7 Months!!

Lila Jane! You are seven months old today!! How in the world did that happen? I clearly recall telling you for several months in a row to STOP getting so big. I guess I forgive you for not listening. I know things are getting bad when I start saying things like, "When you were just a baby..." and "When you were just a little girl..." As much as I miss that little baby that used to live here, though, I absolutely LOVE the big girl that lives here now!
You transitioned beautifully into your new room at school. You LOVE that they feed you real food all the time! You are definitely the best eater they've seen in a while (or maybe ever?) at your age! You've kind of started a trend in your room. As other mommies see all the food you eat, they realize their babies are big enough for table food, too, so they are all eating with you! You will eat pretty much ANYthing they put in front of you, and you love to feed your SELF! You get fistfuls of food and just pop them right in.

At dinner one night this week, I gave you green beans. You reached over the pieces I put on your tray and grabbed some big whole pieces out of the bowl! You definitely wanted the bigger pieces! You would pick them with your chubby little fist, suck the long end off of them, then put the short piece that was left back on your high chair tray. I thought it was funny because you did it over and over again!

You're doing better and better with your sippy cup, too. I don't take any bottles to school anymore, as you're only taking your cup there. We give you your cup with meals at home, too, but I still cave and give you a bottle in the mornings and at bedtime. In the morning, you're just so hungry that you get frustrated with the sippy cup. And at bedtime, I give you the bottle because I want to, not so much because I think you'd care. As fast as you're growing up, Mommy still loves that sweet snuggle time with your bedtime bottle!! I promise I won't let you go to kindergarten with it!
You're getting SO big! You're definitely out of your 3-6 month clothes, and I have all of them boxed up. You can wear 6-9 month AND 9-12 month clothes easily. I had bought a lot of 12 month clothes for you to wear this fall, but I'm not really sure you'll still fit into them by the time the cooler weather gets here! I've been visiting lots of yard sales finding treasures for you to wear for the next year or two, so you'll be all set no matter!
Your big 7 month birthday started off with a BANG! The chocolate oatmeal no-bake cookies I made for your party might have been a bit foreboding. I went in to get you out of bed this morning and you had a POOP ball stuck to your foot!! I cracked up laughing! I still don't know how it happened! I cleaned you up and fed you breakfast. You ate a WHOLE 6 oz toddler jar of Cinnamon Raisins and Pears. You LOVED it! I had to clean you up AGAIN and get you dressed in your pretty party dress for your Birthday at school. (Ok, we don't actually have parties every month, but I do bring in treats for her teachers and pretend we're having parties!) I popped you into your car seat and we dashed off to school. You've gotten into a bad habit of falling asleep on the way to school, so I always reach back into the car seat to rub your head and pat your face to try to help keep you awake. Today, I rubbed your cheek, and it was WET! I grabbed a cloth wipe out of the bag in the seat beside me, and reached back to dry the drool off your face. But when I brought my arm back around, it was covered in Cinnamon Raisins and Pears!! OH NO!! You had choked on some phlegm and spit up the ENTIRE 6 OUNCES of STICKY baby food!! In the car!! In your freshly washed car seat!! I almost died.

I knew I couldn't do anything about it in the car, so I got you to school, and carried you into the office VERY carefully in your car seat. If I hadn't been so flustered, I would've taken a picture. I can't even describe the sticky piles of food all over your face, seat, DRESS, arms, etc. I dropped you off in the office, ran to your classroom, and grabbed washcloths, clothes, soap, and rags. I pulled you carefully out of the seat and pretty much bathed you right in the office floor. It was SO yucky! Luckily we have a washer/dryer at school, so I was able to was your clothes and car seat cover right then and there. Lila Jane, life with you is definitely an adventure!

In completely unrelated news... there are some changes going on at the Cundiff house! My front flower beds are finally filling in and looking GREAT!
Mim and Pop gifted us with some AWESOME lawn furniture to go on the front porch with your new swing!
And we got new appliances in the kitchen!! We debated long and hard. We were somewhat torn between a nice vacation and appliances, and the responsible side of us won out. The purchase was long overdue, and we're really excited about the new range and fridge! I forgot to get a pic of the fridge, unfortunately, but it's SUPER nifty!!
With the new pieces, we did some rearranging, and decided we now have room for a work table in the kitchen. Our kitchen is laid out TERRIBLY and we've never had a good workspace at all. We eliminated the "eat-in" kitchen table, as we've only been eating in the dining room, anyway.

Mim and Pop went on a BIG adventure with us to Cincinnati last weekend, and we hit up IKEA for this nice new work table. Ok, we might've gotten carried away and bought a couple hundred dollars worth of other stuff, too, but we actually went for the table.
Finally, in more un-un-un-related news... :-)
Granny and Papa have been hard at work!! Lila Jane LOVES their embroidered handiwork, so she sent them a bag of goodies to decorate for her. They sent back ALL KINDS of cuteness, but you know I'm a bit quirky. My fave had to be this SOCK MONKEY onesie!!! Oh my gosh, at the vintage cuteness!! And did I mention that Lila Jane just happens to own some matching Sock Monkey babylegs leg warmers that are SO cute with it?

I can't even stand the cuteness. THANK YOU, PAPA AND GRANNY!!! We love all of her embroidered items! We use them ALL the time, and get tons of sweet comments every time!
And remember how when I was pregnant, I was pretty adamant that I did NOT want all the pink stuff and frilly stuff and bows and lace and such. Well, guess who's had a change of heart. I still don't do much of the super frilly stuff, but Lila Jane wears dresses all the time, and RARELY leaves home without a bow on her head! Yet again, she's been the trendsetter in her room, and the other mommies are saying, "If Lila Jane has enough hair for a bow, then little so-and-so CERTAINLY has enough!" HA!! The bow-stealer in the room has moved on up to the toddler room, so we are full force with our bows now. Lila loves to reach up on top of her head and yank them out, so I've found that they last a wee bit longer if I put her few little hairs into a ponytail and attach the bows to the ponytail. It's ridiculous and hysterical, and I love it.

Lila Jane, thank you for being Mommy's baby doll and letting me dress you up! Thank you for the waves and squeezy drooly hugs. Thank you for laughing at me every time I try to get you to say, "Mama". Thank you for yakking your breakfast on the way to school, and not somewhere else. Thank you for all of our deep conversations, and for not crying every time I sing to you. Thank you for hanging on to that bedtime bottle, just for me. I love you to bits, little bits.