Adventures with Zilla: 7 Months

How old?: 7 months! 

Weight/Height:  At 6 months and a couple of days he was 17.2lbs.  Since then there have been some changes to his diet so I would think he's weighing more than this now.

His height is now in the 99th percentile.  

Baby clothes:  
Zilla is wearing 6 and 9 month outfits.  He is still in size 3 diapers

Milestones:

He's still a little rolley poly.  He is sitting up much better these days and we can leave him unattended sitting up and be fairly confident that even if he topples it won't be tragic.  

He has tried carrots (dislike), butternut squash (LOVE), sweet potatoes (like), spinach (dislike), orange bell pepper (on the fence)

Every now and then he'll almost get up on all fours but his arm strength is still an issue as far as crawling goes.

He is sleeping through the night on a more regular basis!  Which sounds great, but it turns out I have not quite gotten to a point where I can sleep through the night but I'm sure it will happen eventually.

Zilla got his first haircut!  His daddy was insistent that we get rid of his rat tail.

Special outings

We made a trip to Houston and got to see his Nina, Pawpaw and Mimsie Kathy, his Aunt Janet, Uncle Brent, Aunt April, Uncle Jason, Uncle Cody, and cousin Luke.  We also got to see Auntie Kendall and Adam.  It was a very busy, but fun-filled weekend!  

Highlights of the month: 

The absolute highlight of this month was Zilla and Reese's baptism!  On September 15th these little cuties were welcomed into the life of Christ and the  Church.  It was such a wonderful day.  My sister and brother are Zilla's God Parents and it reminds me how blessed I have been to have such incredible siblings.  My brother and I are Reese's Godparents!  This is my first Godchild, and I am so honored to play a deeper role in the development of her spiritual life.  So many of our family members and friends came to celebrate with us and lift all of us up in prayer.  It was the perfect day!

Another highlight was getting family photos done.  I had wanted to get newborn pictures of Zilla; however we realized if we attempted to get these done we would have ended up with a lot of pictures of Zilla crying.  He wasn't really one of those cute sleeping babies who could be easily posed.  So we decided to get some pictures done when he was 6 months old.  They turned out great and I am so thankful for Tin Owl Photography.  This couple photography team was absolutely wonderful to work with! 

Baby's routine:
Our routine is pretty steady from last month.  Except his third nap has turned into something we call "Zilla time"  Essentially around 5:30 we put him in his crib for some de-stimulation time.  Sometimes he'll lay in his crib and just coo or he'll cry or sometimes he'll sleep.  It's up to him, and usually only lasts about 15 minutes and then he's up for the rest of the evening.  Also his bed time has been moved up an hour
Wake up: 7:15am
Nap: 9:00 am-11:00 am
    Eat/Play: 11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Nap: 1:00pm - 3:00 pm

Eat Play: 3:00 pm - 5:45 pm 

Zilla Time: 5:45-6

Eat Play: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

8:00 - Prayer time and bed

He will either sleep through the night or wake up once for a quick feed.

Baby's favorite food: 

We get to start having more fun with this one now!  I would say of all the solids he has tried, he likes butternut squash the best. 

Baby's favorite activity: 
Rolling rolling rolling  

Baby's favorite toy:

Sofie for sure  

Big changes:

The biggest change has been in Zilla's diet.  Of course there's been the introduction of solid foods.  This has been so much fun seeing his little reactions to all the new flavors.
But the other big change has been the introduction of formula.  This change has been much harder.  More-so for me than for Zilla.  Little man took to the formula very quickly.  I on the other hand cried when I gave back the pump.  It still makes me a little sad each time a bottle feed him; knowing that if I wasn't working I would still be breastfeeding.  Who ever would have thought this would be so hard for me to let go of? 
I continued to exclusively breastfeed for about a week and a half after 6 months until I realized how difficult it would be to pump for both bottles and for milk to add to his cereal.  So we started using formula in his cereal.  Then my sister in law, who so generously let us borrow her pump, asked if I was done with it as one of her friends asked to borrow it for her newborn.  Knowing that Zilla has had the chance to have mama's milk for 6 months, I wanted this new baby to have the same opportunity.  I slowly cut out pumping from my work day (ouch, by the way) and this is my first weekend not breastfeeding Zilla during the day while I'm at home.  We are still breastfeeding for his last and first feedings of the day for as long as I'm producing.

Mommy Journal

I'd like to reflect on two moments that I believe will stay with me my entire life (outside of the big things like him being born or his baptism).

The first occurred when he was only 2 or 3 weeks old, but I think about it often.  Perhaps because it's the background on my phone. 

This is one of my favorite pictures of all time.  It was past midnight, Zilla had been crying for about an hour or so, and Jason and I were exhausted.  And then he fell asleep; resting in his Daddy's arms.  Jason looked down at him and smiled; not a "thank goodness you finally stopped" smile, but an "I love you so much, son" kind of smile.  It was so beautiful.  I think this picture really captures unconditional love and so much of our first few months.  Even after the chaos and the struggles, nothing could take away how beautiful and precious our son is.
The second moment happened just a few weeks ago.  I was feeding Zilla (one of our last daytime breastfeedings) and I looked down because it seemed like he was done.  Which he was, but he was also asleep.  I gently picked him up and lay his head on my shoulder, where he snuggled in close and continued sleeping.  I knew I should go put him down as we were still sleep training, but instead I just sat on the couch holding him and of course teared up a bit.  I don't know what it was, he had done this before, but I guess this time it really dawned on me that this would be one of the last times.  And I had this realization of how fast he is growing up.  More than anything I was filled with such an intense feeling of love.  One of those kinds where it just doesn't seem like it's possible to love someone this much and the only way to express it is with tears.  Joyful tears.  God has blessed us with a perfect gift in our son.  Through Zilla, He has given us a better understanding of the depth and intensity of His great love.