7 months!

Time is just ticking away! I have lots of pictures and a few updates for this last month. I'd like to end on a high note, so I'll start with the most challenging thing. Just when I thought his sleeping habits couldn't get any worse, they have ;)  Oh my goodness he struggles. I don't know what to do about it either. I still don't know if I'm doing something wrong and if so, what it is and how to do it right. He just really has a hard time going to sleep. He fights naps, but bedtimes have gotten much more difficult as well. And he still wakes up several times a night - which for the most part I can deal with. Lately, he's been waking up often right after we put him to sleep and screaming - whether he's being held or not. And usually when he wakes up he'll eat and go right back to sleep - lately he's been not falling asleep and or waking up when I lay him back in his crib and crying for awhile. He wakes up really early too, so I've been bringing him in our bed then so he can lay and babble and then fall back asleep for a little while. I really miss when he'd wake up in his crib and I'd wake up to him cooing and talking to himself. So awesome. He has been a bad sleeper his whole life, I think. The more people I talk to the more I'm realizing he isn't the only kid like this, which helps, but I just want to know how I can help him be better and or know that this is not how it's going to be for the next 5 years. Ugh.  But normally he is just so darn happy. He is so cute and fun when he's not needing or fighting sleep! I still think he sleeps adorably when he does...

He also has lately started really fighting things he doesn't want - like getting in his car seat. It's quite hilarious to me. He arches his back and locks his legs straight and you can NOT get him to lay in his car seat. I had just fed him and he fell asleep on our trip home from Denver. I went to lay him back in his car seat and he started to do his thing, but then fell asleep, like the above picture. And stayed like that for a few minutes while I worked on buckling him in.

He does look so darn sweet when he sleeps. Why does he not realize sleep is AWESOME??
So yeah, he's also been tricky to change diapers and get dressed. He's started revolting against that and trying to flip over and he'll kick his legs so what should take 10 seconds to put pants on takes several minutes sometimes.

The babysitter thing seems to be figured out for now. My good friend Emily, who was doing it temporarily, has crazily offered to watch him, along with her other 3 young boys. She's a rockstar. And she sends me cute pictures of him. He seems to mostly do pretty good for her. I feel happy about it all.

I think one of my favorite things about this new age is the food thing. It is so fun watching him experience new tastes and watch him get better at using his hands at eating. He is actually EATING now. He would here and there last month but it's much more legit now. Taking bites of things and chewing and swallowing. And he seems to be a pretty good eater for now - as far as what he likes. He loves cucumbers still, and grapes. I gave him some pieces of my honey lime chicken enchiladas a couple weeks ago and he LOVED that. That was the first thing I had given him that he really went after for more and more. He loved apricots for the time we had those in the house. And he loved mango too. That was awesome.

He has 7 teeth officially. He's been holding at that number for a little bit. The first 7 seemed to come fast and furiously. He has started to get excited about peek a boo and patty cake this month. He likes pony boy as well. He giggles  at so many things. I LOVE it. He giggles when the dogs come around him. He giggles if other people are laughing. That is pretty entertaining. He actually gets some pretty good belly laughs going too, at random things. He loves being thrown in the air. He can stand by himself holding on to things. Not forever but for a good bit. No crawling yet. He loves the book I Love You Through and Through. We read that a lot before bed time. Obviously that routine isn't really making a whole lot of difference, but that is one book he consistently lets me read through. He's less interested in getting through books now though - he just likes to flip pages back and forth.

Here's some more random cuteness.

Screen shot of a snap chat when Tanner took him to the lake for a birthday party with some ward friends.

 

So serious.

That's better.

He still loves our fishies.

Gus is so good with him. And such a little cuddle bug.

Harvey is just so much fun. It amazes me every day how overwhelmingly in love with him I am. Now I'm starting to feel like time is moving too quickly. I love this age right now! If he could just learn to sleep, it would be absolutely perfect - theretofore, he probably won't, and that's ok.  We'll keep him anyway!