Paige is 7 months old!

It's September which means Paige is 7 months old!  She is so big.  I can't believe she's growing so fast.  She is at a fabulous age where everything is fun and new.  She is so curious.  Plus, she is learning so many new tricks!

She is eating lots of new foods.  She still loves her pureed food, but we have added a few finger foods too.  She finally figured out how to eat the puffs.  It took almost a month for her to learn to pick them up and get them in to her mouth.  She got to try feeding herself green beans, which she didn't care for.  Scrambled eggs, which she also did not like (bummer so far).  And even though she liked pureed sweet potatoes, she didn't like them mashed (not pureed) and thick.  She still isn't great at eating but we are getting there.  She might be addicted to puffs.  They are more of a pacifier than her pacifier.  I can actually get her to stop crying just by shaking the bottle.  She is still drinking her bottles too.  5 ounces at 6, 9, 12, 4, and 7.  Not too bad.

She is pretty much sleeping about 11 hours at night.  Mostly 7:30pm-6:30am.  Give or take about 30 minutes.  We are super excited when she sleeps past 6:30, but it's not too often.  But last month we were just wanting 6:30 instead of 6am.  So it's progress.  She naps in the morning twice, after each bottle.  That's always a toss up.  Mostly it's 30 minutes, about 2 hours after she wakes up.  Every now and then she'll sleep for an hour or longer one of those times.  Then she usually sleeps from about 1pm-3pm or later which is her good long nap.  Every now and then she wakes early, but she seems to do ok if she gets less sleep.  But, the more she sleeps, the more she sleeps.  Sometimes it makes for a long day.  She still isn't a cry it out baby, though we have sort of tried a few times.  So instead, I get up every now and then at night to put her paci back in.  But I know it won't last forever.  Sometimes she is up for about an hour at night, for no real reason.  Those nights stink.  But it is only once or twice a week.  

She is still in 6 month clothes.  She weighs approximately 16 1/2 pounds, which I think is about 50%.   She seems like she's so much bigger, chubbier mostly, than Harper was at this age.  But I finally looked back and checked Harper and they are almost the same weight.  Harper was a bit chubby too, but Paige has like 17 rolls on each leg.  She has major pigeon toes and can't walk without stepping on her other foot.  It makes her crawling interesting too because she doesn't really use her feet/toes to push because they are turned sideways.  But in other news, she is seriously crawling!  She started off army crawling last month and has since gotten quick.  She likes to crawl all over the house and follow Harper around.  She loves to crawl under the coffee table and play with all the stuff, but she always gets stuck and starts crying.  Yet she keeps at it.  She also likes trying to crawl over and pull up on something, and has yet to learn that she isn't good enough to stand up or pull up on her own.  She has fallen many times and hurt herself and has yet to learn her lesson.  It has made life a little more chaotic because she always wants down to crawl, but she can't really be left alone.  She does love her walker because she can "walk" pretty well in that.  Plus, she and Harper go tons of places in that.  Harper pushes her or guides her and helps her when she gets stuck. 

She plays with toys some, but mostly just wants things that aren't toys.  Necklaces, water bottles, keys.  She will still play with her doll and her Sofie, and a few other baby things, but that's about it.  She more interested in going and exploring.  She has started babbling.  She is mostly just using the sound "ba ba" over and over, but she is constantly talking.  She still shrieks a ton and is pretty vocal when she wants something and doesn't want to wait anymore.  When she gets fussy, she mostly just wants to be held.  I have learned how to do a lot of things one handed.  She just kind of sits on my hip and seems content to be with me.  I love it but man it's hard to get anything done.  She finally made it through an entire church service this month.  She was about 30 minutes behind on her schedule and I think that helped her make it past 10:30 to 11 so we could stay in church the whole time.  They were all shocked and so were we!  

Paige is still a huge "family girl".  She's pretty much stuck with the three of us.  She is always happier with mom.  Her comfort and safe place, especially when she's fussy.  She always has a smile for dad. He takes such good care of her.  And she always wants to be wherever Harper is.  These sisters are going to be best friends forever.  Paige will follow her anywhere, do anything with her, rarely complains when Harper is all over her and kissing her and yanking her back.  Paige will smile for most people, but she seems really to love her family.  And Harper usually has no qualms about telling the rest of the world that Paige loves her best.  It may be true these days!

*Side note... Harper is such a good big sister.  She has started to help out even more than she used to. If Paige is crawling somewhere or pulling up on something, she will go and get her down and redirect her.  She always gets her unstuck in her walker.  She gives her puffs and water.  She gives her toys, keeps her from having the wrong toys, etc.  She has even gotten really good at feeding her in the car which is such a big help for us!  We love her so much and we are so thankful for her love for Paigey!