7 Months Old

When Matthew first entered our lives- it seemed at times that it took great strength and patience to get through a week. Now, without much struggle- the months are flying by! When people ask me how old Matthew is, it pains me to say 7 months. It just sounds so old to me. I look at my little baby and can't believe he has been with us so long! The one thing I can take 100% comfort in is that all of us- Damien, Michael, Claire, and myself have not wasted a minute of his life. We enjoy every new milestone, mouth wide-open smile, hiccup, baby goos and coos, and sweet moments of his life.

This month, Matthew has developed a lot! He is sitting for long periods of time while playing with his toys. You can tell he feels pretty cool to be doing something so 'big boy'. While sitting he is able to watch Michael and Claire play and also likes to watch Mommy cook dinner and clean up the kitchen. He is using both hands more evenly this month. He used to only reach out and grab with his left, but he now uses his right almost as frequently. He is getting a bit more tummy time and has been pivoting, but gets tired of it and rolls over. He now will roll from his back to his tummy as well as from his tummy to his back. He is getting very quick and I have to be very careful if I am holding something because he will bat at it. Long gone are the days where I could hold a drink in my hand and enjoy it. Matthew either hits it or wants a taste! He is really bearing weight these days, too. He loves to stand (with assistance, obviously) and is even entertaining the idea of pulling himself up. He has grown a little more impatient with car rides as he now knows what it means when I put him in his carseat. He will hold onto me for dear life when I try and put him in there. Luckily, if Claire is in the car she will start to sing, 'Three Little Fishies" and he will become distracted. This new found impatience doesn't have the best timing as most of Matthew's morning is spent carpooling the kids to school. But as the kids have had to adjust to the new school routine, so will Matthew.

Matthew has really been a lot of fun this month. He is constantly smiling at things and people and hyper-aware of his surroundings. He understands peek-a-boo and likes to sing songs and tango. Since the kids were small, we have always done a tango dance to a song from the Wiggles. Although Matthew has never seen the Wiggles, he still loves the song and knows to put his hand out to tango with us! Matthew has always been a Mama's boy, but this month in particular, he is always watching where I am and wants to be with me if I am close to him. This makes it difficult when others are holding him and I am in the near vicinity. Sometimes I feel like I am MacGyver when I am trying to allude him! He has been doing this funny slapping thing when I hold him these days. He just slaps my shoulder over and over and I am not sure he even knows he is doing it but it sure is cute. He also has gotten into the arm squeezing this month- not so fun. This month he has been doing so much more with his hands. He reaches out for things, holds them, and knows how to mimic simple movements. If I say 'Bang Bang", he will usually do it. They kids find this fascinating and funny. One other thing that I can't forget to mention is that ever since he was about 4 months old, when people say hi to Matthew, he plays shy and puts his face into my neck. It is the sweetest thing! It is not that he is bashful, he just gets so excited that he has to retreat to my shoulder to compose himself before he engages again. I kind of hope he doesn't give this up for a while!

We traveled a lot this month and he was a champ. He is so used to napping on the go and just rolling with the punches. Whether we travel by car or airplane- he has never caused a problem and I am so thankful for this!

Matthew continues to love food and has gotten more tastes of things this month. Everyday, he eats rice cereal with a veggie or fruit and snacks on small pieces of things that we are eating. He feels cool at dinnertime when he joins us at the table in his highchair. He loves to drink water from his sippy cup and as I mentioned earlier, loves to steal drinks from our cups, too. When I put out some finger food for him on the tray of the high chair, he will reach out and grab one but hasn't figured out how to let go of it in his mouth. Instead, he puts his whole fist in his mouth and sucks and sucks until the food has disintegrated.

Matthew got 2 teeth this month! First came the lower left incisor and then the right. It is kind of cute to see the little white teeth glisten when he smiles! Lucky for me, he has only bitten me once thus far and I have faith that he will be a good little boy and not do it again (fat chance, huh!).

Life with Matthew is awesome. He enriches our lives and reminds us to ignore life's bigger stresses. There is nothing like the innocence of a little baby to remind you what life is really about. We love the feeling of being around our large families with Matthew, love being with him in church, and love the quiet moments after Damien and I put Michael and Claire down for the night when we have Matthew all to ourselves.