I can’t believe Greta is 7 months old.  I can’t believe she is ONLY 7 months old (sometimes–especially right now).  We took a trip to Rexburg this past weekend to see my not-so-little nephew, Kole, be blessed.  On the way, Chris and I talked a lot about how far we have come since last year.  We were both stunned that a year ago, Greta wasn’t even in our lives yet.  In fact, I was still a miserably sick, pregnant woman.  I am so grateful we are where we are now; 7 months is a fun age.  Most of the time. 

1.  Greta is so smiley.  Her newest thing is smiling so big that her lips don’t even touch her gums.  She scrunches up her nose and giggles.  Especially when you “scare” her.  I don’t laugh when I am scared, but I do scrunch my nose when I smile big.  At Kole’s blessing, Patty’s mother-in-law said that Greta looks just like me when she scrunches her nose. 
2. If you are a stranger, Greta might cry when she sees you.  This is also a very new development.  It started just over a week ago, yet, we have had many stranger encounters.  First time being at Chili’s.  All of the fun things happen at Chili’s, I guess.  We were waiting for our table and Greta was still in her carseat, being a sweetie.  An elderly lady sat down and started talking to Greta, probably asking her if she knows how cute she is.  Greta started SCREAMING crying.  Elderly lady now seemed a bit offended, so I didn’t want to make it worse by saying, “She has NEVER done that.”  Instead, I just picked her up and bounced her a little until she calmed down.  Once she resumed her position back in her carseat, she leaned over a patted the elderly lady’s arm.  So she may scream and cry when she sees you, but she’ll feel bad about it.
3.  Greta LOVES to eat.  Her favorites are oatmeal, pears, rice rusks and yogurt melts.  However, she also eats squash, bananas, peaches, sweet potatoes, carrots, mangos, avocado–and whatever she can get her hands on.  Even if she just ate, if she sees someone else eating, she’ll make sure you know she wants some.
4.  Greta still nurses 4-5 times a day, and she won’t have it any other way.  I’ve tried cutting back to 3 times, she gets cranky.  I have tried giving her a bottle of formula–she won’t even take a sip!  She starts crying and looks at me like, “I trusted you!”  So I still nurse and nurse and nurse, in addition to her 3-4 “real food” meals a day.  Whew.   Greta has never once, since the day she was born, stopped nursing on her own.  It could be 45 minutes and she would still be there.  So, I, being the mother, have had to make the decision for her when she is done.  But from how much she eats–I would say she has a bottomless stomach. 
5.  She is a crawler.  And she is getting fast.  Last week, she stuck to one area.  This week, I’ll turn around and she’ll be down the hall and around the corner in the bathroom.  It’s a very cute (and stressful) thing.  I know that she is really proud of herself and she is loving being mobile.
6.  She loves to talk and sing.  Really babbles a lot.  She says, “Dadadadadada da DA!” and “Nananana?”  I love when we are driving in the car, listening to the radio and chatting, and Greta will be in the back just babbling out a tune.
7.  She’s tall.  She’s probably at least 29″.  She is in 12 month clothes and thanks to my sister and sister-in-law’s hand-me-downs, she has a well-stocked closet.  From her parent’s stats–I guess she has a lot more growing to do in the future.

I hope it slows down.  I hope it all just slows down.  I used to wish that she would just be born already and then I wished that she would smile at me and sit up on her own and be interactive and I don’t want to wish anymore time away.  Not a day goes by that Chris and I don’t marvel at her.  We are so blessed to have such a sweet daughter, whom we love. 

Video: Greta 7 months, Kole 7 weeks.