7 months.

I have been behind the power curve that's for sure caught somewhere in between trying to be a healthy balance of an (anti)-supermom and still trying to get everything finished by the end of the week.  It's exhausting, and yet the list of to-do's never ends.  It only grows and with it my dreams, inspirations and expectations of what next check-mark there is that lays just over the horizon.  Because it's all part of life right? One giant to do list waiting for that spark in our mind to put pen to paper with one more thing to do today, or this month, or this year.  Looking back at the fact that Autumn was born 7 months ago seems like it was just yesterday in a sense but also eternity.  I can already see where as a mom you get stuck in the in between.  The place where you are waiting for that next milestone and urging them to use those muscles, that mouth and their mind.  Yet already, I find myself on occasion pining for the days when Autumn would randomly fall asleep on my chest in the middle of the chaos of the day and force me to rest with her for an hour.  Nap time is now scheduled and routine ( unless we're out and about) and is this way solely because I was blessed yet again with that child that does. not. want. to. sleep.  And then there are nights like tonight where she surprises me and I am able to snuggle with her, sing to her and rock her to sleep for over half and hour after reading her two books and watching her eyes light up with fancy.  I take a step back and cherish those moments.  Those moments of peacefulness, serenity and those moments that I know are fleeting.  I know the day may come when she may not want to snuggle into my neck, or that when I hear her cry when she goes down for bed all it takes is my hand on her heart and the sound of me singing a little lullaby to go calmly back to dreamland (note: this works some not all the time.)  The optimistic side of me denies that this day will ever come. 

So 7 months, over half a year has passed and might I just say that this little girl is well on her way to something big.  She has a spirit, and an aura about her that is brighter than I ever imagined.  Her cackle has a way to light up even my darkest of days and her spunk?  It's a marvel in it's own right.  The girl has p.e.r.s.o.n.a.l.i.t.y.  She's funny, smart, endearing, inquisitive, and all of the delightful things that a parent wants to begin seeing in their child.  She explores until she reaches any (parent imposed) boundary, she falls and then gets right back up, she stares at our face to study our emotions, she laughs out of the blue and with abandon, she eats and gets messy and doesn't care, she loves animals and is respectful of them (at this point the hair pulling is at a minimum).  She is so much already and yet she is a mere 7 months into her beautiful life.

 ~Don't worry, be happy~

Today I took out the book 'Oh The Places You Will Go'  by the great Dr. Seuss and it was ironic that my sister recently passed down her copy to little Autumn because it was 10 years ago in my high school AP Environmental Science class that I last remember reading this book and looking out into the big, bright world and wondering where I would be after I left the comfort of those walls.  One bachelors degree, one masters degree,  a marriage, a beautiful little bundle of joy and 10 years later and I find myself a very, very changed woman. Yet some things have remained the same.  I'm still searching, dreaming, learning, thinking and figuring out what I want to do when I grow up yet have found comfort and peace in my role as a mama right at this moment.  The now.  The present.  Autumn has been one of my greatest teachers in that respect.  Oh, and patience too.  Yes, the ever eluding patience that seems to escape somewhere in between a fussy baby refusing to nap and attempting to get into all things other than her toys. Thankfully we are learning early on something that I already knew as a preggo mama-to-be that little Autumn may not have the latest and greatest of the toys simply because the girl finds more entertainment in leaves, plastic spoons and dog toys than anything else at the moment.  And our budget is definitely o.k. with that.

The milestones that Autumn has reached are out. of. this. world.  I can't keep up.  It seems as if just weeks ago she was scooting....

 

And then B.A.M.  She's crawling like she's been doing it for months.

And crawling by 7 months wasn't enough for her. She had bigger hopes for herself.  And so she began to stand, all.by.herself...

 

She's a mini-person!  I get a smile but also a tear in my eye thinking of how far she has come!

Chris and I still haven't gotten over the shock I think.  The fact that when we hear her cry in the middle of the night or begin to babble in the morning we peek in to find her perfect little head popping over the rails as if to say 'Hey mom and dad! What are we going to do today?'

It's funny because I have read a few articles here and there mentioning that as a babies motor skills are developing sometimes their speech development will take a snooze because they can only focus on so many new things at once.  She went from the typical babbles and coos of a 4-5 month old, to dun da da dun.....her first word....DADA...Surprise surprise.  Of course Chris was ecstatic, but I promptly mentioned to Chris that the pediatrician says that it typically happens that way, that Dada is easier for them to enunciate than mama.  I may or may not have said that with a hint of jealousy, but in due time I know Mama will come out of her mouth.

And then just as quickly as her speech began to develop and she was saying all sorts of new consonants, we were back to oooohhhss...this time screeching ooohhs which are the sweetest of the ooooohhss and blowing raspberries.   Now one thing did develop and that's that she can perform both of these on command.   Her mimicking capabilities are top notch.

And while I'm talking about that sweet little mouth of hers might I mention that she has 2, count them, TWO little bottom teeth that makes for the brightest of two-teeth grins I have ever seen (partial I know).

What good are teeth if you don't have anything delicious to chew?  Autumn's palette has expanded far beyond the bananas and rice cereal that composed her venture into solids at 4 months.  She is onto the wonderful world of FOODIES and is consuming anything and everything in sight.   Just off the top of my head she's eating amazing things like avocados, mashed squash and sweet potatoes, eggs and bits of bacon, small slices of ham, black beans, strawberries, watermelon, blueberries, cantaloupe, honeydew, ice cream (yum), and dare I say she even had her first juice this month, the real stuff fresh from the juicer!

Aside from the milestones that our little Nutmeg has reached and left in her dust, we as parents are beginning to find our groove more and more every day.  Call it experience.  Call it confidence.  Whatever it is it feels like a good thing.   While life certainly isn't perfect, I feel as if I truly know Autumn's cues more than ever (I say this now knowing full well that they may change tomorrow.) 

We have a slight more routine to our days although nothing in stone.  We play A LOT more these days and I find it more necessary than ever to keep her little senses stimulated by taking adventures out on the trails, to the parks, the beach, you name it, Autumn has probably ventured there as of already in her 7 short months.  I told myself when I was pregnant there was nothing this girl wouldn't do.

As much as I anticipate the day that this little girl gets her wings and flies off to chase her wildest of dreams, I will forever have etched in my memory these days where it was just her and I in a rocking chair, making up lullabies and talking about our day (well, me talking, Autumn making her adorable babbles and raspberry noises that she has mastered.)

And without further adieu, I'll leave you with a little taste of our 4th of July photo shoot with Dad, whom I willfully got to don his blues and beret (with a bit of a nudge of course).  Pending that we leave the military lifestyle behind in two years and search out a new city to call home (completely dependent on both of our job opportunities), I wanted little Autumn to have a memory in the future of her with her daddy in his best dress.   Her little outfit was my first attempt at sewing clothes for her and let me say it was work! (And Auntie Lo-n made her fabulous headband!) I now look back at all of the outfits that my mom made for me (practically everything I wore when I was younger) and am in awe of all that she made for me.  Such a labor of love it was indeed.

7 Month Highlights:

• Stats: 19 lbs (as of her 6 month, can't wait to see where she is at 9 months!)
• Likes: WATER (pool, sprinkler parks, bath time), any and ALL food, making noise with every toy, 'scrunch nose face', the pups, sipping out of a straw like a big girl, staring/laughing at the 'baby in the mirror', story time
• Dislikes: boundaries, being left alone if we go out of the room, when the pups ignore her!