Seven Months

Today marks Nicole Huelan's seventh month with us! I know I always write about time feeling like it's flying, and it does, but there's another side too. Though it's "only" been seven months, it feels like she's been with us a whole lot longer.

In the past few weeks, she's almost perfected eating (at vid was taken about 2 weeks ago), can sit up pretty confidently, and wants to crawl on hands and knees (though she stilll resorts to army crawl when she is in a hurry).

The biggest changes, though, are in her personality. She is curious, always looking around and trying new things. She is trying to communicate (grunting counts we think). And when she hears keys jingle in the door, she knows that someone is coming to play with her and looks around expectantly. We love coming home!

Mommy and Ba's night out

Viv and Jason's wedding at the City Club SF. We're so blessed to have been to some great weddings and this was up there with the best of them. One of my favorite afterparties.... don't judge me.

Learn On

Huelan is just a 10 days shy of being seven months old, and in the past 3-4 weeks her growth has just exploded. It's great fun to watch her physically grow, gaining length and strength, and add new skills. Her legs are getting buff from all the boucing she's been doing in her hew jumperoo, and she gets around pretty efficiently now so we have to keep a close eye on her. She's very curious, and is especially interested in trying to find out what's under the couch, coffee table, and TV stand. She has mastered working her rattles, and we've found that she loves books (to eat). We challenge her by putting obstacles in front of her and watch her try to figure out how to get where she wants. She's kinda like one of those Roomba robot sweepers- when she bumps into something, she backs up and tries to approach it from another direction. Endless enterainment for us, which is why we had her.

Even more fun to watch is the growing that she's doing mentally. She recognizes multiple people, and her favorites are greeted with big smile or laugh and excited leg kicks and arm waves. Her concept of object permanance is forming, and she looks for people and things when we hide them. She is always down for a good game of Peek a Boo. I think that she recognizes when we call her name, which can be confusing because we regularly call her by at least 3 different names.

Along with these changes have come the first real necessity for parenting. Most of what we've done up to this point has been to meet basic physical needs- food and comfort, stuff that we felt we were just getting the hang of. Now, with her baby brain forming, we're got a vastly more difficult responsibility- helping her balance her first concepts of possibilities vs. boundries. And right now, all that she sees are possibilities.

Some recent pics here.

Free Will

Been away from the blog for a while, but it's been a busy month. And what a difference a month makes! When we last posted, Huelan was about 5 months old. Now that she's 6, she has a whole new bag of tricks. Though she is obviously still a wee baby, she is developig her own sense of what she wants to do. There is not turning back now. I was stunned to see her army crawl across her blanket to get to her toy basket, tip it over, and go for her favorites. And she laughs like crazy.

With her newfound mobility, she's been exploring every crevice. If we let her, she'll crawl across the rug and try to shimmy herself under the couch or coffee table, her favorite spots. Looks like it's time to babyproof the living room.

In addition to the physical changes, this month she's become a lot more interactive. At this age, she constantly wants to look around and interact with stuff. She recognizes people, places, and toys. The babyfood thing is going well; she's not too picky (like her dad), though she sometimes makes a face at first (like her mom).

She checked in at the doctor last week and got her shots, which she tolerated very well. She weighted in at 16lbs,6oz (60th %tile) and almost 27inches (90th%tile!).

We've defnintely got her out and about this summer- hope to see you!

Here are the most recent pics.