My baby is 7 months old!

Christine is 7 months old now, actually she's been 7 months for 2 weeks now but we've been busy around here- I got mastitis...again (third times a charm, or it better be!) and Jeff has been helping me get the apartment ready for a crawling infant, anchoring bookshelves to walls, and organizing closet spaces.

Jeff and I both agree she is much more fun as a moving, smiling, playing baby than a crying, never-sleeping infant. 7 months seems to be the magic number. Christine sleeps wonderfully (which means mom does too!!! FINALLY) and Christine is getting much better at playing by herself for little stretches of time.

Christine is very curious. She is especially curious of all of Mommy and Daddy's gadget's, like the cell phones, laptops, cameras... everything she shouldn't play with! I love her face in this photo, she is intensively studying the phone, so sure that she can figure out how to work it.

One of Christine's favorite pastimes is to go for walks in her stroller. We go for walks around the apartment complex visiting the pools and the mailbox, and sometimes we sneak into the apartment complex across the street and go for walks around their lake. The below picture actually isn't our stroller. Gigi got a stroller to keep at their house so I don't have to remember to pack the stroller every time we come up to visit them. Gigi takes Christine to visit their mailbox too!

Christine isn't crawling yet, but she loves to lung for things. Although, I have a feeling that she might figure it out pretty soon. All I have to do is keep my things (remotes, cell phone, camera lens cover) out of her reach but still in sight.

She's most mobile when she is in her crib. I think it is because the crib offers four walls to push off against that help her maneuver in there. She loves rolling around getting from one end to the other. We place her half asleep into her crib and leave the room with the door closed thinking she's asleep, but then 5 minutes later we hear her laughing and giggling, and we find her on the opposite side of the crib.She also loves her books. Jeff and I read to her as often as we can. I get bored of reading the same books everyday so we make trips to the bookstores frequently. I just discovered that Target carries baby board books in the dollar section!! We can only read board books right now because Christine loves paper and is very good at tearing pages. Daily reads include Goodnight Gorilla (thank you Jessica for the recommendation!) The Going to Bed Book, and My Little Love Bug. Her favorite books right now are Mr. Brown can Moo, Rainbow Fish Counting, and Doggies: A Counting and Barking Book. Other tidbits we want to remember about this time:

Today Christine indicated that bananas are her favorite food by eating an entire tub at one sitting. Jeff was hesitant to keep feeding her, but she kept smiling opening her mouth going maa-maa-maa.

Currently Christine is making 3 distinct sounds. The interpretation of which are still uncertain. However, using time-tested research techniques, we've learned that mama seems to mean food, milk, or mom which in reality are all synonyms for obvious reasons. dada we think means dad or 'carry me' which are also synonyms. The third sound is blah blah blah which definitely means 'I'm bored', as confirmed at a recent visit to the Houston Fine Arts Museum.

When Christine gets hold of something new and exciting she starts breathing heavily, her eyes get very large and begins hyperventilating- especially if it is paper or a paper product including cardboard, magazines, envelopes, grocery lists. Recently one of our friends gave her a magazine to play with and upon seeing this reaction asked "Is she upset or really excited?"