Eric's Birthday

We doubled up on birthday celebrations back in February when we had Addie's Pancake & Pajama party, but I'm a little behind on blogging and haven't gotten around to writing about it yet.  Eric is always surprising me, so I thought a fun night at Top Golf was the perfect birthday celebration and I knew he would be surprised because it was a month early.  Not only would the timing make it easier to surprise him, but my parents were in town so we also had free babysitters - which was a win win! 

The plan was to go out to an early dinner with everyone (my parents, Brian & Carla, my sister, and my nephew were all in town) plus the 4 of us.  Then, my parents were going to take all the kids home while the big kids went out for a few drinks and maybe live music.  Instead, Brian distracted Eric in the car with video after video of randomness on his phone and before we knew it we pulled into Top Golf for the surprise!  We had some friends meeting us there and luckily I signed us up for the Priority Pass so we only had to wait 15 minutes for our bay versus the 5 hour wait time.  We spent the night playing golf and socializing - I love our girls to death - but this was a much needed night out!  We had a few too many drinks and stayed up way past our bedtime, but it was a lot of fun celebrating a pretty special guy.

Fast forward a month, to Eric's actual birthday and the girls and I still had a few tricks up our sleeves. We have been working on updated Eric's office over the past couple of months and I wanted to make a special piece of art to hang over the couch.  I saw a tutorial on how to make your own hanging wall art with an engineer print on Pinterest and it was perfect for the industrial/rustic theme we were going for - plus who wouldn't want an oversized print of those adorable little girls!  When Eric got home from work, we celebrated with a Mexican Fiesta and then showed Eric his gift which he loved.  We sang Happy Birthday (more than once) and Addie helped him blow out the candles, then we treated ourselves to brownie sundaes. Happy Birthday Eric!

Bella - 7 months

Weight, Length, Head - your next well check is at 9 months

Clothes: 9 months

Diapers: Size 3

Health:
Not much to report here.  You've had a runny nose here and there and your poor tummy got upset one time, but other than that you've been happy and healthy this month!

Diet:
Eating has become one of your favorite things, especially since you've taken over the high chair!  You love to sit up with us and sit with your mouth open like a bird from the beginning to the end. There hasn't been one food that you haven't liked.  As long as you are eating you are happy, no matter what it is!  Right now you nurse and eat fruit/cereal between 7:30-9ish.  Then, you nurse at 12 and 4.  At dinner you have some veggies, followed by some more of momma's milk at 7 before bedtime.  Your 5am feeding is hit or miss, you'll go 4 or 5 days without waking up to nurse and then wake up for it for the next couple of days in a row.  I'm hoping we phase out that feeding by next month.  You are a great eater, but you've gone back to your anti-bottle self.  I'm hoping you will be more open to the idea when you can feed yourself your bottle, we are working on it, still!

Sleep:
Your sleep routine hasn't changed much.  You wake up around 7:30, but will usually lay in your crib until 8.  You catch a quick snooze on the go at some point in the morning and then your afternoon nap is 2-3 hours long.  Occasionally, you take a snooze before dinner.  Then, you are ready for bed at 7am on the dot!  

Likes:

You love to play!  Some of your favorites are your links, rattles, and you love the laugh and learn puppy because you can squeeze his hand or foot by yourself and make him sing.  You absolutely love watching your sisters every move, you think she is hilarious!  Addie also likes that you are more interactive.  She loves to make you laugh and will make faces or silly noises to make you smile and loves to play peek-a-boo with you.  I even caught her trying to help you do head, shoulders, knees, and toes!  Being outside, going for walks, and riding in the swing are also favorites (of both you and your big sister!)  Now that the weather has been much nicer and we spend a lot of time outside, we also take a lot more baths.  Luckily, you love bath time, especially when you take your bath with your sister.

Dislikes:

Bottles and not being around mommy

Milestones: 
-You can sit up all by yourself!
-You grab at anything you can get your hands on!  I have to be more careful about where I put my water, but it makes play time a lot more fun because you can pick up your toys and play with them all by yourself.
-No crawling yet, but I can see you thinking about it when you want to get something that is just out of your reach.
-No teeth yet!  I have a feeling you will get your very first tooth as soon as Addie gets her last molar!  Teething is never ending in our house.

Personality:
You are so sweet and such a little momma's girl.  You love to be close to me and one of my favorite things you do is reach to touch my face or hold my hair while I nurse you.  It's so sweet, as long as you don't pull my hair too hard!  I love how chill you are and you just go with the flow all the time, with a huge smile on your face!

Visitors:   

No visitors this month, but you've made lots of new friends at the park!