Jayson: 7 Months

Weight: Last weigh in was 10/28 and he was 16lb 3oz.  I'm guessing he's somewhere around 17 or more now. 

Height: At his last appointment he was 26.75in.  Judging from the high waters he's been sporting lately, I'd say he has easily gained an inch in the last month. 

Doctor appointment:  He's due for his second flu shot today.  Daddy gets to take him this time. 

Nicknames: Jay, Jay Jay, Jase, Buddy, Baby Jayson

Eating:  We have expanded his repertoire of foods within the last month.  At our six month check up we got the green light to begin introducing solids.  He's not a huge fan of the cereals on their own, but if we mix it in with his veggies he'll eat them.  As for veggies, he's into the oranges: sweet potato, carrots, squash.  For fruits he's had applesauce, mango, pears and bananas but bananas tend to cause a little diaper irritation we've noticed.  He's still hit and miss though as to whether or not he wants to eat solids.  When all else fails he likes sweet potato puffs and he'll down a cup of children's vanilla yogurt like no tomorrow.  We did try to introduce watered down apple juice in a trainer cup, but he's not taken to it. 

Sleeping: We're still getting up once a night for a 20-30 minute nursing session.  However we do get 5-6 hours of sleep at a clip, so getting up once in that span is not terrible.  As for naps, he's really hit or miss there.  He's so alert and curious right now that he fights going down for a nap because he wants to be involved in everything.  Napping would mean he'd miss out on something, like mommy trying to vacuum or clean house.  Gosh, that would be terrible to miss out on. 

Diapers:  We're still in size three Pampers, but I'm thinking next month's auto shipment from Diapers.com may end up being size four.  I feel like the tabs on the threes are starting to hit too low on his hip.  We'll see. 

Clothing:   I feel like I just emptied out his drawers of his 3-6 month sized clothing to make room for his 6 and 6-9 month clothing.  This weekend it looks like I'll be moving his 6 month sized clothing out for more 9 month items.  Which by the way seems to be a size we don't have a lot of.  At baby showers it seems most people buy 3-6 month and 12+ month sized clothing as gifts.  Thank goodness baby clothes are cheap. 

Social:  Jayson is very social and I credit it to daycare.  He doesn't seem too fearful of new people, he loves being around other children, and as I mentioned earlier he wants to be involved in everything.  

New this month:   

• We moved Jayson over to his convertible car seat, the Graco My Ride 65 DLX.  He was getting way too heavy to tote around in his Chicco Keyfit 30.  I swear the seat alone weighed 15lbs.  The straps also had no room left to let out and his feet were hanging off the end.  I'm not sure how anyone's baby makes it to 30lbs in that seat, but there was no way Jayson was going to.

• He's sitting up on his own.  Occasionally he doesn't get his hand out quick enough to catch himself falling over, but for the most part he's pretty stable sitting up.

• He has a temper.  If he doesn't want to be doing something any longer, or if you take something away that he shouldn't be putting in his mouth... oh boy.  It's like a little gremlin takes over where my sweet son used to be.  

• Sitting in the shopping cart like a big boy.  This feeds right into his need to be involved in everything.

Likes: He likes when we play fetch with Riley.  Well, he likes anything to do with Riley.  He loves bath time (still), he likes using his walker, and he likes watching all the holidays specials on tv with us.  Jim Carey's version of the Grinch gets him giggling.

Dislikes: Getting bundled up to go anywhere.  Getting in and out of his car seat.  If you take anything away from him.

Mommy: Mommy is exhausted but I wouldn't trade my little peanut for anything.  I do feel the pressure to get everything done around the house and yet I feel guilty if I do anything that takes away from time with Jayson.  I'm enjoying every moment with him and it amazes me how much he is growing/changing ever day.  Day by day it is getting a little easier to go to work and leave him at daycare, but after a long weekend (like Thanksgiving) I still get that "this isn't natural" feeling about dropping my kid off to be basically raised by someone else.  Not that they don't provide good care during the day, but it's still not mommy.

Daddy: Justin is enjoying the older, much more interactive version of Jayson.  Not to say he didn't enjoy him when he was younger, but he is definitely more of a little person now and a lot less fragile.  For that reason he is a lot more hands on with him now than he ever was.  Jayson lights up when daddy rough houses with him.  Justin is definitely looking forward to Jayson becoming daddy's little buddy as he ages.

Fun things we did:   

• We celebrated Thanksgiving which involved 27+ persons for supper and 36+ persons for dessert.  This was Jayson's first Thanksgiving and first real big get together with family since his baptism in July. 

•  We attended a dinner for Dave Staruck's birthday and got to see Jayson's little buddy Ryan again.  Ryan is Dave's grandson who is just about a month younger than Jayson and the two of them get along fabulously. 

• We enjoyed two dinner dates with Paul & Cait.  We're really looking forward to the arrival of their little Evan.  I'm sure our boys will be great friends.
  

•  We had a play date with our friends Adam & Kristina who have two small children, Taylor and Mason.  Mason is only about three weeks older than Jayson and the two of them seemed to get along great.  At times it seemed Jayson was more interested in Mason's older sister Taylor... I guess he goes for the older women. Either that or he is more accustomed to dealing with toddlers at daycare than other small babies like himself.

• We had a holiday photo shoot with Rebekah Riley of Rebekah Riley Photography.

• We put up Christmas decorations.  Jayson loves sitting in his exersaucer watching our tree spin around on its rotating stand.

What we're looking forward to:

• Christmas!  This is Jayson's first Christmas and it will be interesting to see how he does with opening presents.  We also haven't visited Santa yet.  

• Teeth!  Jayson is still chomping away on anything he can get in his mouth, but we have no teeth yet!

• Crawling (and/or walking).  Jayson still thinks it's better to roll around than to crawl around.  That or he'd prefer to be upright in his walker, exersaucer or jumper.  Maybe he'll be like his dad, he'll skip crawling and go straight to walking.

Comparison: