Our sweet Emmeline Harlow is 7 months old! (7-and-a-half months, to be exact.) I’m not sure why, but with baby number two, I’m feeling so much more weepy and emotional about how fast time flies these first months. I can’t believe she’s nearly outgrown her moses basket. I can’t believe she’s no longer the itty bitty babe I brought home from the hospital a few short months ago. Goodness knows I’ll be crying all of the sappy mama tears on her first birthday. But I am sooooo not ready for that yet.
Meanwhile, let’s talk 7 months …
Emme is full of life. She smiles so regularly now, I’d do practically anything to earn one of her big toothy grins.
Speaking of teeth, she has two! The first of her bottom two center teeth came in at about 7 months, and in the last week, the second bottom tooth has made it’s debut. She drools everywhere, all of the time.
She’s been sleeping through the night for a few months now. We sleep-trained at around 4 months, though I’ll admit, things like travel and teething always seem to throw off our perfect track record somewhat. This past week, she’s been waking up between 5 and 5:30am, so we’re employing a few tricks to get her sleeping a teensy bit later. (By the way, let me know if you want me to share how we got our baby to sleep through the night. I’ve been thinking about putting together a huge post and sleep chart!)
Emme makes the happiest, loudest, shrieking “pterodactyl” noises, and Scarlett and Emme together have happy shrieking wars where they both squeal and squeak at one another, seemingly trying to outdo the other’s loudest sounds, until together, they erupt into a fit of giggles. Goodness, I adore these girls.
I love staring at the tiniest similarities and differences between the girls. Scarlett is obviously darker, with nearly black eyes and hair, and olive skin; while Emme is so fair she’s practically a creamy pink-white. Emme also seems to have lighter brown eyes and hair, with little fleck of gold in it. Hubby’s blue eyes are 0 for 2 right now; but whadya gonna do? I think he’s pretty smitten with his brown eyed girls.
Baby girl is also not quite ready to be mobile. She’s sitting up like a champ, which happens so quickly … one minute you’re fretting over the fact that your babe tips over every time you try to sit her up unsupported, the next minute, she’s sitting on her own like a rockstar. We try a lot of tummy time but she lasts maybe thirty seconds before panicking. She also just started (in the last week) rolling over in her crib and getting stuck like that … sometimes with her chubby little thighs wedged between the bars. I went into full-on mama bear mode when that happened a few days ago, researched like a madwoman, and ordered sleep sacks* to try to kick that problem to the curb. (These SwaddleDesigns Sleep Sacks have great reviews and are a lot more affordable than some of the pricier sleep sacks I’ve seen. We just used one for the first time last night, and I think it really helped; i.e., no legs stuck in between crib railings. It’s also super soft and the patterns are so subtle and pretty. Fingers crossed!) We’ve used those mesh crib liners/bumpers in the past for Scarlett, and she always just kicked and pushed them down. It might have something to do with the size of our crib not matching up well with the standard breathable bumpers – they never fit quite right, so check your measurements before you order. Whomp, whomp. And it looks like during the day we’ll be practicing “how to rescue yourself”, a.k.a., roll over life skills!
And just like Scarlett, Emme loves to be worn. Right now, we’re having a serious love affair with our LÍLLÉbaby ring sling. It is SO convenient, and now that I can carry her on my hip, it’s such a perfect, simple, added support. (You can see our ring sling in action on my Instagram, and also all over my Insta Stories since we use it all of the time!)
Emme has also developed a pretty clear case of separation anxiety. I remember this stage all too well with Scarlett. Any time I so much as step out of a room, Emme bursts into tears, only to be instantly consoled the moment I’m back in her line of sight. It’s both sweet and totally exhausting, but I know to soak up every second of her needing me, because soon enough, she’ll be a bounding toddler, far too busy to “need” mama cuddles.
Our precious babe drinks around 4 to 5 ounces of milk at a time, and try as I might, I can’t usually get her to drink much more than that in one sitting. Still, it’s an improvement from the barely 3.5 ounces she was drinking max only a few weeks ago. Now food, on the other hand; she can’t get enough. She’s crazy for sweet potatoes, strawberries, banana, and avocado, but recently, we’ve starting letting her try food that’s soft enough or small enough for her to “gum” straight from our plates. She’s practically ravenous for it. I can’t give her older sister challah without sharing a few bites with Emme. The other day we gave Emme her first taste of crockpot bbq chicken and she was so delighted she was smacking her lips and squeezing her hands open and shut at me, begging for more. Baby girl is HUNGRY.
And totally chubby. I can’t get enough. I think because Scarlett was always such a tiny baby (you can read her IUGR birth story, here), and to this day, remains a string bean despite all our best efforts; I’m even more enthralled by Emmeline’s chunk. Her baby rolls are legendary. We actually just recently went for her check-up and baby girl is measuring in at a height of 25.35″ (7th percentile), a weight of 16 lb 14.4 oz (46th percentile), and a head circumference of 42 cm (16.54″) (22nd percentile)…. so you know: squat. Ermergahhhhd, it’s the cutest thing ever.
As I’m typing this – trying to get anything posted for the day (😂) – she’s blowing big, wet raspberries at me – a favorite activity of hers, demanding my attention. So ya know, I guess I’ll get back to it! Until next time. ❤
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Photo by Annie Watts Photography for Glitter, Inc.