Sullivan at Seven Months

Sullivan is seven months old! Okay, seven months and one week. But at least I didn't miss it all together this time. Progress. Time flies when you have a cute, easy baby. He's sooo easy. His only hang up is he's in a total mommy phase. A grade A-clinger. Total mama's boy. He likes to know exactly where I am at all times and prefers and often demands, that he's riding my hip around the clock. It can be very inconvenient at times but it's hard to complain about being the center of his little world. It won't always be this way, that's for sure.

At seven months, Sully is:

• Sitting up perfectly, reaching for objects, pulling up to a kneeling position and getting on all fours. Will be crawling within a few weeks!
• Looooves baby mush. As in oatmeal, rice cereal and just about anything bland. Does not like strong flavors as far as we can tell. Makes the funniest faces when trying something new. 
• Can pick up baby puffs off his tray and put them in his mouth on his own. Good hand eye coordination! 
• Has his own language of coos, huffs, grunts, screeches and of course, cries. Will definitely let us know when he wants something, more of something or has had enough of something.
• Loves watching TV and listening to music.
• Is always smiling and is a total flirt. Cece was never this happy or easy going.
• The only time he cries is when he's overtired or when I walk away from him. 
• Total mama's boy. ^^^ 
• Has a terrible track record for napping in his crib both at school and at home. We are working on it though, the last few days have shown promise.
• Also sucks at sleeping on his own but progress is being made here too. He's asleep in his room as I write this. Score! Hasn't slept more than 4 hours on his own though. Like ever. Ugh.
• Nurses like a champ. Doesn't eat well at daycare but clearly isn't suffering from hunger...I mean, look at those rolls!
• Even though the pediatrician doesn't agree, I'm certain he has seasonal allergies. Poor kid was congested for 6 weeks straight. He can finally breath again!
• Has red hair. I mean RED hair! And so much more of it than Cece did at this age. 
• Seems to be an animal lover just like his big sis. 
• Will probably be referred to as "Baby Sully" until he's 18.
• Loves being in the water. 
• Loves just about anything. He's a dream baby. We just have to work on the sleeping thing.  

Just Like Dad

Grandpa's toys aren't just for boys in this family...

Strawberry Picking

Sweet Sully vs. the (sweet) Potato

Sleep Training

I don't know who needs "sleep training" more...me, Sully or Cece. All three of us could use help, I think. Sully. Oh, Sully. Why would you want to sleep in your crib (ok, pack and play) when you can snuggle up to Mommy? This is what Sully's bed usually looks like...where's Sully you ask?

In our bed! This kid has got the bed snuggle down pat. He burrows in and goes for it. And who am I to deny him? It's just about the coziest way to sleep. Which has led of course to the inevitable fact that he cannot sleep any other way. Sleep through the night next to mom? Check. Sleep through the night on his own. Never. In fact, never more than three hours on his own. So, here I am with an 18 pound baby who is clearly capable of sleeping but doesn't want to do it any other way than next to us. We have "cried it out" just like we did with Cece around this age. It took her 10 minutes and two nights to catch on. Sully will go and go and go and go...until he practically can't breath anymore. It's too much for my heart to take. So I scoop him up and bring him to bed. And so it goes. He's my last baby so I have more or less come to terms with the way it is. I don't care what you have to say about it, I'm going to snuggle my baby. My last baby. Maybe until he's 18 if he'll let me.

Let's move on to Cece. We are stuck in a holding pattern with this girl. She sleeps like a dream at night and girlfriend likes to sleep in. She'll go until 8:30 on most mornings if we let her. In her crib. She's two and a half and it's time for a big girl bed. She's had it set up in her room for six months or more. We read in it. She jumps on it. We talk about sleeping in it. But come bedtime, she always asks for her crib. So we haven't pushed the issue. And at times, she still naps like a dream in it too so we have been reluctant to say goodbye to it. However, I'd like to claim the crib for Sully so he doesn't have to sleep in a pack and play (not that he does anyway, ha). So...it's time. We attempted nap time in the big girl bed the other day. I've since been told that nap time is NOT the time to go for it with a big kid bed. Better to wait until they are really tired (or drugged, haha...kidding people!) to make the switch. Turns out nap time was not the right time. But Cece did have a blast exploring her room, reading books and basically swinging from the rafters" when we tried this during nap time the other day. Oy! We have some work to do!

Backyard Camping

Over Memorial Day weekend we set up the pop-up camper in the back yard and made our own little campsite to "practice" camping. We are going on a week long vacation to upstate NY in a few weeks and we wanted to get the kids ready for the trip. It took three nights and three tries but by the third night, we all managed to stay out in the camper the whole night. Phew! Hopefully we'll be fine. We'll have to be, there will be no other options!

Day Out With Thomas

We have a Thomas the Train superfan in our family. Cece is in fact, really, really into all trains, any train. As you may recall, we had a Thomas themed 2nd birthday party for her. Girlfriend LOVES Thomas. Actually, she prefers Thomas' best friend, Percy over any other character in Thomas's shed. Here are some pictures from our "Day out with Thomas" at the Essex Steam Train.