I am having mixed feelings about the change of season and the passage of time for a few reasons; it means that my baby is almost 7 months old and that cold weather will be here very soon but on the other side of the coin, it means that there will be no more super hot days that keep Landon and myself prisoners in our house!
This summer has probably been one of the hottest that I can remember and it has kept us cooped up inside for much of the time. At least we have a month or two left of cooler weather before it gets too cold and we are cooped up inside yet again. I really have no reason to complain. We had a nice summer and I had an amazing time being at home with my little nugget. I will write a summer recap post next :)He will be 7 months old this week ...can anyone say denial?? Apparently I experience much denial in my life ;) I'm not sure I'll ever get over how fast time goes. Since my last post Landon has done and grown so much! At his 6 month appointment he weighed a whopping 18 pounds and was 27 and 3/4 inches long. I am happy to report that I did not cry during his shots, woohoo! He now has not one, but TWO, teeth on the bottom that decided to poke through within days of one another. I wish I had a picture but sadly I am never able to get in there fast enough with the camera :(
The days of just rolling around to get where he wanted to go are over now. Within days of sitting up on his own he started to army crawl. He had been rocking on all fours and doing a downward dog for a week or so prior but he quickly figured out how to use everything together. Over the last couple weeks he now crawls - and he is fast!! If he wants to get somewhere, he gets there! And within the last 4 or 5 days or so, he started to pull himself up to standing. We have lowered his crib and taken out his Whale of a Tub during bath time since he now tries to pull himself up in both.
Landon has developed his own opinions lately and gets upset sometimes if he doesn't get his way. Due to his increased mobility and inherent curiosity, we have been working on the words "no" and "yuckie." I let him explore as much as he wants until he gets into something he shouldn't (let's face it I don't have the place baby proofed yet) and when I say "no" he actually stops and looks at me...for now... Only occasionally will he just look back at me and laugh. I have a feeling this will not be the last time in his life that he does that!!!
My little one has also become a picky eater and will no longer eat a variety of the solid foods I make for him. He prefers either pears, apples, or rice. I can't even sneak banana in there because he won't eat it and he spits his previously beloved sweet potatoes out. We started giving him little rice puffs recently as well, although I cut them up a bit because they don't dissolve fast enough and he has gagged on them. Some days he goes on a solid food strike - he just wants mom. I am really hoping that he is not a picky eater when he grows up. 
Landon has also recently preferred to refuse his pacifier at all costs and tries to use me as one...oy... sometimes it's rough being mom/food source. I know it's comforting to him and all but I try not to allow him to "use me" and I feel horrible for it sometimes. I swear he says "mama" when he cries and it's absolutely heartbreaking. My little almost- 7-month old has also been either protesting going to sleep or staying asleep. It used to be so easy...not anymore...Usually we take a bath, read, eat, (not always in that order) rock and sing for a few minutes and go to bed. My pediatrician has recommended that we discontinue rocking him to sleep and try to let him fall asleep on his own which sounds nice and easy doesn't it?? NOT! Landon wants to either nurse or rock to sleep so letting him fall asleep on his own leads to the whole cry it out thing which I find to be absolutely barbaric. Call me crazy but I can't handle listening to my child scream for me. If you have kids, what do you think about it?? I know and understand the idea of self soothing, but it feels so wrong to let them sit there and cry without picking them up. We tried it for a little while and it didn't go so well and I'm afraid we will have to try it again. I might actually have to leave the house if that's the case. Lately he's been getting up at least twice between the hours of 11 and 5. I'm not sure what the problem is. I try to give him some natural baby orajel to soothe his gums in hopes that that will help but it doesn't seem to make a difference. One of these days we will get decent sleep. Despite the zombie like appearance I may have on a day when Landon doesn't sleep well, I cannot deny that I enjoy our time alone together in the middle of the night. I know that these days won't last forever so I'll soak them up while I can. 
Other than those little nuances, my baby hippo has been a fat and happy one. I absolutely love to make him laugh. I swear that little giggle could make anyone's day brighter! We have discovered that he LOVES dogs except when they bark. He thinks they are hilarious just running around and sniffing him and they never cease to amuse him.
In other news, Andy and I are in the process of making our would-be-dining room into a playroom. It is a space that we don't use and being that we don't own and will not be able to afford to own any nice dining room furniture in the near future, we decided to make it a functional space. It is right next to the kitchen and once I get some gates up it will be the perfect play area for Landon and future offspring :) The people who lived here before us painted this room an ugly brownish/purple-ish/poop color and also painted two triangles on the opposite wall so I picked out a nice neutral yellow to brighten things up a bit. We have applied one coat so far and I can't wait to finish it! I will have to post some before and after pictures in the near future!
So that pretty much wraps up our fun during Landon's sixth month! I am currently trying to get my house back together after having guests from out of town and once that is complete I can finally post a whole summer recap!
Have a swell day :)
