Cinco de Ruthie Month 7

How is it that my sweet baby is closer to turning one than she is to being a newborn?? Time is going too fast! Here are a few things about month 7 (I figure at this point it goes without saying, but again this is my favorite month).

Things she loves:
-Papa!! Big Time.
-Chloe
-the jumperoo
-rolling EVERYWHERE
-the saucey and jumperoo
-Her stuffed giraffe, aka Raffie
-Cloth books with thick pages, baby's bible friends are her favorite right now (thanks Jacki!)
-Blowing bubbles. This stopped the entire month until about 5 days ago, now it is hilarious to her (and us)
-To eat real food! She chows down.
-Still a thrill seeker and loves her stomach dropping or being thrown in the air
-Favorite game is Where's Ruthie (or Mommy, or Daddy, or anyone)
-Loves her Paci.
-Loves the baby in the mirror
-The washing machine/dryer. She loves to watch the clothes go around and around.
-Still loves bathtime, and I think will graduate to the big tub just as soon as I can get a mat for it.
-Being in her high chair. I just bought her a fisher price space saver high chair and we love it. It doesn't take up any additional room and I think its going to be great to have her at the dinner table with us. Joel and I are really excited to be able to eat dinner together again!
-She loves water. She's getting better holding a sippy cup, but for now I just give it to her empty. She loves drinking out of a water bottle or the cup I'm drinking out of.

Nicknames: Ruthie Lou Hou, Little Lou, Ruthie-stiltskins (courtesy of Noni)

Size:
I'm guessing she's right around 15.5 lbs, based on our 'accurate' measurements.
She's fitting into 6 month clothes, but the length is getting short! I've started buying 9 month clothes just because of the length, even though they are really wide on her now.

Nighttime sleep: She's doing great. We've learned that Ruthie really likes her own bed and is not a fan of nighttime sleeping in pack n plays or anything that isn't her bed (which makes for really long nights away from home). The strange thing is she naps fine in them, just at night? Oh well. I'm very thankful she will sleep in her bed. She's sleeping now from about 8pm-4:30 am, then back down until 7am.

Naps: For the most part naps are pretty much the same, she sleeps from about 8am-10am, 11:30am-1pm, 2:30pm-4pm.

Eating: We're still on a three hour nursing schedule, which I'm going to try to move to a 4 hour schedule probably after the holidays. She is eating solid foods three times a day. Solid foods she's had are: yogurt, carrots, green beans, applesauce, sweet potatoes, avocado, bananas, cheerios, puffs. She has Loved every one of them, especially green beans which I thought was hilarious. She is doing great picking up cheerios/puffs and loves to eat them. Her dexterity improved about 100% at the end of this month and it happened in about 3 days.

Mobility: Oh man, she is hours from crawling. She rocks like crazy, lunges forward and can definitely get from point a to point b. Especially with motivation, like the remote, Papa's watch, or my phone. She still rolls a lot but I think she'll be crawling any minute.
She is also getting close to being able to go from sitting to a crawling position without face planting. She's accomplished a lot this month!

This months Firsts:
-Her first Thanksgiving which we got to spend with all of Ruthie's Aunts/Uncles and cousins! Gigi had bought her the CUTEST outfit complete with fur boots. I LOVE IT! It was a perfect Thanksgiving day surprise :-). As you can see, she was really proud of her new kicks.
-Her first Christmas tree lighting
-First time in the high chair
-Her first month without a bald spot! There are still no clips going in her hair, but its coming in steadily!
-Her first Christmas photo shoot, here are a few we didn't use!-Separation anxiety has started a little bit. There are times where she only wants to be held by me, and if I leave the room (no matter who is in there), she falls to pieces. I have to admit, I don't want her to be upset when I leave, but I think its really sweet that she wants me. Its really not the best when she does it to Joel, then its sad!

Other: I'd like to ask for a moment of silence for the miracle blanket.


Thats right, we've said goodbye to it! We felt like now was the right time and it has gone surprisingly well. She stayed swaddled until the end of this month and last week we stopped using it. Its a bit tricky as she wants to be rocking on her hands and knees a lot, but other than that, she's doing great. I also put back up the bumper pads in her crib. She was running her head into the slats which had to hurt. Now that she can move on her own I feel like it is less dangerous. Do most of you keep your bumpers in?

She is also doing better in the car, we still have our moments but about 50% of the time she might sleep (about a 49% increase).

Thats about it! I sure love this baby!