7 Months

7 Months

June 27 – July 26

Happy 7 months, baby boy!  You are now closer to being a one year old than you are to being just a newborn.  Time flies!  This month you were On. The. Move.  Of course, I will be always be excited for your milestones and achievements, but I think part of me had kind of hoped you would be a late mover.  Well, you have your own agenda and nothing can stop you from moving and exploring now! 

Here’s a look at what Jack was up to during his seventh month of life:

Long story short:

-Milestones: Sitting up from laying down, sitting up from all fours, worm crawl, crawling on all fours, pulling to stand, cutting his first tooth

-Likes: Screeching, pulling my hair, aggressive open mouth kisses, music class, “Scout” toy, tags, eating paper, crawling, rubbing his head and playing with his hair while he eats or when he is tired

-Dislikes: Having his diaper or clothes changed, sleep, getting his head dunked during swim lessons

-Foods: Jack has tried most fruits and vegetables, and he seems to like most of them.  He started having meat (chicken and turkey) and dairy (yogurt) this month. 

-Sizes: Diaper size 4, Clothing: 6-12 month

-Sleep: I didn’t think it was possible, but his sleep has gotten worse.  There’s really no point in blaming it on teething, a growth spurt, a developmental burst, or whatever else, because really his sleep has never been good.  I’m trying to build up the courage to do some sleep training.  He needs an intervention.  And I need sleep. 

Long story (very) long:

Week 27 (June 27 – July 3)

Week 27 started off a pretty impressive streak of mobility for Jack.  He figured out how to sit up from laying down and from all fours.  On June 29, Jack did his first worm crawl across our bed.  He went right up to the edge and would have gone right over had I not been right there videoing… I mean watching him carefully.  This week he also started crying when something is taken away from him, and he thinks it hilarious to try and put his hands in my mouth. 

6 Month Doctor Appointment (a few days late).  He did much better with his shots this time! 

Waiting for snow cones!

This is what happens when dad is in charge of putting on pajamas.  Poor guy!

No fear

Probably my favorite picture of my son.  Germs... yum! 

28 Weeks (July 4 – July 10)

Jack celebrated his first Fourth of July this week.  We went to a little street festival in our neighborhood, but it was SO hot that we only lasted about 20 minutes before just finding an air conditioned place to have lunch instead.  We had Mexian food.  How patriotic!  Jack was in bed before it was dark so no fireworks for us this year.  Jack’s new favorite thing this week is playing on the kitchen floor.  I usually give him a spatula and a whisk and he entertains himself for quite a while.  

Watching the World Cup

 

BFF Scout

Mail From the Obamas

He likes swim lessons, I swear. 

Young Love At Music Class

Snow Cones with Friends

29 Weeks (July 11 – July 17)

Jack crawled on all fours for the first time this week (July 12)!  This milestone was made even more exciting, because he crawled to ME!  Oh, and later that very same day, he also pulled to standing.  Slow down, baby boy!  I’m not ready for all this mobility and independence all at once.  

In less exciting news, sleep has regressed hugely this week!  Ugh!  Naps are OK for the most part (2 per day), but night sleep is just bad.  He’s back to newborn status with his waking up every 2-3 hours.  It’s brutal.

This week we had lots of fun hosting our neighborhood mommy group at our house for a playgroup. It’s nice to have a nice group of mom friends in our neighborhood.  We also got to visit with one of my friends and former co-workers on Friday morning, and later that day Aunt Renee (and the rest of the Hemmasi clan) visited.  The very next day, my mom arrived for a week long visit!  

Playdate with Old TFA Friends

Crawled Right Up To the Teacher At Music Class.  Little Teacher's Pet

Aunt Renee

Our friend Lily

30 Weeks (July 18 – 24)

My mom (Mimi) was in town this week.  On Sunday we took a little day trip to a Round Top to see the farmhouse that my aunt bought as a second home.  It was fun to show my mom the Texas hill country and to let Jack experience the Texas countryside for the first time.  He loved it!  We also ate out several times, and it’s so nice that Jack is so much easier to handle when out to eat now.  He likes to sit in the high chairs and play with toys or try things off of our plates. 

In other news this week, Jack is cutting his first tooth (bottom, left).  I can’t imagine his cute gummy smile with a little tooth poking out!  He is now eating 3 meals a day, and he really does like most foods that he tries.  He does seem to like the sweet things better, but I’m trying to balance fruit and vegetables, so he doesn’t turn into the crazy picky eater that I was as a kid.  He also tried Puffs for the first time this week.  He was actually pretty good at getting them into his mouth.  He only near-choked/gagged a couple times.  

 

Lunch At Royer's Cafe In Round Top

Texas Country Boy

Music Class With Mimi

Baby's First Mohawk

Baby Jail

Swim Lessons

Happy 7 months, Jack!  I am sad you are growing up so fast, but I’m excited to see you learn and change! 

Removing The Cobwebs

Although the intention is always there, I just cannot seem to get back into the swing of regularly blogging.  It's definitely something that I want to be better about, but other things just always seem to get in the way.  But perhaps I just need to accept that that's how things may be for a while around here, stop apologizing for it, and say hey- something's better than nothing.  Right?  So here's a little mish-mash catch up of sorts.  Thanks to those of you who have stuck around despite my silence!

~A beautiful Houston sunset that I caught on my walk home from the gym a while back.  One thing that I loved about living in small town Australia was that the skies always seemed so much more beautiful than anyplace I had ever lived (I wrote about them in a post HERE).  I don't know what it was, but they always seemed bluer, clearer, had the puffiest, whitest clouds, and some of the most breath-taking sunsets I have ever seen.  This Houston sunset almost reminded me of one of those gorgeous Aussie sunsets that I miss so much. 

~A teacher reunion with some of my favorite former co-workers.  You can tell by our clothes how long ago this happy hour actually took place, but whatever.  I miss these ladies, and it was so fun to catch up!

~A funny bookshelf.  I was cleaning and reorganizing a little bit a while ago, and I noticed something funny about this particular book shelf.  Can you guess which one of these books belongs to my husband?  If you know David, you will get a pretty good laugh out of this one. 

~An Aussie care package.  Two of my closest girlfriends that I met in Australia were sweet enough to send me this fun Aussie care package.  Thanks, Jackie and Katie!!

~A visit with some of my former students.  I spent a couple hours one day visiting my old school and some of my former students.  These are two of my favorites (yep, teachers absolutely have favorites).  I couldn't believe how much they had grown! 

~Office View.  This is my view from the office (it's a office run out of someone's home if you can't tell).  I love March/April in Houston because the azaleas bloom like CRAZY.  I had actually never seen white azaleas, so I was loving these ones.  I tried to grow azaleas at our old house in Houston, and I never had any luck (#blackthumb).  They're so pretty though, and so "Houston" to me. 

~A perfect Friday evening.  A while back, I picked David up from work on a Friday and we had the perfect evening.  We started with a couple glasses of wine at a neighborhood bar (the weather was perfect that night so we took advantage and sat outside), then we headed to my new favorite Houston restaurant- Hugo's.  You guys.  If you live in or around Houston, or ever visit, you MUST go here.  I can't believe we only discovered it a couple months ago.  It is some of, no THE best Mexican food I have ever had- super authentic.  Oh, and the best margarita of my life.  I was too busy chowing down and guzzling margaritas to take any pictures though. 

~Hard-working hubby.  Poor David has just been swamped at work lately.  We were talking the other night and honestly, we aren't really sure that the 13 hour work days/6 day work weeks he had to work in Australia were any worse than the current situation.  Sigh... He has been working just about every Saturday, and during the week usually not getting home until between 8 and 9.  A couple times it has even been 10:30.  One Saturday, I walked down to his office (literally like 3 blocks from our apartment) to bring him lunch, and I saw this duck guarding the entrance.  I thought it was pretty funny.  He seriously wasn't budging for anyone trying to get in/out.  And this text message shows you a little bit what life/work has been like lately.  I usually text him each afternoon/early evening to get his ETA.  And just about everytime, the answer gets later as the evening goes on.  Poor guy...

~Texas BBQ!  I can't believe it took us this long, but we finally made it to our favorite Houston BBQ spot- Luling City Market.  There's nothing like eating straight off of butcher paper and piling a ton of meat onto good ol' white bread.  Yum!  Don't worry, I did not eat all that meat in front of me- we shared that AND took home leftovers. 

~Shaking my head at Texas.  I love living in Houston.  And most of the time I forget I actually live in Texas.  Until I drive by things like this on the side of the road.... really?...

~Random Houston statues.  There is a random outdoor statue museum/field... I don't know what to call it... in Houston.  It's filled with these giant sculptures of the Beatles and about a million presidential heads.  So random, but pretty neat.  Not too far from that... display... is the "We Love Houston" sign that I've been meaning to see for years, but never made it there until now. 

 

~Bubba's Burger Shack.  This is another favorite Houston restaurant of ours.  It is a total dive, and as you can tell from the pictures, it is literally a SHACK.  And even better, it is situated basically underneath a freeway overpass... this little shack has been there so long that they basically built the overpass around it.  But oh my god, they have the BEST buffalo burgers ever.  So good!  I had the buffalo patty melt, and David had the double burger.  Nom nom nom! 

 

~A little Aussie reunion.  A few weeks ago, I met up with two girls that I met in Australia who now live in the Houston area.  Kim had just had her second baby boy, so Lori and I drove out to meet the new little guy.  It was a fun day and some much needed girl time.  It's so funny to me that I had to go all the way to Australia to finally meet some Houston friends :-)  I'm hoping that eventually even more of the girls I met there will get moved to Houston, too!  Please note, none of these adorable children are mine. 

~Crazy Houston weather.  A few weekends ago, Houston had one of its famous rain storms.  These things seriously seem to come out of nowhere, and they are no joke- flooding is usually involved.  This photo is a major street in Houston (Richmond Ave, if you're familiar), and it was completely flooded.  Don't worry, about 3 hours later, the sun was shining and the sky was blue.  Houston is weird. 


~Bear.  We went to Austin for Father's Day weekend to visit David's parents.  This is their dog, Bear.  I have a love/hate relationship with this dog.  You see, Bear used to be my sister-in-law's dog.  She and I used to be roommates in Los Angeles (that's how I met David).  Renee used to be out of town a lot, and so I ended up being the one to take care of Bear.  He would get mad when she would leave, and unfortunately, he would take that out on me.  TWICE this dog peed on my bed in retaliation.  I still haven't forgiven him. 

Alright, I think that's enough from me for now.  Hopefully it won't be another month before I'm back again! :-)