Sophia is Seven Months Old!

Sophia is seven months old today! Her personality is developing more and more these days; we're starting to see more expressions from her and she reacts very strongly when she is left alone -- she wants to be included in everything we do and is insistent that we be within her sight at all times.

Yesterday, I witnessed her laugh out loud at her sister for the first time. While she has been laughing for months now and we can get her to giggle almost on command, this first laugh at Samantha still tickled me. Sam was playing with her while she was still in her high chair and it just made Sophia so happy. (And it made this Momma happy too).

** I don't have any stats on her weight or length this month because we don't go back to the doctor until November (when she turns 9 months old).

** She eats breakfast, lunch and dinner with us, and continues to nurse about 4 times a day (she is very efficient at it and it doesn't take her long to get her fill). When she's ready to nurse and sees me get the boppy, she literally hyperventilates until she gets her milk. I won't begin introducing cow's milk until she turns a year old, so I am treasuring the last few months of nursing her.

** She has a bath before bed every night (it is part of our nighttime routine) and then she goes to bed at about 8 pm. She will typically sleep until 7:30 - 8 am.

** She usually takes a morning nap for about an hour or a little longer. And then she takes an afternoon nap for about the same length of time. I try to time the naps for Sam and Sophia so that they coincide. We have been finding that Sophia also needs a little snooze right after dinner for about a half hour. Without that little rest, she can get irritable really fast.

** Sophia prefers to suck her pointer and middle fingers on her left hand, upside down. She sort-of used a pacifier for the first couple of months, but she has no use for it now -- rather, she LOVES those two fingers.

** Her two bottom teeth are coming in nicely. You can (kind of) see them in the picture below:

** Sophia is close to sitting up on her own, but still hasn't quite mastered it yet. She still topples over to one side every once in a while. I am convinced that she will reach that milestone pretty soon.

All in all, these months are going by too fast for me. While I love watching her grow and change and reach milestones, it doesn't seem possible that the holidays are fast approaching and that her first birthday will follow soon after that. It feels like she has been a part of our family forever, and I love that.