7 Months Old!!!

Cole is 7 months old today.  I have NO IDEA where the past 7 months have gone.  It seemed to take a really long time for Quinn to reach this milestone, but here we are already with Cole!

We took CJ for his 6 month shots a week and a half today and he also got weighed and measured then as well.  He weighs 16.6 lbs and is 67.2 cm long.  He's dropped down a bit from his 50th percentile curve, but the doctor said that he looks healthy and is clearly thriving, so she's not worried.  He'll get weighed again at his 9 month appointment, and there aren't any shots that he needs for that one.  Q and CJ both got their first dose of their flu vaccines then as well and were total champs!  So that was doctor appointment #1...fast forward a week and we were back at the doctor regarding Quinn's skin.  We had been thinking that she had eczema, but it never has really gotten better and we've been dealing with it for the past 18 months or so.  Now we're just waiting to hear from the dermatologist at CHEO and an allergist for her referral appointments.  We're really anxious to hopefully get to the bottom of her issue and nip it in the bud.  Right now we have to keep on bathing her every other day and making sure to keep her skin hydrated with cream.  She doesn't seem to be bothered by it all, so that's a good thing!

We FINALLY seem to have gotten CJ a little more used to solids.  He was definitely not a fan of carrots, green beans, or parsnips - all of those options elicited gagging.  Finally he seemed to really like the apple/pear with cinnamon combination - thank goodness!  Cinnamon seems to be the key to his heart, as he also likes sweet potato that was cooked with cinnamon.  Phew!

Baby Cereal - The Feeding Saga Continues

So it's been 5 mornings now that we've been feeding Cole rice cereal.  He's making a little bit of progress, but for the most part he still isn't so keen on being fed.  Yesterday he was actually starting to open his mouth for the spoon, but you still had to get past the flailing arms to get to his mouth.  I guess the good thing is that he's our second baby, so we're a bit more used to the "what not to dos" when it comes to feeding babies, so he doesn't get too messy!  Basically, we know not to put too much on the spoon, not to have too much cereal made, and how to quickly jam a spoon into a baby's mouth and clean up the extra with the spoon at the same time.  Quite the mastery lesson!

Cereal face combined with a "wtf is this?!" face

Quinn is doing very well with manual tasks.  She's getting better at drawing pictures and loves to play with her magnadoodles.  The other day she actually drew something that actually resembled a dragon (well, as much as a 2 year old can draw a dragon on a magnadoodle).  For Christmas, she got an easel that is a chalkboard on one side and has a roll of paper on the other.  This is definitely an item that she loves to play with!!! It's also great to not have to have all of her colouring implements on the main floor (although there is a sizeable tote with crayons and colouring books up on the main floor).  It's definitely a neat experience to watch her use crayons, chalk, markers, and paints to discover her inner artist.  One of the things that I'd like to do this year is have a "craft day" one day a week after her nap and before dinner.  Maybe I'll finally peek at all of the Pinterest pins that I have regarding kids' crafts!!

Quinn is also a total princess.  She received a sweet crown from her friend's birthday party and loves to wear it all the time (so much so that I hunted the local Target for replacements and when I couldn't find them, her Nana shipped some up from Nova Scotia!).  Her movie of choice lately has been the new Disney movie "Frozen".  She's a big fan and loves to sing the songs and parrot back dialogue.  For anyone who hasn't seen it, you really should go and see it!  Even if you don't have young kids, it's great and the music is fantastic.

Cole seems to be in the thick of his 6 month growth spurt.  He's been waking more often to eat (6x the other night and 4x last night, including over midnight - Happy New Year!) and isn't very content playing on his own.  His naps have also been all over the place, but today was a better day, so here's hoping that tonight is a better night!  I would love for Cole to go back to getting up 2x a night to eat and to kick this darn habit of pre-midnight wakeups.

Say "cheese"!

Cole the doctor

Big smiles from our growing boy

Super close up

Oh! And I almost forgot - Cole has been rolling over since the beginning of October (first from tummy to back, then from back to tummy), but he really only favoured going from back to tummy.  Well, that is no more!  Now he is a rolling machine - half the time you put him on the floor, turn around to do a task (like putting away clothes in the closet) and he's halfway across the room!  It's quite amusing to see.