Happy 7 Months, Melody!

Uh oh, look out, she's mobile!

A friend told me "wait 'til they start going in different directions." That hasn't happened yet. Melody goes in whatever direction her big brother goes. I predict she'll be his shadow for a long time before they start going in different directions. But when that day comes, it's gonna be even crazier than it is now!

As the family saw, Melody was really starting to crawl by Christmas. She has been gradually going from "knee, knee, plop, knee, knee, plop" a la Maggie Simpson, to real crawling.

She's still only about 16 1/2 lbs, and 25 inches. An adorable peewee! Her hair gets higher, though. Those teeth aren't poked through yet, amazingly, given how swollen her gums are. I'm enjoying my toothless baby for as long as I can, since we're still going strong on breastfeeding.

Melody rejects the Mets.

Almost all the mommies in my group are back to work, and in the cold weather, are meetings are fewer and far between, but we're doing our best to stick together and allow the babies to see each other. Melody gets really excited when she sees her little friends. These days, the babies touch each other's faces and pull each other's hair. Good times.

Melody's crankier these days with the teething, but I unleash my secret weapon--Theo. I've taken to saying "Theo, go make Melody laugh." He sticks his face in front of hers and talks to her, he brings her toys, and sure enough, she goes from crying to laughing in seconds. He's funny, too, because if it doesn't work, he gets upset. "Mommy, she's not laughing. I'm not making her laugh," he says with his little scrunched up sad face.

My favorite. Both asleep like angels, the house is quiet...ain't nothing better.

Melody's favorite toy is paper, as Theo's was at her age. But while he safely crumpled it, she eats it, so it's a constant watch with this one.

Clay recently came for a visit, so Melody got a chance to meet her other big brother. She adored him just as much! What is it with her and big brothers?? She couldn't take her eyes off him when he walked in the room. Clay fell in love with her and her baby blues. Who wouldn't?

Theo's such a scootch for pictures these days, this is as close as I could get with a smile--and that was with the bribe of ice cream afterward!

Melody enjoys solid food, but she does get distracted during mealtime. She wants to grab things around her, and if Theo's nearby, forget it. We actually have to get him to come help feed her if we want her to pay any attention at all. Her food is still all homemade--she recently had a cold, so I made chicken soup and pureed it! Only the best for my baby. :)

This girl is big on chit chat. Blahblahblahblahblah all day long! Still mostly "da da," but she did say "ba" once! She's starting to pull herself up to standing. She gets stronger every day. We're holding on, with the recognition that there's not much baby time left.