7 months... oh my goodness!

This is just crazy. Time is flying by so incredibly fast. I know I say that every time, but seriously. I feel like I blink and there went my whole day.

Macie is 7 months old today! She weighs 15 lbs 6 oz and she's 25.5 inches long. Growing steadily! She is still breastfeeding exclusively, and I just offered her some mashed banana this afternoon. It wasn't really a hit. I know she'll accept solids when she's ready. For now, a little bit at a time. I'm totally okay with that. The last thing I want is for my milk supply to dry up if we dive right into solids and regular meals. We've come so far. Further than I've ever gone with breastfeeding. This girl has not had a drop of formula, and probably never will! I am so proud of that. (Not that formula is a bad thing... It's a very valuable option for women who struggle with supply issues or cannot nurse their babies for whatever reason).

As far as development goes, she's scooting herself all around. She's not all-out crawling yet, but she's very mobile. She goes right to Joey's train tracks. Apparently the wooden tracks make great teethers. She loves to chew on them, much to Joey's frustration. He is very patient with her though. A lot more patient with her than with Annabelle. Most of the time he moves his tracks and she keeps following until he gives up and moves on to something else. Silly girl! Macie loves her siblings, just not when she first wakes up. She's not a morning person at all. Just like her parents!

That's about all I can think of right now... Macie is just a joy to have in our family. I cannot imagine life without her sweet face. She's the perfect addition, and the perfect third child. We love her so dearly! Everyone who has had the chance to love on her is just smitten with her. Precious baby girl!

 Her very favorite place to be. She loves when I put her in the moby wrap. Why I never had one with Joey and Annie, I don't know. 

Precious smile, and those adorable dimples!

As far as the big kids are concerned, they are growing at a rapid pace too. Joey is almost officially enrolled in kindergarten. *tear* He is also very excited to possibly play football this fall. How freaking cute that will be!! Annabelle is turning into such a sweet little lady. She is fully potty trained, including naps and almost every morning she wakes up with a dry pull-up. It is so awesome! Very weird to have two independent children. They both dress themselves if I leave outfits out for them to put on. It's really nice! Only one child to diaper, and dress. They still very clearly need help with some things, but it's nice to not have to spoon feed them... they're even able to help me around the house a little bit! Pretty soon it will be time to assign chores!! Sweeeeeeet!!! 

 Sooooooo close!!

 Beautiful little girl!!

My handsome little boy. He's turning into a wonderful little man!

6 months!

I cannot even believe that Macie is half-way to her first birthday. It's unreal! I am so enjoying every moment and I cherish every day with my kids, because I feel like these days are flying by. I'm doing my best to be sure that I enjoy them. Spend more time playing and laughing with them, because those are the things I hope they will remember about their childhood.

As of now, Macie is trying really hard to start crawling. Very soon... Very soon I'll be working hard at teaching the kids to keep little things off the floor and out of her reach. Praise the Lord that winter is ending and we won't need to use our wood stove! 

Macie has also found her feet, she's learned to roll as a form of mobility, she reaches for and grabs toys (they go right to her mouth of course), she yells, coos, copies facial expressions, she's learning to sit with minimal help, and she is fascinated with her surroundings. She loves to look outside and now really enjoys being in the moby wrap. At the moment she is also working on those two first bottom teeth.. Won't be long until they come thru! 

We are still currently breast feeding exclusively... And by exclusively I mean that she literally won't take a bottle and all our bottles and old sippy cups are headed for the goodwill since Annie no longer needs them either. Crazy! We still haven't started solid foods. Honestly I'm holding out as long as I can so she can maximize the benefits of breast milk for as long as possible. I'm waiting instead until she crawls and can sit unsupported. I'm so concerned that starting her on solids will cause my supply to take a big dip. It's very sensitive and I really want to make it to one year before weaning... We will see though. In the mean time, she's benefiting perfectly from me, and she's gaining weight at a good healthy pace so I'm not concerned at all. She's already in 9 month clothes and will probably be in 12 month clothes well before summer. 

As for me... 6 months post partum. I'm still pretty much at the same spot I've been in... I'm 2 pounds from my pre pregnancy weight. Not bad, but I'd really love to lose at least 15 pounds to get back to a healthy weight. Definitely no more than 20 lbs. I'm not currently going out of my way to lose weight. I decided to wait until Macie is weaning, and until I've recovered from an impending hand surgery this summer... I am still praying about this surgery and if I want to go thru with it. During pregnancy I developed a condition called: dequervains tenosynovitis. Not sure how to explain it except for that it's extremely painful right at the base of my thumb. After two failed cortisone shots and physical therapy, I'm weighing my options. It's difficult to do a lot of simple things like holding heavy pots and pans, picking up the kids, turning door knobs... you get the idea. It's painful. Anyway, we'll see where that goes. Maybe I'll get super lucky and it will go away!

Thanks for reading, dear friends! God bless!