7 Months!

Didn't I just post her 6-month pictures?! It seems like each month goes by quicker and quicker. She's still doing new things all the time...new movements, new sounds, new facial expressions...it's so fun to watch.

We think she's teething...she has been a bit more cranky than usual and her gums look like they might be a little swollen. We try to pull her bottom lip down to take a look, but as soon as we do that, she sticks her tongue out and starts licking our fingers. :) She has also been doing this weird thing with her mouth where she just opens and closes it over and over again...she looks like a puppet (Dean says it's a little creepy). It's about that time though...isn't 7-months pretty normal for teething to begin?

She has been sitting up really well on her own...still a little tippy, but I think she likes this new skill. She has figured out how to catch herself by putting one arm out to hold herself up. When she's playing on her tummy, she is able to rotate so she's not staring at the same thing the whole time. It's nice because she's able to entertain herself just a little bit longer. She has also been pushing all the way up on her arms and can also pull up on her knees...but not at the same time. :) I think she realizes that there's now an option of actually moving, but just can't quite figure out how to do it yet.

I hear about babies who fall asleep while they're playing and it amazes me. I can't see Ayla ever doing that. Sigh. She would freak out and demand a scenery change instead. I can already see that patience is something we will have to work on as she gets older. I'm hoping that once she's mobile, she'll stay occupied for longer periods of time. I think she gets bored and then gets frustrated and doesn't know how to handle it and as a result, becomes Miss Fussy-Pants.She still likes her sippy cup and is able to get more drinks out of it but she prefers to drink right out of a regular cup. We were eating dinner one night and she kept eyeing my glass of water, so I figured I'd give her a sip and she loved it. We just let her do it every now and then because we want her to learn how to feed herself with her sippy cups. I'm going to try a little bit of apple juice mixed into her water again. The first time she tried it, she didn't really care for it. Feeding her baby food has become slightly tricky...she's just not that into it lately and maybe it's a side effect of teething (I think I read that on BabyCenter). She does like the Gerber Yogurt Melts though. She'll open her mouth for one and when she tastes it, she lets out a little giggle. It's so cute.

She has been saying "ba" and "da" for a while now...yesterday, she started saying "ma ma." Yay!!! :) I know she doesn't know what it means yet, but it's fun to hear, nonetheless.