Happy seven months to you, Baby Girl (a little belated)!

You are sitting up all on your own now. It’s so fun to see your little body balancing itself  so that you can play independently. You’ve always been a little doll baby, but now you’re actually DOING so much! It’s crazy to think back to the first few weeks of your life when you were a little loaf of bread who didn’t do much of anything. When our days and nights were spent meeting your needs to eat and sleep. That was it.

Those hands. We think you’re so excited to be holding on to something that you don’t realize it’s your own hands!

You have a contagious laugh that make us want to play with you and hold you all the time. Sometimes it’s the anticipation of a sound or game like “peek-a-boo” that gets your giggles going. You have the ability to make us laugh, too. You recently started to scrunch up your face and sniff really loud. You must remember our first reaction to this new quirk and now you love to do it to make us laugh.

They say big things come in small packages. We think your petite frame contains a world of wonder, love and laughter.

We did quite a bit of traveling this month – to visit grandparents and friends. You’re a hit wherever you go.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a huge fan of headbands. Now that you’re getting a little more hair, though, I decided to try it out. You’re adorable. No matter what. And there are so many amazing headbands out there for babies these days. Time for Mama to get creative and make you some worthy accessories. The one you have on here is a brown ribbon adorned with a crocheted flower made by your great-grandma, Baba.

Everything continues to go into your mouth – your way of discovering the world around you. You’re very curious to know what’s going on – new sounds and sights always make you turn your head. Keep exploring, Analiese…there’s lots to see and do!

We recently started feeding you dinner at the table when we eat. It’s so fun to have a family meal together and you seem to eat even better when the bites are spread out as we eat our own meal, too. One of my favorite parts about this time is when we hold hands to pray. There’s something about Daddy’s prayer that makes you stop whatever you’re doing (usually trying to drink water out of your cup) and smile  - so big! We pray that God continues to bring you true joy…someday, in Him.

Love, Mama and Daddy

P.s. I almost forgot…you have two little teeth starting to show through! We’ve hardly noticed a chance in your behavior because of this new development. We’ve heard it can be a painful process, but so far you’ve been a trooper!

A few of observations:

• The meal was breakfast.
• I think that she thought she was just chewing on another toy, but if you watch her eyes, you’ll see when she realizes this is not just a toy but food!
• Analiese really didn’t know what to do with her tongue. So, she just elected to stick it out. She knows now, and knowing is half the battle.

We have been so busy this month, I almost forgot to write this post. 6 months! One half of a year! We can’t believe you’re this old already. You’ve become so active over the past few weeks. It’s almost hard to keep track of all of your accomplishments, but let’s see what you’ve been up to…

You’re not crawling yet, but you certainly can make your way around a room by rolling all over the place. You are so attentive to whatever is going on around you. Feedings can be easily interrupted by the sound of your Daddy saying goodbye in the morning or Parker shaking his collar around.

You love to play in exersaucers – so many toys and sounds all at once! Your neck, shoulders, arms and legs are becoming so strong! Walks are taken with a big girl stroller and we recently tried out the shopping seat cover for our trips to stores. It’s like a mini couch for you!

You also started sitting up with some support.

You continue to be a mellow, peaceful and happy baby. You’re such a fun shopping buddy for Mama – always so good in the stores, attracting lots of fun attention with your babbling and smiles. A few extra whiny moments have us wondering if you might be teething, but so far there’s no sign of any pearly whites just yet.

It seems like you’re constantly discovering another body part to suck on. Recently, it’s been your toes. We don’t know how you do it, but you manage to get them in your mouth a lot! You’re so flexible!

Although your toes are fun to suck on, your favorite thing to put in your mouth these days is…food! We started you on rice cereal last week and you enjoy it so much! It only took you one or two meals to get the hang of putting your tongue where it needs to be and how to swallow instead of spitting out. Next up…homemade pureed carrots!

You also had your first dip in the lake this month! Your little body in a bathing suit is so cute! You bring us so much joy, Analiese. You’re so much fun to be around and we love to take care of you. On to the next 6 months!

Love,

Mama and Daddy

You are growing like a weed! Well, a very petite weed, that is. As I look back on pictures from this month and read through my One Line a Day journal, I can’t believe all of the “firsts” you’ve had. You’re making your mama and daddy very proud!

In about ten years you’ll hate me for doing this, but…LOOK AT THAT LITTLE BOTTOM OF YOURS!

I was getting you ready for your bath and couldn’t resist the opportunity to let you roll around completely naked. At your daddy’s request, we put a pad under the blanket to protect the rug just in case. Before long you’ll be trained as a Chasey to “be careful!” yourself.

During that same bath time, your daddy gave you your first sudsy mohawk. There isn’t too much hair there still, but it’s growing! The little bald spot that started to form on the back of your head from being on your back so much has started to fill in since you are rolling all over the place these days. You prefer to sleep on your tummy or side and have mastered rolling both directions. It’s anyone’s guess where you’ll end up during your naps and night time sleep. There have actually been a few times where you’ve completely disappeared from the video monitor’s range. Kind of funny…kind of scary…but we know you’re there sleeping safe and sound.

Ugh, you know what happened this month? You got your first cold. It was so hard to see you so sniffly and uncomfortable. I think you did the best you could, though. You even made it through your first dinner out at a restaurant. You were wonderful in spite of the teary eyes, runny nose and cough. It would be nice if every day were all smiles and laughs, but life really isn’t that way, is it? This is the first of many times, I’m sure, that we’ll have to see you suffer through something. And that is hard. I can’t bear to think about your first heart break. Walking through those trials with you is going to be challenging and draining – physically, emotionally and spiritually – but the joy of seeing you become a faithful, strong and confident young lady will be such a reward.

On a much brighter note, you are SO alert these days and always on the look out for something new to take in. You’re reaching for your toys and want to be played with when you’re awake. You especially love to reach for Parker’s soft hair…he’s not a big fan, but he tolerates a pull and tug every once in a while. He makes you laugh so much! You’re using your voice more and more, too. Most evenings we can hear you chit chatting with yourself before you fall asleep. Our “conversations” leave us wondering what’s going on in that head of yours. Something fabulous, I’m sure.

You’re a thumb sucker in all of it’s glory! It’s becoming more of a comfort for you every day. You never liked sucking on a pacifier, so we were happy that you found your thumb to soothe yourself. I’m sure we’ll be regretting this at some point. For now, though, we think it is so cute!

We just love taking you on walks in your stroller. You’re sitting up in the stroller seat so well. Most of the time, you stay pretty focused on chewing or sucking whatever toy we’ve given you. Every once in a while, though, you’ll notice the trees or wind or birds…look up…take a deep breath…and smile! You are one happy baby.

We love you!

Love, Mama and Daddy

I love this picture. Each smile is so happy and genuine. Could it be that these two are anticipating holding their very own little one in a few months? :)

As a professional soccer player, Jed has a pretty demanding summer schedule. He usually only gets one weekend off so we’ve tried to plan our weekend at the lake around his schedule. Unfortunately, our friends Steve and Elisabeth couldn’t make it this year. They were missed! Also, I just took a look at that post from our get together two years ago and realized that we failed at keeping the traditions of swimming to the buoy and bathing in the lake already! So much for traditions! I blame it on the pregnant lady.

This video was take about a month ago, but I just got a firewire converter to get these loaded. So, as you can see, Analiese had some fun blowing some bubbles, and this is now why she constantly wears a bib.

First, a picture of Analiese…because we can’t enough of her…

And now, our baby pictures from about the same age…

What do you think?