Zoe at 7 months

Max has stepped up his big brother game. One of the sweetest moments this month was when Max carried his favorite book and chair to Zoe’s room and sat down to read her a bedtime story. He started off by shushing the audience then read in a whisper. For pages he didn’t know, he just said “and this is another page in the book”.

Zoe keeps getting better. She was smart to set the bar low so now when she doesn’t cry the whole time we call her “better”. But one major improvement this month has been Zoe in the car. Approaching red lights no longer raises my anxiety levels. And I no longer have panic attacks if we are stuck in traffic. In fact, now when I see douchy drivers my head tilts a little and I think “aww fussy baby”.

Sleeping

The one thing we’ve always said about Zoe is she is a great sleeper. If your little one isn’t sleeping through the night then I know how obnoxious that last sentence was. When Max wasn’t sleeping and a friend would tell me how great their baby was at night I would secretly hate that person and make a mental note to pause friendship. The baby sleep struggle is real.

Zoe is still swaddled at night, but she fights it more and more. We are thinking about trying one of those weird looking sleep sacks that people swear by. We think she might like being able to raise her arms up. If you have tried one please let me know your thoughts.

No change on the weekend nap situation. She still dozes here and there but there is no semblance of a routine here. I’ll stop pretending we are working on this and just say it is what it is.

Eating

We started solids with Zoe! This time we had realistic expectations and Zoe did not exceed them. She typically takes a few bites then shuts it down. At daycare her teachers tell us she has been doing well but that hasn’t translated to her home life yet.

I stopped nursing/pumping this past month. I loved nursing Zoe because it was our special time where she wasn’t crying and would be completely relaxed in my arms. It took me a while to get rid of all the pumping gear because part of me wasn’t ready to let go. It feels like the end of an era. I promise not to be this sentimental over every milestone in Zoe’s life, I just don’t want my baby to grow up too fast.

Doing

Zoe is rolling over from her back to her stomach! She mastered the skill quickly and now rolls easily from toy to toy. When a toy is out of reach she desperately wants to crawl to it, but hasn’t figured out the mechanics of the movement yet. We think it will happen soon and Max is Zoe’s biggest cheerleader. He asks daily if Zoe crawls yet. I’m pretty sure he is envisioning a life where someone is chasing him at all times.

We traded the infant bath for the duck bath and Zoe couldn’t be happier. The first time we put her in it Max kept running in and out of the bathroom to get specific toys that she “had to have”. By the end of her bath she had  toys piled all around her. I love when we first put her into the bath because she gets this open mouthed grin that says “guys, I can’t believe I’m here”.

Zoe has been starting getting attached to us. When Aaron or I leave the room she immediately starts to cry. It took us a while to realize what was going on because Max never had attachment issues when he was a baby. In fact, with Max we were mildly concerned about his lack of attachment for a while. It’s kind of nice to feel so “loved” by Zoe, but it makes going to the bathroom much harder!

Zoe 7 month stats

(Max’s 7 month post here.)

• Weight: 15.8lbs (woo hoo, Zoe is inching up to the 30th percentile!)
• Height: 26.5″
• Head circumference: 17.5″

Favorite moments from this past month: