We had a playdate today. I always try to throw together some type of lunch when I do. I really enjoy making food for other people, so any chance I get I kind of jump at it!
I didn’t have that much time and I had made lentils last night, so I figured that would be perfect to go with a green salad.
The salad I put together was:
butter lettuce & mixed spring greens
cherry tomatoes
cucumbers
candied walnuts
feta
avocado
baked balsamic chicken (marinated it in equal parts olive oil & balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper & garlic powder, baked for 20 minutes, flipping halfway at 350 degrees)
Super easy, delicious green salad. I made a simple dressing with fresh garlic, balsamic, extra virgin olive oil, S & P.
Lentil, Carrot, Celery & Scallion Salad
1 cup dry lentils (cooked as per instructions. I cooked mine in rice maker.)
3/4 cup chopped carrots
1/4 cup chopped scallions (not packed in)
3-4 stalks celery, chopped
1 tbs dried parsley
1-2 tbs red wine vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
After cooking the lentils, let them cool completely. Combine lentils, carrots, celery and scallions. Mix to combine. Add in 1 tbs red wine vinegar, parsley and salt and pepper. Mix together. Taste to see if you need to add more vinegar. Adjust salt and pepper according to taste.
Off to start bedtime routine and watch Nurse Jackie! Have a great night!
Why does 7 months feel like such a big number? I guess it’s because it means we’ve more than halfway to one. ONE!
The blog has been very baby-centric lately. I would say it would change soon, but I can’t make that promise. I’m just going to keep going with posting whatever and however I feel. I’m in my last week of Best Body Bootcamp (my second round) and I’ll be signing up for the next round. I can’t wait!
What’s new this month?
Rocking on all 4s.
Planking.
Trying to move forward. She does mountain climbers and occasionally moves an arm forward. I think she’ll be crawling forward (at least somewhat) in a couple weeks.
Eating more foods.
Saying dada all day long. Also says “ya”, hay”, “ca”, “hi” <– what sounds like hi
Pulls up to stand. She hasn’t tried this anywhere else besides her crib yet. If she sits in front of you she will hold onto your hands and pull herself up. (We lowered her crib a couple weeks ago.)
Swim class! She LOVED it the first week. Liked it the second week. She loves to kick her feet like a froggy.
She waves. I know this sounds ridiculous. I didn’t admit she was waving until last week when my friend finally convinced me. She does this open hand sideways/upside down wave. It’s hysterical.
She claps like crazy and is super proud of it.
Olivia loves watching cars go by, sitting on our stoop, watching kids.
She LOVES her little Radioflyer wagon. We go for walks in it usually once a day.
Solids/Foods:
In the past 2 weeks this has gotten a lot better. Liv has tried a lot more food and is open to trying foods with texture now. She has tried a lot more food since last month, including turkey, chicken and salmon. All of which she liked. She also had homemade pizza (cheeseless because I was nervous about choking) and went crazy for it. I also have added back in oatmeal and mix it with some Stonyfield baby yogurt. I usually give her 1/3 of a container and mix that with oatmeal and carrots. She’s also tried zucchini, eggplant, blueberries, butternut squash and more but I can’t think. I usually will give her pieces of whatever we are eating and then some purees. We attempt 3 meals a day. Breakfast and lunch are usually better than dinner. I also bought Happy Baby puffs. She has just started to really get the hang of picking them up and getting them to her mouth. I’ll put out 8-10 and maybe 4 will make it in her mouth. Some get in her mouth and come back out too. If we’re out during lunch I’ll bring a pouch with me. I buy whatever organic ones are on sale or I’ll bring my own reusable pouch (review coming soon!).
Clothes:
She’s in mostly all 6-12 but can still fit into some 3-6 onesies and pants from the Gap.
Sleep:
Read about our sleep training saga part 1 and part 2. We’re still getting up usually once a night for feedings. She still takes between 2-3 naps a day depending on what time she wakes up and the length of her naps. Her bedtime is between 6:30-7 depending on when she wakes from her last nap.
Stats:
We don’t go to the doctor until 9 months! I always forget to update her height and weight, so at 6 months she was 15.12 pounds and 26 3/4 inches. Not sure what she is now.
Things that amaze me:
I’ve been thinking a lot about those first few months. When I was really in the thick of it in the first few months I was going through the routine. I was happy and overjoyed but a lot of the time it was almost boring. I am SO grateful I had a pretty easy and predictable baby. But the social interaction is so limited when you first have a baby. I don’t think I really realized it until this past month. It almost feels like foggy? Does that make sense? I wouldn’t say I really experienced too much sadness..maybe some days here or there but nothing consistent. But I would say not looking back I don’t really know how I got through the day to day monotony. I don’t even know if I’m making sense, but I figured I’d put it out there in case any moms at home are like when does this end? I would say 4 months when Liv started to really show personality and interacted more is when life started to get more interesting.
I don’t want to make it seem like it wasn’t wonderful, because it was. I really enjoyed my little baby. I’m just saying that when Olivia got a little older and could play a little more it was more fun. Now she laughs and “chats” and plays. We talk and sing and explore. And don’t get me wrong…we still have tough days too but they are fewer and farther between. And sometimes they aren’t so much rough days as in rough hours.
Check out Liv in the water:
I think that’s all for this month! If I think of anything else I’ll update it!
Here we are at part 2. If you missed it, part 1 is here. Let me just be clear about a few things: No one WANTS to do cry it out. You don’t want to make your baby cry to sleep. It’s sad and heart breaking. But for us, it was the only option left. [...]
I’ve been staring at a blank screen for umm…30 minutes now. I have owed you all an updated post on sleep and where we are. I wrote a post on the 4 month sleep regression and two other posts on sleep (part 1 & part 2) and what we were doing to get her in [...]
Hi, I'm Nicole! Welcome to my little blog! I'm a Health Counselor, baker, cook, runner, food lover, fitness enthusiast and, of course, a mom! Email me at NicoleCulver1@gmail.com.
