Janette is 7 months old

I’m definitely not as good about blogging Janette’s month milestones as I was Jessica. However, I have been scrapbooking her more (now that I digi-scrap).

Janette had her 6-month well-check on May 2nd. She weighed 18 pounds 2 ounces (90%). This is almost 2 pounds more than Jessica at the same age. She measured 27.5 inches long (<97%), a little more than 1 inch taller than Jessica at the same age. Her head circumference was 43 cm (<75%), 1 cm smaller than Jessica at the same age. So outside of her head, Janette is a bigger baby. They are definitely different unique individuals.

How Janette is Eating

Janette is quite the eater. She has solid food typically twice a day, unless we end up eating out and I don’t have anything with me. She has tried oatmeal, sweet potato, peas, avocado,  banana, and these sweet potato baby puffs. She likes the oatmeal and sweet potato and will scarf those down. Peas and avocado she won’t eat much of and banana has recently become a big hit after a number of tries and not caring for it much. I still also nurse quite a bit, at least six times a day, often more. By this point with Jessica, we were only nursing four times a day. Needless to say, Janette is my little hungry hungry hippo.

She is also grabbing for the spoon, but of course she is not adept at using it yet. You might remember seeing a Spoon Bandit layout I blogged a few weeks ago.

How Janette is Sleeping

Janette is NOT a good sleeper. I don’t know what happened, but her whole fourth month she slept through the night. Not anymore. She typically wakes at least once per night and I nurse for 15-20 minutes. If by the grace of God, she actually naps well during the day, she will sleep through the night. Ironic isn’t it, that good sleeping during the day begets good sleeping at night. Morning naps usually don’t happen, unless we’re in the car or stroller. When they do happen they range from 30-45 minutes. And I’m okay with that. Mornings are my on-the-go time: grocery shopping, taking Jessica to/from school, etc. Afternoons are a crapshoot and this bothers me. Some days are fabulous and she will nap for 2 to 2.5 hours. Other days, naps don’t happen at all. Some days, I can force a 30ish minute nap if I let her cry it out for 20-30 minutes. She does not transfer well from the car seat to crib and if she happens to fall asleep on the way home from picking Jessica up from school, sometimes those days a 15 or 20 minute nap is all she gets. Sometimes, I wished she sucked her thumb or took a pacifier. I have discovered that if she cries out when I first lay her down, most of the time putting her bear blankey (it’s like a mini blanket with a stuffed animal bear head) in her arms, she’ll calm down.

It’s easy to tell she is tired as she rubs her eyes, but she can really fight taking a nap. She will start really talking and kicking her legs and otherwise wiggling. You know she’s tired when she falls asleep when you’re trying to feed her peas at dinner.

It’s possible she’s teething, but I’ve thought that for the last 2.5 months and there aren’t any teeth to show for it yet.

Personality

Janette is the most laid-back happiest baby ever. She is constantly smiling. Even when she is clearly exhausted, she doesn’t really get too fussy. She loves to talk and has recently taken to saying “mmmmma, mmmmma.” James says she is saying ma-ma and it does sound like it.

Another recent thing is raspberries. She is constantly blowing raspberries. It is so cute. Of course, now Jessica does this more and it is more of a spitting from Jessica and it is hard to stop Jessica from doing it when Janette is doing it.

She is a grabber, especially of hair. With Jessica, it was easy to keep inappropriate small objects out of reach and she never really put much in her mouth, besides her thumb. With Janette, everything goes into her mouth and with some of Jessica’s toys, I really have to watch to make sure Janette doesn’t get a hold of something she shouldn’t.

She loves her sister and will just watch Jessica and giggle at what she does. Jessica will put stickers on her and give her a bucket hat and she just eats the attention up.

Janette’s Mobility

Janette loves to play. Her most common play position is on her tummy. From there, she is a scooter. She especially likes the 360-degree scoot, using her tummy as pivot point to explore her surroundings. She also scoots off the play mat quite frequently. Janette is a foot tapper/hand patter and when she is on her tummy, she is almost constantly tapping a foot or a hand. She likes to jump and will jump quite a bit in her exersaucer, as well as standing in your lap. She can sit up, but still is not the most steady sitter unless propped up against something.

Outside she loves to swing at the park or try or watch Jessica play from the little baby car, which she also enjoys trying to eat and slobber on the baby car’s knobs and steering wheel.

A Few Firsts

Janette’s first Easter was definitely more memorable than Jessica’s since with an older sibling, we did more than just go to church.

Our neighborhood pool opened for the summer season and we took Janette swimming for the first time. Initially, we tried to put her in the baby float immediately and she didn’t like that, but after she sat with me and got acclimated to the somewhat cool water, she had a blast in the baby float. In the video, you can hear her giggling as I push her back and forth in the water.

I also gave her pigtails for the first time recently. She looked like a totally different baby without the mass of slightly curly hair framing her face.

Janette brings such joy to our lives.