7 Months of Fun

**this is a very long update. I understand if you don't want to read all of it**

Our Katina has been around for 7 months now! I think the last month has been one of the most change filled that we've experienced with her. She is still growing and growing at the 75% for height and weight! 

I had some trouble getting her started on baby cereal. She seemed to react badly to the cereal and so we started very slowly. Then, Carolyn recommended HappyBellies baby cereal and she has done GREAT. Kate absolutely loves eating:) She has loved every single type of baby food I've given her with a seeming preference towards squash, peas, and apples. Today I tried giving her some mashed up avocado and she hated it! The first thing she hated. Horrible faces, spitting it out, gagging, and finally spitting it up. We'll leave that alone for awhile. She is eating like a pro twice a day for now. She has also been enjoying small bits of Ritz crackers that I put in her mouth. She can't pick them up yet but she knows when they're coming and opens her mouth SO wide, like a baby bird. It's really fun. She chews them very well even though she still doesn't have even one tooth. 

She sits beautifully for very long periods of time and tries really hard to reach toys that move out of her reach but no lunging or getting on all fours yet. That's fine with me! I like knowing she has to stay in one place. She stays happy this way for a long time, shaking and chewing on toys. I think I do need to start getting some more involved toys for her though because she seems to be getting a little tired of the chewy type toys. I had to put away her little play mat with hanging toys because she wouldn't play in it anymore. That was a sad day since it was the first thing she played with!

On the behavior front, Kate is starting to show strong displeasure (i.e. a fit) when we take away something she is really enjoying. For now we are just firmly telling her "no" and then distracting her:)

In vocal news, she says "da da" very well, blows raspberries with the best of them, and still REALLY enjoys hearing herself scream! She also cracks up at her toys a lot which is adorable.

The BIGGEST change though, is that she sleeps with no more swaddle blanket!!! And it was accomplished with no tears for either of us! I was so anxious for so long that Kate would sleep in her swaddle forever or that weaning her from it would be a terrible ordeal. But, I laid her down for her nap one day on her tummy as an experiment and she did great. I kept doing that just for naps for a week or two and then two nights ago went to tummy for night sleep and she slept 11 hours! Presto, done with the swaddle. I'm so grateful to the Lord that He made it so peaceful!

I think that is all the major updates, so, here are pictures:)

Morning Playtime.

 I chuckle so much about the picture below:) Her hair has been sticking out on the sides recently and it looks so funny. This picture captured it well.

Kate loves playing with the basket that holds her changing stuff. On this particular day she pulled everything out and got bored and proceeded to put her head halfway under the couch. She pulled it out before I could get the picture.

The picture below was after her first night sleeping on her tummy. Her eyes got so swollen from being face down! I think she looks so different then normal, but still super cute:)

Today Lizzy and I took the babies to The Bradford Store to let them play a little bit. It was so fun! Jason and Kate really light up whenever they see each other! They had a lot of fun at this kids play area. The store is so kind to let you just hang out.

Kate went right for these sunglasses when she saw them in the basket. I put them on her and she left them alone.

Flirting with Jason...

He was mesmerized...

First time with a Barbie. Barbie got chewed on.

Way more interested in the paper signs then smiling

I had her sitting here until she reached forward and almost flipped out!

Disgruntled, "the sun is too bright," look:)

Well, there is the end of the giant update!