Seven Months

Stella's seven-months-old now. On the 25th of every month, especially around 5PM, I get kind of emotional, remembering seeing Stella for the first time, holding her, thinking of everything that's happened since then. I'm sure that will fade to more of an annual event over time, but it still gets me every month.


Seven months and feeling fine!

On this latest 25th, I took Stella to Seward Park for a walk. As usual, she slept through most of the three mile loop, but she woke up near the end, and I decided it would be fun to see if she liked to swing. Sadly, I have no photographic evidence of the very first swing ride when she was cautiously joyful. This second ride was all fun and games:


Stella's second swing ride

She's also getting old enough to ride in her stroller facing forward--whenever she's managed to stay awake through the car ride.


Big girl stroller!

Of course, the added stimulation seems more taxing. On today's walk, we didn't do the full loop, just caught a glimpse of the lake, some ducks, some dogs and a heron.


A little tuckered out, but not too tired to smile for the camera

Stella's still scooting around commando-style, with her one arm pull action. She's started getting on her hands and knees more often, even rocking a little bit from time to time, but no knee action yet.

The other thing that's been a little cute-sad as Stella gets older is putting her to sleep. Generally, it goes pretty smoothly: she gets tired, we feed her, maybe change her diaper and lay her down. But if she doesn't think she's ready, she'll fling herself around like a pinball. She's even gotten to where she'll pull down the bumper to look out at us longingly.


Let me out!

When she's not using the bumper as an excellent dramatic prop, she puts it to good use to kick back and relax:


Life of luxury

It's funny when your pregnant what advice you hear and really take to and what you decide to use your own judgement on. For example, the guy who checked our carseat installation advised against having a mirror since it could fall off and hit them in the head. No mirror in the car. The advice on bumpers is more mixed, but we decided to go for it. They're cute, Stella hardly was in her crib when she was young enough for them to be any kind of hazard, and now they actually do stop her from bonking her head. Of course, the time when the bumper will move from being a prop to a stepladder probably isn't too far off, so we'll just have to enjoy them while we can.....