Maeve, 7 months

Paul came home from work today and said "Happy Birthday Maeve!!!" I have no clue what the date is or even what grass and trees look like. Alas, our little girl is over half way to her journey toward the old age of 1.

At 7 months, Maeve is 18 lbs. She is growing hair at a much quicker pace, but still remains primarily without hair. She is toothless but slimy and drooly and chomps on everything. Her gums are so strong they HURT. She is very oral in many ways. She loves the taggie blankets, Sophie the giraffe, and is pretty much content with anything she can put in her mouth.

Maeve is eating a lot of different foods these days and hasn't shown any real aversion to any of them. She is very much in love with applesauce and for Christmas she was given a lot of home made applesauce to enjoy. We just started baby puffs this week and she loves them already.

Maeve is changing her sleep patterns as well. She is able to stretch her awake time to 2 hours or so and can go much longer stretches without getting cranky. We are watching her switch to a morning, afternoon, and evening nap like Noah did, but she often needs more naps than that. Ever since she had the respiratory virus she has not gotten completely back to her night sleep, but slowly we are pushing her back. She has this habit of eating at 3 or 4 and sleeping until 10 and then waking again at 6. It isn't a great habit, but it just seems easier when we are trying to eat and get Noah to bed. We need to get her back to dinner time and then morning.

Developmentally, Maeve is sitting very well and plays with toys while sitting. She has great small motor skills and pulls everything and everyone to her mouth. She is rolling and pushing with her back legs. Sometimes I wonder what she would try if we had carpet, but she doesn't have a lot of room for traction. She can move herself around a lot and lunge toward what she wants.

Her personality is still evolving. She is much calmer and happier than her newborn days, but she is still quite finicky. She is either beaming with the widest smile ever or madder than the devil that you wiped her nose.

Every moment is so bittersweet because it could be the last time that I do any of these things! When she rolls around and stands up and eats her toes... I want to cherish every second of it.