7 month old Pictures

Sydney has changed so much over the last couple of weeks. She is really starting to find her voice and is quite funny when she starts babbling. Her first word was "Mama" and now her second word is "Babababa..." I have been trying to teach her "Dada" because I know it will melt daddy's heart when she says it!

She is getting closer to crawling. Yesterday she was scooting around...backwards!!! She was getting so frustrated. She wanted to move forward but just couldn't quite get there! She is doing much better in her stroller and I may soon be able to get back to the stroller strides exercise program.

About 3 weeks ago, I took Sydney to get a professional picture taken while she was still all smiles. As soon as I sat her down, she cried and couldn't get herself calmed down, so we left. Greg and I took her a 2nd time and again no success. Not giving up on my little one, we took her back a 3rd time. Although we didn't get smiles, we did get some very cute expressions. Here are two of the three shots that we purchased:

Pictures!!

Here are the pictures I promised:

Sydney and brother Jordan on Easter

Sydney's Easter dress. Oh look, for once Daddy managed to get Mommy's head in the picture!!

Now that she has more teeth coming in, she decided the frozen bagel wasn't so bad!

Updates

We had a very nice Easter with family this year. Sydney had a beautiful Easter dress and hopefully I will have some extra time tomorrow to download some pictures. The weather has been amazing here so we have been spending time each day in the jogging stroller - good for mommy and Sydney! Greg and I had our first date night last night since Sydney was born. After we put her to bed, Nana and Aunt Arlene looked after her while Greg and I went out for sushi!! The tuna sushi was like a piece of Heaven! Oh yeah, and being alone with Greg was also super nice!!! By 9:30 pm I was pooped and ready for bed!

Today was a very lazy day for Sydney and I. She was in only a diaper all day (she was too warm to wear clothes) and I stayed in my "Mommy uniform" all day. I did manage to brush my teeth later in the afternoon!! Sydney was very clingy and drooling a lot so I took a look into her mouth and found that she has two more teeth that cut through. Strange, usually kids get the two bottom center incisors, then the top two...not Sydney! She started with the bottom center teeth over a month ago and now, instead of the two front teeth, she's got the two next to those coming in. Sorry, I just don't have the appropriate vocab. for all of the teeth yet. I will do my research!
Any ways, we had to skip her bath tonight because she was extremely tired and running a little fever from the teething. She was out the moment I put her in her crib. Hopefully it will be an all nighter again for her.

I think she will be crawling around soon. When we do floor time, she can kind of get up on her knees and rock a little - with some assistance. It will be cute to see her crawl but I know that it will mean a whole lot more work for Mommy! I am just so amazed as I watch her everyday learn knew things and explore her body and what it is capable of doing. I am so grateful to be able to stay home with her and to get many hugs and kisses any time I want. I seriously just cannot get enough of her!! I went to a bridal shower for a few hours on Sat. and felt so "naked" not having her with me. I thought of her the whole time and even pulled out the pictures to show her off!!! She's amazing!

Pictures coming soon!

More Pictures

I cannot believe that Sydney is already over 7 months old!! I absolutely LOVE being her Mommy!

At 7 months old, Sydney is:

• beginning to eat finger foods...she's not too sure about how they feel in her mouth and will often spit the food back out. I make a lot of her purees at this point - very time consuming!!
• sitting up well by herself
• rolls from front to back...if she feels like it!
• fake coughs...very cute!!
• does the motor boat sound when she gets frustrated
• recognizes her name, mommy, daddy, Ziggy and Zoey

Below are some recent pictures...enjoy!!

Kicking' back on the sofa watching some baby einstein!

I love her profile and her little faux-hawk!

Aunt Arlene (from Chicago), Nana, Sydney and her cousin Max from New Jersey!

Some good old belly time!

Happy Birthday Pap!

Story time with Daddy before bedtime!

Miss Diva!

Things I Love

This post is LONG overdue. Our lives have just been so crazy lately that when I finally do get some alone time, all I want to do is shut off!

I saw on the Today show yesterday a story on "Momesia". It's what I used to call "pregnancy brain" and I now call "mommy brain". The story discussed how there is actually scientific proof that hormones affect a females brain when she is pregnant and while she is still breastfeeding. This is why we forget so many things...finally, proof that I am not losing it!! The story also pointed out that during the first year of raising a child, mommies lose around 700 hours of sleep!!! No wonder why I am soooo tired all of the time!

Sydney is doing wonderful! There are so many things that I just love about her and about being her mommy. I thought I would share a few of them with you all...

I love the way that she looks at me and the way she wraps her arms around me and squeezes whenever I pick her up. I feel so loved and so joyful, it really melts my heart.

I love our cuddle time after she wakes up from her naps. I will usually lightly tickle her back, forehead and face and sometimes she will go right back to sleep.

I love it when she is finished breastfeeding in the middle of the night and I hold her for just a moment before putting her back to bed and tickle her face and forehead and then kiss her lightly and say good night. She lets out a little sigh and I put her back into her crib and she falls back to sleep.

I love it when I am feeding her solids and she says "Mmmmm" over and over...not sure if it's because she loves her food or if she is just making noise, but is sure is cute! She has started this new thing where she opens her mouth for a bite but the moment I get the spoon to her mouth, she moves it. I have to catch her mouth. We sure do have a mess by the time we are done!

I love her little scowl she makes right before she gets frustrated with something or when she is studying something new.

And, I love her little poo poo face, especially when she turns bright red!!

I especially love the way she looks up at me and smiles every time I go get her out of her crib, no matter if it's during the day or in the middle of the night! Every time I go to pick her up, she is smiling from cheek to cheek and holding her piggy toes!

Lastly, although there are many more things I love about my daughter (and believe me, you will hear about them in posts to come) I love the way she smiles at me every time I say to her "Good morning Sunshine"!! You see, my Mom used to say that to me every morning when I was growing up and now I say it to my daughter every morning when she gets up (and after every nap and whenever I need her to smile for the camera)!!

So many things to love...

as challenging as the first few months were (ok, the first 5 months!!!) it is all worth it. I love being with my daughter in the moment. I love being her mommy!