Rachel is 7 months old

Rachel, you are 7 months old. Can you believe it? I am surrounded by lots of pregnant mommas and have been reliving some of my pregnancy symptoms (nausea, itchy belly, swollen ankles, excitement of the unknown, etc) and it seems like it was just yesterday and yet an eternity ago that we first met you.  You light up a room with your grin and still smile with your eyes. Your favorite person to smile for, by far, is your dad. When you hear him in the room your attention immediately goes to locating daddy! His voice or simply his face make you grin from ear to ear, as shown below when he was getting you out of the car. You two will sit and smile at each other for minutes on end. Sometimes you get bashful and turn away as if you can't stand to smile for just a minute more. And then you look at daddy and smile some more!   

My favorite thing about you (well, there are probably a few favorite things) is how you attack me before I put you down for a nap. It's like a passionate make-out scene from a movie (ok, but since your my daughter, it's not weird). You grab at my hair, face, neck, earrings...anything your hands can hold and you pull me in for some open-mouth slobbery kisses. It's absolutely a drool-covered, messy-hair scene and I wouldn't change any minute of it. It is so amazing to feel loved like that. In addition to kissing me, you love to kiss the cute baby in the mirror. This month, you discovered the image in the mirror and you think you have a friend! For a while it felt like I had twins as I watched you play with your reflection. You reach out to touch hands, you smile coy-ly and give lots of smooches!  

You are still long and slender with blonde hair and blue eyes. Your first tooth arrived on April 20 and it looks like you're due for another one on the bottom and a few more on the top in the next few weeks. You were a little fussy but like your brother, you seem to tolerate teething pretty well. You might be ready to give up your 3rd nap and shift down to 2, but since you don't have a predictable schedule, we're not that sure. Most of your 3pm naps are a big failure and I end up wearing you in the Ergo to get you to take a cat nap. Thankfully for spring, we can sit outside with the neighbors on a blanket and you stay pretty happy, despite being up for 4+ hours some afternoons. 

We 'cried-it-out' for your regular 2am wake-ups since you weren't hungry anymore, just wanted company. You still eat well at 4am, so that is our regular early morning mommy-daughter date. I sneak in there with the flashlight of my iPhone and once I am done feeding you, we love to look at the shadows of our heads on the ceiling for a few minutes. Then, back to sleep until 7ish. 

We think you will talk a little earlier than your brother did since you are already having 'conversations' with us, making some throaty G sounds and other vowels. You love anything musical, from daddy's music (free download of 12 songs by The Pilgrim Project) to clapping hands or tapping on the floor.  You sit like a champ and love to read books, play with toys or get kisses from Lincoln. J is playing a little more rough with you, which seems to be ok with you. He tickles you (neck and feet are your favorite), snuggles you (like he's giving you a choke hold!), reads stories with you and shares his cars (as long as you share all of your stuffed animals first). I love these little moments now but I am also so excited to see you two as you continue to grow together as brother and sister. He is so sweet to you and I know you are (already) going to love him so much in return. 

You're really into solid food and we've branched out more than I did with Jackson, trying broccoli, cauliflower (sorry to your little GI system!), zucchini, plain yogurt and squash. You've eaten puffs, cheerios, bread and cheese. You don't have a pincer grasp yet so you pick up everything with your fist and try to eat it, palm facing away from you. You are about 1 for 10 when it comes to getting something in your  mouth but it doesn't seem to frustrate you that much. My goal is that you'll be good at finger foods by our airplane ride in a few months. Next up on the menu is beans, prunes and summer fruit like apricots and peaches! 

Rachel, we love you sweet girl. Thank you for blessing our lives. We thank God for you every day and are so lucky to get to care for you on this Earth.