I feel like time is going by so fast with Sammie. I want to hit a pause button (or, at the very least, a slow-motion button). This little girl is a constant delight. I love watching her grow and develop. She is getting more fun every day!
One of the milestones she's reached lately is eating table food. With my other kids, we used baby foods for the first little while but before I started with Sammie I'd been hearing a lot about 'Baby Led Weaning' and I was curious. I looked into it and the more I read, the more I was sold. No baby food? Baby feeds herself? Baby has a better chance of growing up not being a picky eater? Done! You can read more about it
here.
So far Sammie has done a great job with eating. She's tried a variety of foods and hasn't had a problem with any of them! Sure, she doesn't always eat them (sometimes she just sucks on them, or mushes them up and then smashes the mess around) but she's having a positive experience and I love watching her. Plus, how adorable does she look eating? Here she is trying out a melon slice:
Dehydrated apple slices are a fun snack for her. She can get a good grip on them and she loves to gnaw, gum, and suck on those little suckers.
Using the whole fist approach:
Loving it!
Avacado!
(My older kids will NOT eat a raw avacado but Sammie LOVES them, I'm telling you, there's something to this baby led weaning thing.)
Gross post-avacado face!
Mmmm, banana!
While I do follow the baby led weaning philosophy this time around I do still give her a bit of rice cereal every morning. Usually we have pretty busy mornings and I'm not always in a place to feed her mid-morning so by mixing rice cereal with formula I feel like she fills her tummy enough to help us make it into the afternoon (plus, I do kind of love the way her face looks when it's all messy from being fed).
See, cute right?
Another milestone that Sammie has (finally) reached is rolling over. She is getting really good and fast at rolling back to front. She's not as good at rolling front to back but she's making progress and I am happy to see it. Of course I don't have any pictures or video to document her rolling skills, but trust me, she's getting it. And it's fun to watch (unless she gets angry because she can't get back over).
We watched a little boy the other weekend who is only a month older than Sammie. If I thought Sammie was big, then this boy is gigantic! Seriously, he could easily be mistaken for 15 months or something. He and Sammie are at the same stages of movement. They were both able to roll a little, they could both grab and pull, and they could both scoot around on their backs (unintentionally of course, but still, they get around). They were fascinated with each other - and the dog. I was dying laughing watching the two of them "play".
Sammie has also recently discovered a love of her feet. This is my FAVORITE! I love watching babies play with their feet. Such discovery! Sammie reaches for her feet at every available opportunity.
Smiling for the camera and playing with mommy.
Oh wait, what are those?
(Side note - are you noticing my new carpet? We got new carpet about a week ago so I no longer hesitate to lay Sammie down on the floor. I believe that this is part of the reason she has recently started rolling over - she gets waaaay more floor time on the new, clean floor. We have one more week and then our dining room carpet will also be a thing of the past - turned into hardwood. I will for sure post about it when it's all done. Be excited, it's glorious!)
Sammie now has two little bottom teeth. As with all my kids, Sammie is a pretty mellow teether. There wasn't much fuss or really any indication that she was teething, they just kind of appeared one day. They're still pretty little and when her mouth is open she's usually covering them up with her tounge so they're pretty impossible to get a picture of at this point, but they're in there. I like that she has teeth, but because they're hard to see I can still get a big gummy smile (oh, how I'll miss the gummy smile when it's gone forever).
I thought if I could get a shot of her upside-down that I'd be able to capture those two little teeth, but no luck. They're pretty great shots of her though.
These are a few that I snapped today to commemorate her seventh month. My little Sammie Sue, Sumosam, Sam Sam, Samma, Sweet Pea, Peanut, Sue Sue has the best personality. She's the most smiley baby. I hear it from people all the time, 'Wow, she sure smiles a lot!' or, 'Oh my, she has the biggest smile!'. She's like that all the time folks, promise. Not a lot of drama or tears with this little girl (yet). Sammie is also super social (read: she's a Smith - they're a pretty social group). She has zero stranger anxiety and turns on the charm for everyone. She's pretty equal opportunity but she saves the biggest smiles and laughs for her family. That's how we like it! Plus she still is an awesome sleeper - all night long with at least one (two if we can fit it in) big nap during the day. She makes my life easy.
Sweet little profile (and those cheeks are still going strong). I also love her hair. It's coming in pretty evenly since her haircut a few months ago and it's starting to thicken up. I have a feeling it won't be too terribly long until it's thicker than Josie's. It makes me laugh though when I look back on pictures of Josie at this age. I was always doing ponytails or piggies but with Sammie I usually just do a headband. I guess I don't want to have to actually style two girl's hair until I absolutely have to.
Oh, there are my feet! I've been missing them.
Sammie still doesn't really sit very well unsupported so she shlumps to one side when I sit her down (we have to really watch her when we're practicing sitting).
I can't believe that seven months ago she looked like this:
And now I have this (all the professional looking photos are courtesy of my sister in law, Kerstin, she's awesome):
Happy 7 months Sammie! You're an angel and we love you more and more each day!
