1/19/14- 7 month old Penelope

My sweet, adorable Penelope! 

At 7 months: 

You weigh about 16 lbs and continue to stay "long and lean". Your arms are so long, you can grab things from a mile away. Sometimes we hold you on our lap while we eat, and push our plate far away so you can't reach it, but those arms always seem to stretch farther than we expect! 

You wear 9-12 month clothes still. Still wearing mostly pjs bc I think you look so cozy in them! :) plus I like that your feet are covered. 

You now can sit up independently! You can sit up for quite a while now and won't fall over unless you see something you want out of your reach. I learned that I still can't sit you up on a rug on a tile floor bc when you tip over, you always bang your head on the actual tile because of your length. 

You have started to prefer to be on your stomach while playing because you are able to "move around". You don't crawl yet, but somehow you're able to get to the toys out of your reach. 

You nurse about 6x per day. About every 3 hours. I love cuddling with you while nursing. You've stopped violently kicking me in the stomach, so it's a lot more pleasant. 

You still take mostly 45 min naps, althoigh your morning nap will sometimes be 1.5 hrs. You get tired every 2 hours. I'm frustrated with your short naps and ready for you to start extending them. 

You now sleep through the night from about 6:30-6:30. Knock on wood...every time I say you're sleeping through the night, you start waking up again. 

Your favorite toy is Sophie the Giraffe. 

You like it when we sing to you. 

You love your sister and laugh at her, but you've started to cry when she snatches toys out of your hands (which happens a lot). 

You eat baby food 2x per day, and prefer fruits. We've also tried a little egg and peanut butter (just a taste) because people are now saying to introduce allergenic foods early (which was the complete opposite of what they were saying last year...sigh). 

Still no teeth! 

You are so easy-going, and hardly cry unless you're tired. You go to sleep for naps and night easily now. 

You've started to look for me more for comfort when you're sitting on the floor. Sometimes when I put you down, you cry because you want to stay with me. This is new. When you fall and get hurt, all I need to do is pick you up and cuddle you and you're back to your smiling self pretty quickly. Your hurt-cry breaks my heart. I'm so bonded to you now. :) Love love love! 

The difference I'm seeing...

So before Penelope was born, I was terrified of having two babies. I had all the common worries: would I love them both equally, how could I love another child as much as Gwen, would I be able to handle two babies on no sleep, etc...

And when Penelope was born, all the fears kind of washed away. Having two kids was really not that different than having one, I realize now. Yes, it's much busier and there's not much down time during the day due to conflicting nap schedules, but it's not as scary and NEW as the first.

 

With Gwen I constantly had a panicky, tense feeling in the background. I dramatized everything she did; if she woke up during the night, I thought, "oh no! This must be the new normal! She'll NEVER sleep through the night again!" If I had to nurse her to sleep, I would think I was forming a bad habit and worry that she'd NEVER fall asleep on her own. In reality I new she would develop these things naturally, but I couldn't see what the future held...and it was scary. (I must add that Gwen was a bit of a difficult baby.)

Fast forward to Penelope, and although I still have that slight panicky feeling hanging around, I'm much more relaxed. The things she does don't bother me like they did with Gwen. If she wakes at 3am, yes, it's still painful, but I don't have heart palpitations over it. I think the difference is since I've been here before, I know what the future will look like, and things will be ok. It also helps that Penelope is a very easy-going, "angel" baby. 

Something else I've noticed is that Penelope seems to be growing up much faster than Gwen. The days when Gwen was an infant seemed to drag on forever and I often wondered when she'd start sitting/crawling/talking/etc. The days dragged on, but the weeks flew by. I loved spending time with her, and relished her baby days, and by no means was she delayed in her development, it just SEEMED to take forever! 

With Penelope, I really can't believe she's already 6.5 months old. The time really has flown by, and I want it to slow down! I'm enjoying her so much and love watching her. She's pure sweetness and innocence and contentment. She just loves life and goes with the flow (most of the time). She's cuddly and gentle in everything she does. She's already sitting up; but Gwen sat up at 6 months also, so no difference. Why does it FEEL like she's sitting so much sooner than Gwen? Maybe the reason things seem to be going by so fast is the opposite reason I'm more relaxed this time; I've forgotten the details of development...and I get to see it all again. :) 

These girls are so different: Gwen has a big belly laugh, Penelope gently coughs out her laughs. Whereas Gwen could scream and cry for an hour or more, Penelope could only last 20 minutes. Gwen enjoyed eating solids; Penelope could care less about food. They're both so different, and the strength of the love I have for them is the same. It's hard to explain, because I love them both equally, but in different ways. Gwen with her spunk and Penelope with her softness. The similarities they share are just as great as their differences; both so tender-hearted, sweet, and beautiful. The world better watch out for these girls; they're going to amaze.