Garrett: Seven Months!

Height/Weight: Bigger. Longer. Faster. Stronger. (Or something like that. No official stats this month)

Wearing: Pretty much all 6-9 month clothing and size three diapers

Eating: Around the clock. He typically nurses three to four times a day (although these feedings are usually mediocre at best--hello, distractions everywhere), plus two meals of solids (usually lunch and dinner), and then is up at least twice a night to eat some more. We're trying to wean him off the night feedings though, because as you can clearly see from the picture, homeboy isn't exactly hurting for calories and Momma could use a little more sleep (and trust me--the fact that he is only up twice is already an improvement. See below). Solids started off a little rough, but once we realized he didn't like the rice cereal we were using (he might just be a picky child, this one), it's gone better. Most of the time.

Sleeping: What is this sleep thing you speak of and how do I get me some of it? Seriously though, I think we spent the majority of this month is some sort of sleep-deprived fog. Between adjusting to the introduction of solids, cutting his first tooth, and being right on the cusp of learning how to crawl, Garrett wasn't exactly interested in sleeping for a solid week or two. Darrell and I had nights where one of us was out of bed nearly every hour to tend to him in one way or another--after spending a solid thirty minutes getting him to sleep in the first place. Thankfully, things seem to be improving (although let's be honest--they couldn't have gotten much worse), so here's hoping that upswing continues. And we're starting to settle into a nap routine as well, which I think helps. He usually ends up piecing together 45 minutes worth of a nap between when he wakes up and noon (I say piecing together because most days it ends up happening in shifts as we are driving to one place or another in the morning--and yes, sometimes we take the "long" route to our destination to prolong his nap), and then he's started taking a longer nap in the afternoon (which usually overlaps partially with William's nap--yay!). Sometimes we have a hard time getting him all the way to bedtime without a third nap, but if he naps any time after 430 or so, he refuses to go to sleep at his normal bedtime (around eight). But even this little bit of consistency is a huge improvement from where we were, so I'll take it.

Likes: Moving. Moving. Moving. Cuddling rarely happens with this child because he loves to be in motion. And even though he's only recently mastered sitting up and army crawling, his new favorite thing is to be standing--and to have Mommy and Daddy help him walk around. Super great for our backs. From a seated position he can pull himself up some of the time--he works on this skill Every.Night. in the bathtub (insert sarcastic excitement here). He is also part-monkey (although technically aren't we all?); he loves using his feet to hold and play with toys when he is lying on his back. I've legitimately watched him pick up a toy using his feet--it's actually pretty impressive.

Dislikes: Not being able to move. It's a wonder we have issues with the whole "lying still and going to sleep" thing. He still gets pretty upset when Mommy leaves the room, although now that he can move around a little that has gotten better. And I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before, but the stubbornness gene is strong in this one--he will scream at you if you take a toy away from him (regardless of whether or not he should have had the "toy" in the first place), and he pretty strongly resists being told what to do. If he decides he is ready to get up and have you walk him around the room, he'll let you know. And if you try to get him to sit back down before he is done, he will lock his knees and refuse to sit. Don't even get me started on some of the mealtime battles this has caused.

Firsts: Most of this stuff has been documented already, but for the sake of having it all in one place:
First time riding in the bike stroller with William (pushing only, not behind the bike)
First camping trip
First time making Mommy and Daddy have to use the gate
First tastes of solid food--rice cereal, sweet potato, avocado, peas, butternut squash, pears, yellow squash. Aside from disliking the first brand of rice cereal we used, he's pretty much eaten all of the foods pretty well. All except for yellow squash. No amount of trickery or Tom Foolery would get him to eat that.