The Spirit of Adventure: All About Claudia: 7 months

Claudia was seven months old on Mother's Day! Wow! Six months was a huge milestone, but seven months snuck up on me a little bit. And, now that we're in the 7s, its official that Claudia is closer to being a year old than she is a newborn. It seems like she's discovers or accomplishes something new every day! Her little feisty and sweet personality is really beginning to shine through and I LOVE hanging out with her. I also enjoy the quiet periods throughout the day when's she's napping. Enjoy all her updates :-)

Daily Routine:

Her routine hasn't changed at all since the last update, except that she's eating more baby food at each meal. She's still transitioning out of her last nap- it depends so much on how long her other naps lasted.

8:00 a.m.: Claudia's Breakfast (Oatmeal Cereal and 4 oz. Formula).

After breakfast, we read "The Jesus Storybook Bible", then watch a "Baby Einstein" video. Claudia loves them! I especially like the World Music one.

10:00 a.m.: Morning Nap

12:00 p.m.: Claudia's Lunch (7-8 oz. Fruit Baby Food and 5 oz. Formula)

After lunchtime, she plays on the floor with her toys! We also read books, sing, and she does her exercise in the doorway jumper!

2:00 p.m.: Afternoon Nap

4:00 p.m.: Claudia's Dinner (7-8 oz. Veggie Baby Food and 5 oz Formula)

4:30 p.m. (every 2-3 days): Bath time

5:30 p.m.: Optional Nap

Whether or not she takes this last nap really depends on the length of the other two naps. A lot of times, on bath days, she has so much fun playing in the tub, that she enjoys a little nap. This lets me prep dinner. If she doesn't go down for a nap, she hangs out in her high chair and "helps"me in the kitchen.

8:00 p.m.: Claudia's Evening Meal (8 oz Formula)

8:30 p.m.: Bedtime

Sleeping Habits:

She is sleeping through the night and is ready for bed pretty soon after her last bottle! She is sleeping a solid 12 hours every night. At night, she sleeps on her back. During her naps, she either sleeps on her tummy or on her side. Whenever she goes to sleep, she has her pacifier, blanket and a stuffed animal.

She is now pulling herself up! We're so excited and proud of her! Her favorite place to do this, however, is her crib. Our current issue is that she will pull herself up in the crib, then she won't be able to sit back down! So, she'll cry and we'll lay her back down, Over the past few days, this process has repeated itself several times, especially at nap time.

Eating Habits:

Claudia's feeding times and frequency have stayed the same. She still eats 4 times a day (8, 12, 4, and 8).

At her 8 a.m. feeding, she eats Oatmeal cereal (I now make it with 3 oz of formula) and then give her formula. She's been trying out different flavors the past few weeks. She's had Banana and Apple Rice Cereal, Oatmeal Banana and now she's eating Oatmeal with Peaches and Apple. She seems to enjoy it a lot!

At her noon and 4 p.m. feedings, I offer her 7-8 oz of baby food, letting her eat as much as she wants, followed by formula. At lunch, she eats a fruit and at dinner she eats a vegetable. I'm still making her baby food, which is fun! I'm learning the right consistencies for everything. Her list of foods is now: sweet potatoes, butternut squash, yellow squash, zucchini, green peas, avocado, apples, pears, banana, green beans, white potatoes, carrots, peaches and asparagus. She won't try anything new until 8 months!

Claudia enjoyed her green peas!

At her 8 p.m. feeding, we're still giving her an 8 oz bottle of formula. Once she's finished, she's ready to go to sleep. Austin puts her to sleep each night when he gets home from work. It's such precious Daddy-daughter time and it makes my heart so happy!

Bath Time:

Claudia hasn't been using her bather for a couple of weeks now! She's been sitting up and balancing so well outside of the tub we transitioned that into the bathtub and she's doing great! The only trick has been figuring out how to pour water on her head without getting it all over her face. Leaning back isn't something that works very well!

My adorable bath time view! :-)

She's discovered splashing the water with her hands and she squeals with delight! She also enjoys playing with the rubber duckies that her Great Aunt Meg bought her from the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Peabody Hotel.

With her cute rubber duckies!

Sucking on the washcloth is also a favorite bath time activity. I think it feels good to her sore little gums.

Favorite Activities:

Claudia is into EVERYTHING! Its so fun, but it is definitely keeping me busy! I make sure she's not getting any chords. She still enjoys bouncing in her Excersaucer, playing with her toys on the floor and reading. Now that she has the need for mobility, she army crawls, "walks" with us holding her arms, or pulls herself up on furniture or one of our legs.

Favorite Things:

Her seal, her pink rabbit (from her sweet cousin, Ewan), her paci (we've graduated to the 6+ month pacis), "The Jesus Storybook Bible", "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", "The Peabody Ducks", her caterpillar xylophone from Gran, Baby Einstein blocks and the stacking rings made by her Aunt Leslie.

Current Phase:

Teething and Pulling Up! Her two little teeth are getting bigger (soon we'll need to brush them!) and it wouldn't surprise me if we see a few more in the coming weeks. Her biggest phase right now is definitely pulling herself up!

Milestones:

She still isn't officially crawling, but she army crawls/scoots her way around. As I've already mentioned, she is pulling herself up to a standing position and she gets so excited about it! She can also get to a sitting position from laying down. This means she can go from laying down to standing up! However, she can't reverse that process yet (unless she falls down!).

She claps her hands, which is so cute! She can't quite do it on command yet.

She's been saying "Dada" more frequently and we think she's beginning to associate it with Austin!

She can now sit up in the wooden high chairs at restaurants and in the shopping cart at Kroger! No more lugging her carseat around!

Funny Habits:

She is obsessed with selfies! I don't know if this means we have a little diva in the making, but she loves looking at herself, whether its in the mirror or with a cameraphone. This photo sums up her enthusiasm pretty well!

Teeth: Two! Both center bottom teeth are through the gums completely and are slowly making their way to their full height!

Nicknames: "Girlie", "Little Precious Love" and "Love Bug"

Diaper Size: 4 (Pamper's Swaddlers)

Clothing Size: 6-9 months in most things. It's really beginning to vary by brand, though!

Fun Times: Claudia turned 7 months on Mother's Day! Claudia and Austin did a great job of making me feel loved and special! Austin gave me beautiful peach colored roses, a gorgeous silver necklace with a "W" engraved on the front and "5-10-15" engraved on the back, and a box with a notepad to write down memories. I can't believe she was on her way last Mother's Day. We had brunch with Austin's immediate family in Murfreesboro and got some good family photos:

My First Mother's Day- 5-10-15

The Ward family

The next weekend, we headed to Jackson to celebrate Mary's graduation from Union! We started off the celebration with a late lunch at Red Robin with most of the family who came to town for the occasion.

The food was delicious, Claudia sat in a restaurant high chair for the first time, and the timing worked out perfectly for us to enjoy visiting and make it to the Oman Arena for the graduation ceremony.

Claudia met her Great Aunt Meg for the first time during this visit! We had a great time with her!

We're so proud of Mary!!

All the family that came to the graduation: Austin, me, Aunt Meg, Claudia, (Mary), Dad, Grandmommy, Uncle Richard, Mom, Uncle Patrick and Aunt Sherry!

They have a mutual admiration society :-)

On Sunday, Dad, Aunt Meg and our little family joined Mary at our home church for morning worship! It was so good to see everyone again. Following church, Aunt Meg took us to Brunch at the Peabody Hotel! We made it just in time (after driving through torrential rain) and laughed as we grabbed plates of delicious food and decadent desserts for the table.