What's new at 7 months?

It seems like just yesterday that we brought our baby girl home from the hospital. It is truly amazing how fast they grow. Here are the details of Chloe at 7 months old:

• She can sit completely unassisted for a few minutes at a time before she topples over. She can also bring a toy to her mouth while in the sitting position.


• Chloe is now a professional roller. She can easily move from one side of a room to the other. She definitely prefers being on her tummy to being on her back these days.


• She weighed in at 17lbs 11oz on her 7 month b-day.


• In addition to rice cereal, sweet potato, and banana, we have added sweet peas, pear and applesauce to her weekly menu options. She still seems to like sweet potato the most.


• She adores her "Tea Party" excersaucer. She probably plays in this about 15 minutes at a time, twice a day. She also likes to jump in her jumperoo, but only when she is in a happy mood.


• Even though we haven't been letting her watch T.V., she loves the remote control and my cell phone. I try to keep these two items out of sight, but if she happens to see them she will whine until I finally give in and let her play with them.


• Helen, our summer babysitter, has been coming over 2 days a week for 3 hours so Mama can study. Chloe now recognizes her instantly and greets her with a smile. She is ready to play just as soon as she walks in the door.


• She has seemed to settle on a regular nap schedule. Her morning nap is usually around 9:30am and usually lasts around an hour, just enough time for me to take a shower and clean up a bit. Her afternoon nap is usually around 3:30pm and usually lasts for an hour and a half. She is usually ready for her last bottle of the day at 8-ish, and is usually down for the night by 8:30pm.


• She has mastered the concept of whining until she gets what she wants, and even lifts her arms up and leans in when she wants to be held.


• She had her first swim lesson last week and seems to really enjoy the water. She has learned how to splash, and loves to slap her hands against the water to get Mommy wet.

That's all for now.

The drive to Lake Chelan

We recently took a 5 day family vacation to Lake Chelan, which is about 3-1/2 hours east of Seattle, Washington. The lake was absolutely beautiful, but the drive there wasn't quite as fun. We decided to break up the drive by stopping in Seattle to visit my good friend Tracy. Our plan was to leave for Seattle at 9am so we wouldn't interupt Chloe's nap schedule. Of course we didn't actually make it out of the house until 11:30am, so that idea was out the window. You should have seen our car, it was insane how much "Chloe stuff" we ended up bringing. Stroller, bottle warmer, bottle sterilizer, baby bath tub, toys, blankets, etc. Lord help us if we ever decide to have another baby.

Tracy was awesome and made us a yummy BBQ lunch/dinner as we sat out on her deck. Chloe got to wear her little sun hat, but still no luck with the sunglasses:(

Here's a pic of us just the girls...

After soaking up a little sun on the deck we were ready to head indoors for some play time before starting the second part of our drive.

A rare family photo...

Of course it would happen that one of the rare instances we had someone with us to snap a family photo, Chloe was both hungry and tired, which didn't make for the best photo opportunity.

And here's Chloe after a 7oz bottle. What a difference!!!

A visit from Uncle Kevin...

Evan's younger brother came to stay with us for a week before spending his summer in Texas for military training. Although Evan didn't get to spend nearly as much time with him as he would have liked, Chloe got in loads of quality time with her Uncle Kevin. It was so nice having a third pair of hands to help out here and there. I most enjoyed the leisurely showers without straining to hear the baby monitor for crying, spontaneous trips to my favorite neighborhood coffeeshop for a quick latte, and getting to eat when I was actually hungry vs. when I had a free hand. The last time Kevin came to visit was in December, when Chloe was just a month old, so it was exciting to show him all her new little tricks.

Baby's first haircut...

For the record, our intention was to give her a trim. However, Chloe has turned into quite the wiggle worm these days.

Oh, well... it will grow back eventually:(

Cute Pics...

Here are some of my favorite recent pictures of Chloe. Looking back at all of her pictures just amazes me at how fast she is growing.

I just love Chloe in this purple dress. The cotton is so soft and she loves having bare legs so she can play with her feet.

I took this picture while Evan was away on his recent trip to China. I was holding Chloe on my knees with my left hand, and holding the camera in my right hand.

What a cute picture of baby and daddy... my two favorite people in the world!!!

Jameson Park

Evan and I took Chloe to Jameson park a few weekends back to test out our new "waterproof" picnic blanket. While I've received many compliments on the pattern and size of the blanket, it is not waterproof, or even mud proof for that matter. Nevertheless, we had a great time relaxing on our blanket watching all the kiddos running around in the fountain. We took Chloe's socks off to let her feel the gentle breeze on her feet. She was one happy baby!