all about mac: 7 months

 

Weight:   18+ pounds
Height: 26+"
Health: Back to her healthy little self after a short head cold that really didn't amount to anything.  However, she did develop her first diaper rash.  I'm assuming this is connected to her eating solid foods and her little butt isn't quite used to that yet. 
Nicknames:  Miss Mac, peanut, Macadoodle, kid, Mackey, doodle, squeaky, little lamb
Teething: Still no teeth yet.
Clothing:  Wearing 9 month size in Carter's and 6-12 months in Gap. 
Diapers: Cloth diapering is still going well but we had to switch to disposables for a short time so we could get a handle on her diaper rash.  You can't use Butt Paste or really any other barrier creams with cloth diapers so our washing machine got a break for a week or two.  All I have to say about disposables is HOLY BLOW OUTS!  We raaaarely got blow outs with the cloth diapers… poop would go up to the top but usually not venture out.  Disposables on the other hand?  Blow out every time.  Multiple outfits a day.  So frustrating.  Let's just say we were happy to go back to cloth. Eating:  She's eating solid foods once a day in the evening.  She is beginning to like it!  She's had carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, spinach, pumpkin, banana, avacado   Sleeping (night):  She is sleeping very well.  We have our routine: feed solid meal, bath time, bottle, read a book, lay her down, give her her binkie, kiss her and say goodnight!  Then we walk out of the room and she falls asleep.  Pretty impressive, in my opinion.  Part of it is that she is a really good baby/sleeper.  The other part is that we worked really hard to get her to this point.  We did sleep training in the beginning and then we worked on getting her to fall asleep on her own in her crib.  We would rock her until she was very sleepy, then lay her in the crib where she would fuss a little bit, then we would bounce the mattress or pat her until she worked herself to sleep.  It got to the point where she would fall asleep on her own, without bouncing, patting, or rocking!  She occasionally wakes up in the night but we just ignore her let her work it out and she goes back to sleep.  Don't get me wrong, I still rock her and sing to her and hold her, but she's become an independent sleeper and we're thankful for that.
Sleeping (naps):  Still sticking to her 45 minute naps but I'd rather a short napper than a short overnight sleeper.
Social:  She still stares people down when she first meets them, but other than that, she's very social.  She definitely recognizes people she knows when they come over and that's adorable.
Likes:  Going on walks, sitting on the front porch swing, Cozy, putting toys in her mouth, grabbing our faces, talking and looking at me while I nurse her, reading books, singing, sitting up, rolling all over the place, being tickled.
She loves music and dancing!  If there is music on, someone starts clapping to a beat, one of us starts singing or beatboxing (Ehren), she starts dancing.  She will stop what she's doing to dance.  It's pretty adorable.    Dislikes: Waiting for milk to let down, waiting for food to come to her high chair.
New this month:  Hitting things against her head, dancing, said "mama" on October 18th, resting her head on her Violet toy and us, sleeps on her tummy now, she has started pushing up to quadruped (all fours) and even started rocking, got her first diaper rash.   Fun things we did:  

•  Had a playdate with 7 kids while the dads went on an overnight canoeing trip
• Went to Books and Babies at the Lawrence Public Library
•  Watched a lot of Royals games!  Ehren and McCauley (both born in April) are the exact same age as when the Royals went to the World Series in 1985
•  Homecoming weekend for Ehren's college buddies
• First trip to Ikea with my cousins (from Nebraska) and my cousin's little girl
• Mommy ran in her first 5K ever!
• 2nd Annual Mother/Daughters weekend
• Schaake's Pumpkin Patch
• First Halloween
• Mom and Dad had a weekend away in Tulsa for a wedding and grandma babysat!

Mom: Well, my 5k training didn't get too far.  The farthest I ran was 2 miles due to my little one waking up from her short naps (and lack of energy when dad gets home from work).  Before the race, I hadn't ran in about a year and a half.  My goal went from being sub-30 minutes to just running and not walking during the 3+ miles.  And that's what I did!  I ran the whole time and finished in 31 minutes.  Slower than a turtle but not bad considering my poor training and not being a "runner".  The most empowering part of it?  Nursing McCauley before the race and afterwards.  I had this vision of feeding her before and after a long time ago and I'm proud of myself for accomplishing it!

Dad:  Ehren ran the race as well, however he sprained his ankle pretty bad two days before the 5k.  Even with a sprained ankle, he beat me.  

My old college and grad school roomie got married in Tulsa and it was a great excuse for Ehren and I to have our first night away from Mac.  It was seriously the best.  The car ride down was fun for talking, the wedding and reception was awesome and then we got to sleep without being disturbed or threat of being disturbed.  We also gained an extra hour of sleep with daylight saving and had the most satisfying breakfast I've ever had.  We were so thankful for time alone without distraction.  However, we still fell asleep before we should have and talked about Mac a majority of the time.  #parents

What we are looking forward to:  Everything.  This age is so much fun and everyday is different.  

This month in pictures:

Her new favorite place is her daddy's shoulders... where she uses his hair as her reins.  And occasionally chews on it. 
 

McCauley + food at high chair = Cozy looking for crumbs.

 McCauley and her new friend Jace.  He loooved her. 

Campsite off the Kansas River for the guys.

Feed me.

Mother/daughter pics are the sweetest.

Breakfast at Milton's with mom, dad, and Derek.

Ahh, the days when she would continue her short naps with me in bed.  A great excuse for me to catch a snooze.

Ehren met us at Books and Babies after he got off work.

The guys came back from the bars as I came back from my sister's house.  Greg and Derek were supporting Ehren as he held Mac.
 

Baby cousins born 4 months apart.  

McCauley loves IKEA!

Her excitement got the best of her.. time for a nap.

Harper and McCauley playing with the new toy.

My other fur baby. 

 

I'm smiling even though shots are coming my way!

She is very modest when she nurses.  "No pictures, please".

No, Mac, that's not how you use it.

Um, please stop growing up.

There are no words for these next three pictures.

My little sous chef.  Hopefully she will love to cook like the three generations before her.

Royals are World Series bound!

Flashback to 1985 when I was at the World Series Victory Parade with my parents.

McCauley's ready to run in the 5k!  Look at those legs... totally runner's legs.

My favorite thing to do is spy on Ehren and Mac via video monitor while he reads her bedtime stories.  I mean, how precious is this?

Ready to run!

Mac and her babysitter, aka grandma.

Post race smiles.

Mother/daughter selfie.  I love my little training buddy.

Cheers!  Don't spill any beer on the baby.

First swing in the park behind our house.

Besides our wedding day kiss, this is the second sweetest kiss ever recorded in photo.

This reminds me I should finish my nursery blog post...

Dinner at Merchant's on our Mother/Daughters weekend.  Last year I was about 14 weeks pregnant!

Hey there, sweet cheeks.

Sup?

Hello.

Gotta hydrate.  And yes, she really does drink water out of this.

Time to stuff diapers!

Pumpkin Patch!

Her face is just so darn cute in this picture.

Pumpkin skins... organic and tasty.

Pretty sure we all knew this was coming...

Here is our little lamb.  I hot glued cotton balls to a onesie... like hundreds of them.

We went downtown where all the trick-or-treaters were.  She was not amused.  She also plucked half of the cotton balls off in about 1 hour.

Ahhh, our night away.

My old roomie, Addie, is a dentist.  Of course there was floss and toothpaste in the goodie bags at the hotel!  So cute and thoughtful.

Best. Breakfast. Ever.  Was it anything special?  No, it was just First Watch, but we pretty much ordered half of the menu.  Omelet.  Biscuits and gravy.  Pancakes.  Potatoes.  Toast.  Coffee.  Etc.

We stopped through Coffeyville on our way back to Lawrence.  I went to school there my first two years of college.  We had to find a house I lived in at one time.  I don't even remember those trees being there and there definitely wasn't aisle 7 of Toys R Us in the front yard.  I think I paid $100 a month for rent... ?!

Front porch swing snuggles.

I love when she plays with my ring and I can't wait to tell her the story of how it got on my finger someday!

This is what I have to do when peanut wakes up and I barely get through my workout.  Set her on the bathroom floor, give her some toiletries (ya know, mascara, sample shampoos, tampons, etc.) and shower as fast as I can.  If she starts to get upset, I start singing "The Star Spangled Banner".  It's her favorite song.

My friend Beth came over with two of her girls.  Little Lucy (almost a year and a half old) wanted to hold "the baby".... who weighs about 3 pounds less than her.  Priceless.

So cute.

Ehren's parents came to town and we went to lunch at Merchant's.  She was fussy, not wanting to nurse (which is weird) so I decided that I would just start giving her some of my polenta.  She LOVED it.  Leaning in, moaning, and grabbing for it.  Our waitress even brought out another piece just for her.  Girlfriend's got good taste and I'm all about her eating what we eat. 

 

Happy 7 months to this little beauty!