Dear Bo, You're 7 months old...

7 months old!

Here's what you're up to:

• You wear Size 2-3 diapers (for 14-22 pound babies).
• You wear 3-6 month clothes (still!).
• Two weeks ago you weighed 17 pounds 12 ounces.
• You generally take four 5 ounce bottles a day (still on elemental formula) and eat a fruit for breakfast, a fruit and vegetable for lunch, and a fruit and vegetable for dinner.  You still spit up a lot (and now it's different colors since you're eating solids!).

•   You are on my dream schedule (most days)!  You generally wake up happy at 7:30, have a bottle then a jar of fruit, go down for a nap by 9:30 (you take a long nap either in the morning or the afternoon, but usually not both), have another bottle and a fruit and vegetable between 11:30-12, go down for your second nap by 2pm, have a bottle around 4pm, take your third nap (30-45 minute) around 5:30pm, have a fruit and vegetable around 6:30pm, have a bath around 7:45pm, then have your final bottle at 8pm.  You usually fall asleep while I rock you and feed you at 8pm.
• You love to sit in the floor and play with toys, swing outside, play in your bounce a bout, and your new favorite thing to do is jump in your jumper!

•   My new favorite thing to do is what you jump and stare at your sweet legs!

•  Of course, all bets are off when we're out of town, which we have been A LOT this month!  We took our first family vacation to Breckenridge.  You did not do well at night at all, and you generally only took one good nap in the day (but you were a CHAMP in the car).  We took another trip with the Bozemans to Lake LBJ, and you did great at night and during the day (you did wake up really early every morning and you cat napped a lot during the day).  Again, you were great in the car.  We just took our final family vacation of the summer to San Antonio, and you did so great sleeping at night, during the day, and on the plane!  You woke up early and cat napped a ton, but you were satisfied and happy so we threw the schedule at the window.  You seem to bounce back to your normal routine when we get home. 

•   You no longer eat in the middle of the night, and you have slept through the night 5 out of 7 nights for the last 2 weeks!  Yippee!
• You really notice Scout now.  You'll just laugh at her and follow her with your eyes.  You and Daddy chase her around, and you can't stop giggling when y'all do this!
• You are so much easier to put down for naps and in the evening now.  Many times this month, you just laid your head on my shoulder and closed your eyes.  This was unheard of before!  It's so sweet.  You also will let me rock you and will look at me and play with my face until you fall asleep.  I know I "should" be teaching you how to fall asleep by yourself, but these moments are so sweet (and so contrary to how getting you to sleep was in the first 6 months) that I just can't give it up yet.

•   You are a joy!  A JOY!  Can I tell you how much fun this month was?  You smile all of the time, you laugh, you're easy to put down, you sleep at night...you are just a different baby!  I think I have cried as much from relief and joy this last month as I cried from exhaustion and frustration the previous months!  (Yes, you can still be high maintenance and have your moments, but on the whole...just so much more comfortable and content.)
• You love stuffed animals!  We got you a deer and bighorn sheep at Breckenridge which you love to play with in your crib, and we got you a bass in San Antonio that is your current favorite.

We love you, little man!

 Just look how you've grown: