of course, was not happy about the changes to his kingdom.

While we were stuck inside getting cabin fever, Hunter got a fever of his own accompanied by a bad cough and lots of boogies! In fact, he was so sick we didn't even feel comfortable taking him out to play in the snow. After a week of being sick, he is back to his happy self again, but he still has a bit of a cough and congestion. We are hoping it goes away completely soon!

Determination

Hunter is the poster child for "Determination" when something he wants is just out of his grasp. For this reason alone, I think he will soon be crawling.

6 Months Old!!

Hunter turned 6 months old yesterday and today was his check-up with Dr. D! Once again he didn't shed a tear when receiving any of the 3 shots given in his thighs. He weighed in at a hefty 19 lbs 5 ozs (79th percentile) and is 28.5 inches long (96th percentile).

Hunter is now sitting up on his own and even pulling himself into a standing position with limited assistance. When placed on his belly, he squirms wiggles and rolls all around the floor trying to get to where he wants to go. Dr. D said it is time to baby proof the house because he will likely be crawling soon. This will come as no surprise, but I will mention that he continues to gobble down all meals. The bad part is that they aren't exiting as quickly as they are consumed. OH NO! We had a long discussion with the doctor about constipation and what to do about it...fun, fun! Hopefully his digestive system will start acclimating better to all these new foods, so we don't have to go too far down those avenues!

Hunter is so much fun to play with now! He is very aware of everything in his environment and squeals and giggles when things amuse him. We just love every minute of it! He has learned how to tell us (his minions) which toys he wants to play with and which he does not...usually through a series of grunts, reaching arms, squeals or whines. He is starting to really get into a groove with his Jumperoo these days, too! He works himself around to all the activities and plays with each. He loves to "run" in it, bouncing as he goes. The other day, I could have swore he was dancing to the music we had on while in there! It was pretty funny!

Hard to believe that just over 6 months ago this little guy wasn't in the world yet...how did we ever live without him??

Here are our favorite pics from this past month...