Owen at Seven Months!

Look who's clapping for joy that he's seven months old!  Owen turned seven months last Saturday and that same night he started clapping his hands.  We were at my brother's wedding reception and Owen was clapping the whole night long!

We definitely have a big boy on our hands.  And not only big, but strong and energetic.  Forget the instruction manual, I just want an off switch!  Owen is not only a wigglebutt but he is King Wigglebutt.  This last Sunday at church Owen was jumping or standing on my lap almost the entire service.  Thankfully we sat on the aisle and close enough to the back so he could make eye contact with the ushers as they waited to do offering and communion.  He is go, go, go right up until he crashes at bedtime.  The part that's even more fun is when I'm holding him and he sees something he wants because he literally nosedives right for it.  You'd better make sure you've got a good grip on him, for sure!  I almost hate changing Owen's clothes because he squirms sooo much that those little snaps are almost impossible!

I took Owen into the doctor on the 5th for a pre-op (nothing major - I promise) and he weighed in at 20 lbs 4 oz and was 28 3/4 inches long.  We are in the very last end of the 6-9 month clothes and I will start integrating 12 month clothes into his wardrobe very soon.  I think we're only averaging 2 months and a week on each size of clothes so far!

Owen is getting really, really good at his army crawl.  He is picking up speed and increasing his upper body strength as he pulls himself along.  A couple times I'll catch him on his hands and knees but then he flops onto his belly.  It won't be soon though!  My favorite part about his crawl is when he stops and poses on his side like in the below picture.  (It's even cuter when he does that on the bed just in his diaper but I don't have any pictures of that.)

  

Along with crawling comes the want of pulling himself up.  Owen has only done this a handful of times in the last few weeks but as much as he likes to stand it won't be too long and he'll be pulling himself up next to everything!  He's even tugging on my pant legs trying to get up.  I'm glad I waited until tonight to write this post because Owen went from laying on his tummy to sitting up twice this morning while I was getting Megan ready for the day!  Speaking of the above, I think it's time to move the crib mattress down a notch or two or we might have a little baby ready to make a leap!

 

  

I love having a happy Owen in the morning.  It's so nice to have Owen greet me with a loving smile and him playing in his bed rather than crying.  This has not been an easy last month for me because of how much he had been waking at night.  I thought it might have been teeth, then a cold, then not enough solids but looking back I think the main reason I was giving him 1+ bottles during the night was a growth spurt.  He just seems so much bigger lately and with the whole clapping/crawling/sitting up on his own thing there was just a lot of development going on.  The last few nights he's actually been sleeping great!

Owen is still a great eater.  Solids three times/day with some snacks - he loves his puffs!  I'm starting to make his cereal thicker and also starting in on baby food with meat in it - I'm hoping to bulk him up for bedtimes.  One thing that's noticeably changing with feedings is Owen's desire to feed himself.  We're doing a lot of small banana chunks but I'm leery to give him too much stuff since he doesn't have any teeth yet.  It will come and I just need to keep experimenting with tastes and textures of non-baby food.  Owen's finally drinking more formula at a time too now.  Before 4 oz was about all he would do at a single feeding but now it seems 6 oz is no problem.

Here are a few more cute pictures of Owen from the wedding reception.  I think I must have fed him right before these pictures because his face looks kind of messy...

 

 

And, finally, a picture of Owen and Mommy.  Owen is a huge Mommy's boy.  It's not necessarily such a bad thing and is kind of flattering when he lights up whenever I get close.  The only thing is that if I'm around it's me that needs to hold him as he jumps, plays, and wants to walk around holding my hands!  (No, it's not a great picture and yes, I am in my bathrobe.  But compliments of the pic go out to Megan.  Lately she's had a fascination with my camera and took this one for me!)