7 Months!

Shad's biggest accomplishment this month has been learning how to crawl!  He is everywhere and into everything, as expected.  He sometimes follows us and is starting to learn how to come when we call him from another room.  He can get back into a sitting position and pull himself up to standing at furniture.  He also is good at getting up in the plank/ army crawl position:

We've had to take the bassinet attachment out of the pack and play and still need to lower his crib mattress.  We find him either kneeling or standing in his crib every morning and after every nap.  

He has also learned how to climb the stairs!  

He's even taken his first roll backwards down the stairs.  He was so fast and we didn't realize he could climb that well!  Luckily it was just down to the carpet instead of down to the kitchen floor.  We have since found 2 baby gates which are helping tremendously...

As previously mentioned, Shad got his first tooth this month, and about 2 weeks later he got his second tooth!  Thankfully his nose quit running and he seemed to feel better once the second came through.  They're kinda hard to see, but both are showing in this picture:

He can now get his pacifier into his mouth on his own.  Whether we hand it to him or he finds it on the floor or tethered to his shirt, he is able to maneuver it and get it in his mouth every time.  He still needs to figure out how to do it when he's half asleep in the dark though...

He has discovered that dropping things off his high chair makes noise.  We are trying not to let it turn into a game since it's not all that fun for us...

He is very alert and aware.  He notices every sound.  He turns towards geese, trains, trucks, and motorcycles he hears out the windows, trying to figure out what is making the sound.

He still plays with his hair, his clothes, a blanket, the couch, or his ear when he's eating and tired.  He was even pulling his own hair the other day.  He'd grab it between his fingers and pull, over and over and over.  He's definitely his father's son!

The past few weeks he's been squinting a lot, especially when he smiles.  It is the cutest thing ever.  We love it!  

He's been exploring his voice and making even more grunting, squealing, cooing and babbling noises.  He's been smacking his lips a lot and seems to do it more when we do it with him.  He may be starting to imitate!

 

He is doing much better with eating solids.  He still won't eat enough off of a spoon for a full feeding, but he likes sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash, and is enjoying graham crackers, mini gold fish, and the little Gerber puffed grain things. 

I spiked his hair for the first time.  He barely has enough for it but it was still super cute.

We had our first snow day!  (At least this fall, I don't remember whether it snowed in the spring after his birth or not...)

We pretty much stayed in, wore sweats, watched a movie, and had hot chocolate...

(My boarding boots were out because I had to go rescue a bunch of stuff from our garden and they're the only snow boots I have.  He thought they were pretty cool... Oh no, we're not brainwashing...)  ;)

Jeff let him suck on some of his birthday jerky, and he LOVED it!

Since he became mobile as well as more daring, he is getting more and more bumps and bruises.  Here is the result from his first hard bump- you can see the red marks on his cheek and side forehead.  Luckily they didn't turn out as bad as I thought they would:

Few favorite pictures this month:

Playing with cousin Tylie:

They were both LOVING the tissue paper from Nikki and Spencer's wedding gifts:

And nap time while Amy and Ty were babysitting, always a favorite time:

He got stuck under the bed while crawling around, and even though it was sad and he was mad, I couldn't help but take a picture... Poor guy...

Playing on the stairs:

Happy after a nap:

Sucking on his crib, also a common occurrence:

Cutie Pie:

I had to take one of his huge hood covering his face.  

(We ran in the store while it was raining... and yes it's a dollar store...)

He is starting to love the dishwasher.  He is fascinated whenever I clang things around as I empty it and push dishes away.

 

  

Shad and his Dad smacking their lips together.  I wish I'd gotten a video too.  So cute.