Charlotte: 7 months

Big girl doing big girl things

Height and Weight:  I would guess she is probably about 20 lbs now.  I think her growth has slowed down, although she is still a nicely rounded little lady.

Clothing size: Same as last month- 6-12 months from Gap and Old Navy, and 9 months from other brands.  Finally she's able to wear all her clothes for more than a month!  She is pretty much wearing Size 4 diapers, although we're able to finish out the box of Size 3's.

Charlotte with mommy

Milestones: Charlotte is an expert crawler now!  She goes wherever she wants, whenever she wants.  Generally, "wherever" is where other people are.  She just goes wherever she hears voices.  Although she is all over the place, it isn't as scary as when her brothers were crawling.  So far, Charlotte hasn't tried to get into the same kind of trouble her brothers were always looking for.

She loves to play with toys, and will play with her brother's blocks and trucks more than she will with the toys geared especially for babies.

playing blocks with her big brothers

As previously mentioned (and shown), she is pulling to stand. I can tell that she's working on walking or cruising, which makes me kind of nervous.  Will she be an early walker? On one hand, I am thrilled that I don't have to worry about her physical development.  On the other hand, I am dreading having 3 fully mobile children.

enjoying a waffle for breakfast

She is eating even more.  She doesn't always get 3 meals a day, but she does like to sit with us at the table and eat.  When the boys are sitting in their chairs, and I start carrying food into the dining room from the kitchen, she crawls to her chair to get ready to join us.  She likes pancakes, toast, oatmeal, yogurt, broccoli, zucchini, pasta, carrots, watermelon, peaches, and blueberries.  Charlotte will snack on crackers or pretzel sticks if the boys are eating them.  So far, she has only rejected a taste of fish.  I haven't tried to give her any meat yet, since she isn't chewing, but she is really mastering gumming food and using her tongue to push food around in her mouth.  I can see her shifting food from the middle of her tongue to the sides to gum it.  I love watching her eat, and it seems she loves eating!

Charlotte has taken to the pool like a fish to water (haha).  With all the hot weather we've had, the pools are nice and warm, and she doesn't complain at all.  She hangs out in a tube, or in my arms, and kicks her feet.  She is generally so calm, and when she accidentally dunked her face in the pool today, she didn't complain at all.

Outings and Adventures: We took our summer trip to Maine.  Charlotte was mostly ok with the car ride, and she did have a great time visiting her memere, pepere, cousins, and great-grandparents.  Other than that, I regret to say that we have spent a lot of time indoors over the past month.  It's been so hot!  We have had play dates with friends, and spent a lot of time at Jane and Ed's pool.  Last weekend, Charlotte got to meet her cousins who live in Massachusetts, but had been in Israel for a year.

Routine/Schedule: Well.  Our nighttime (sleep) is not going well.  She's been waking up 2 times a night, and waking up earlier for the morning.  Not only am I not well-rested, she isn't either.  I find myself getting very frustrated and irritated in the middle of the night, and wanting to not nurse her at all.  Eric and I just discussed starting Ferber to change her sleep habits.  We did Ferber right around this time with the boys and were successful, so I am hoping it works again.  She has very good "sleep habits;" I put her down sleepy but awake for every nap and bedtime, and she very rarely has trouble soothing herself to sleep after she's down.  She's able to take pretty good naps, too.  At this point I think it is just habit- at 20+ lbs, she is not starving and needing to eat 2 or more times in a night, and the wakings and feedings aren't doing any of us any favors.

We still have the same general schedule- she has been taking a morning nap almost every morning, especially because she isn't sleeping at night.  After her nap we do something with her brothers, or run an errand if they're at camp, or she plays with Meema or Sarah (her sitter) if I'm at work.  She then takes a 2nd nap.  She could really use a 3rd nap some nights, but there is so much happening that she never really goes down.

Favorite food: Probably still breast milk.  She does seem to love watermelon, but maybe I'm projecting.

Favorite person: Oh, Charlotte.  She loves everyone.  I think I'm still #1, but she adores her daddy and brothers, and gives them huge grins whenever she sees them.  She just has a big smile for everybody, and is a hit whenever we go out in public.  Benjamin has recently taken an interest in her and wants to hug and kiss her all the time.  It is adorable.  He says, "I love her!" and "I want to hold her in my lap," after which he says, "her not a baby! Her HEAVY!"  What a lucky girl to love and be loved like this.