7 months and growing

I am so in love with this girl. 

Seriously... I am shocked every day at the depth of love I have for her.

What a month this has been!

-I attended 2 births, including the birth of my sweet niece.

-We went to my brother's wedding and Michael's best friend's wedding.

-We celebrated my first Mother's Day.

-We got a pool.

-Two of my best friends got engaged.

-I had mastitis.

-We spent many days at the park.

-We went to the East Nashville Hootenanny.

-We explored Rock Island State Park.

-I made it through a week with Michael out of town in New Orleans. 

-And we celebrated our 4 year anniversary.

WHEW!

Genevieve is growing leaps and bounds. With a new baby in the family, Genevieve seems huge in comparison. She continues to get stronger as she sits up, pushes her self into a push up position, 'crawls' backwards, and rolls constantly. We are so close to having a mobile baby, yikes! She is also getting better at eating. I try and give her solids twice a day and expose her to all different types of textures and flavors. One month in and she is actually starting to swallow food. I still feel like I breastfeed constantly and getting a bout of mastitis did not help! I was nursing around the clock to get better. 

Sleep is still a thing of the past. I have no clue why it has been so difficult for her to maintain sleep. I can tell when her sleep cycle ends she violently wakes up and is not comforted by anything besides nursing. We attempted putting her in the nursery a few times this month but she always ended back in our room because I was getting up so many times at night. Teething, new development milestones, new foods, growth spurt, temperature in the room...who knows, maybe all of it. But I just cling on to the hope that one day she will sleep. This won't last forever. I am not going to lie, though: I have never been so sleep deprived in my entire life! 

Although the lack of rest is hard, I will say this age is simply wonderful. Michael and I find ourselves saying over and over again, "I just love her so much." She is such an incredible baby. She is content doing anything and can be passed from person to person. She tries every type of food we give her and she expresses so much joy when she gets to kick her legs in the pool. She is getting so good at entertaining herself but also loves it when we sing with her. Michael can get her in a laughing fit almost every night. As we celebrated our 4 year anniversary, we were just reflecting on how much deeper and richer our love for each other is after having Genevieve. She has brought our relationship to a whole new level!

Brandon and Erin's Wedding

Mother's Day

 Playing in the park

First time in a swing!

 Hanging out with cousin Nora and BFF Edmond

 Pool Time!

 Daniel and Jordan's Wedding

My sweet Genevieve, full of joy

You love being with people. Observing and taking in the surrounding is your thing. When you first meet people you are very serious and unsure but you warm up quickly. And even offer some sweet smiles. You continue to grow and grow! You love sitting up although you still tumble over often. You can do a full push up and have even started pushing yourself backwards. You will be crawling in no time! Although you don't like to sleep for long at night, you do love your nap times. You have always been a great nap taker. This month you expanded your food repertoire and even added spaghetti to the list. You are our gift. Celebrating our anniversary only made since with you because you are the most tangible expression of our love. My heart continues to grow bigger and bigger. My, what fun adventures we have ahead.