7 months!

It's taken me awhile to sit down and write this belated 7 month post but at least it's before 8 months!

The 6th-7th month was the most challenging for us so far. We had a lot going on. The stress of his food allergies (more to come on that below), eczema flare ups, waking in the night, then he got a horrible cold which turned into a very scary cough. It was a long month for sure.

We celebrated Halloween, went away for 2 weekends (once to Bend, once to the coast) and played at home this month. It was fun.

However, in the last week things have really picked up and I can tell the 7th-8th month is going to be so fun. Luke is talking a ton, yelling (not always fun), playing more, eating like crazy and I can tell he wants to move (but still hasn't figured it out yet).

So the food allergy saga... everyday Luke was flaring up really bad from eczema and I thought it was from foods he had eaten. But then we took a few days off of food and it was still happening every afternoon. One day, he woke up and played while sitting up. Then we took him on a roadtrip in the carseat for almost 2 hours. When we got there, we pushed him around in the stroller. His skin was so clear. As soon as I carried him and he nuzzled his face on me- he flared up again. It turned out he's not allergic to food afterall, just gets friction/rug burn from rubbing his face violently on things. Crazy but I'm so glad it's not every food he's tried. Also, it's more difficult than it seems to not let a 7month old rub his face. So we've made some changes around the house - putting mats down for him to do tummy time on instead of a blanket, try not to let him nuzzle into us when we hold him and are more aware. I've also been trying to put cream on his cheeks hourly. But basically by the end of the day his face is red and dry everyday. So since this big discovery, Luke has been eating like crazy. We are going with the Baby Led Weaning approach and he's eating a bunch of table foods. He's had avocado, pears, mandarin oranges, sweet potato, toast, turkey, mashed potatoes, cheerios, puffs and so much more. He loves to eat.
 

He had a horrible cold this month that turned into a very bad cough. It was very scary and at night it sounded even worse. They even tested him for whooping cough he sounded so bad. He would wake himself up with a cough and then we'd all be up. We tried everything - steam in the bathroom, warm mist humidifier (with vicks), cool mist humidifier, snot sucker (nosefrieda), vicks vaporub- but really it just needed time to work its way through. Poor baby was not happy though.

We finally decided to graduate from mom's group this month at 7 months instead of 6. It was a great experience and I'm so glad we went because we met an incredible network of friends that we will continue hanging out with.

 He's still not mobile but is an extremely stable sitter. He also is really good at reaching for things which will probably turn into an army crawl eventually. He likes to watch everything but is pretty content so he sees no reason to move. He does do this weird scooch on his back though which is interesting.

No big updates on the cloth diaper or pumping front... Same ol' same ol' I am however planning to drop a pump when he turns 8 months- happy birthday to me! Here's another 30 minutes of your day!

We have so much to be thankful for this year- my little family of just the 3 of us, our big families all over the place, great friends here in Oregon, amazing friends around the world. We are very blessed and appreciate everything this holiday season.

Happy Holidays! I'm so excited for Luke's first Christmas!