She's 7 months old already!

This little nugget of love is 7 months old!

She clearly is much bigger than the bear, and she is sitting back to back with the bear because she quite an issue with attacking the bear as we tried to take her picture. She could not sit beside the bear without grabbing it or pushing it down. 

See?

But of course we loved every minute of it.

Noelle is just shy of 20 lbs. Why I don't have amazing gun-show arms from carrying her around is beyond me. She is so adorable and squeezable and cuddly that I would carry her around if she was 50 lbs. OK...that might be a stretch. You get my point.

She is sitting completely on her own. She rolls across the room. She can no longer be trusted on beds or couches while we run to the next room to answer our phones. She loves bath time but is pretty much too big for her whale tub. I think the ducky tub will be inflated for the next bath. 

She eats baby food 3 times per day, usually a serving to a serving and a half. She loves EVERYTHING...I have yet to see a food that she didn't like or had a reaction to. 

She is starting to get curious about feeding herself. We give her puffs on her tray and she picks them up and "puts them in her mouth." I applauded her for doing such a good job, and then when I picked her up out of her chair, there were about 10 puffs under her butt. So...she misses her mouth every time, but she feels like big stuff so that's all that matters! She also loves the rice Mum Mum things (that turn to goo when she gums them down...or as Luke says..."boogers").

She is working on standing while holding onto something, and she really isn't figuring out crawling yet. While on her belly, she will see something she wants and realize that she needs to move to get it, but she starts pushing backwards instead of pulling forward. I am not worried...but of course Luke wants Noelle to be #1 in the class so we have to get working on this!

She makes all kinds of funny sounds and she giggles much more frequently. Her sense of humor is hilarious because you really never know when she is going to think something is funny.

She is just a doll who brings such joy to those around her-- and as her mother, I think that is when I am proudest of her. When she makes my parents smile from ear to ear...when she captivates my colleagues at school...when my students stare at her pictures and say "she's SO cute! I want to babysit!"...when a perfect stranger in a store makes a comment about how beautiful or happy or adorable she is...that is when my soul shines.

Happy 7 months, Baby Girl. Only 5 short months until you are 1 year old. Heaven help me...