7 Months!

Nobody is more disappointed in me than me for not putting together a six month video. But I have legit excuses. First, I was knocked on my butt for two weeks with Coxsackie virus. Yeah, that's a real thing that some clearly immature doctor first named. The day after I finally started to feel better, Shayna, Huyen and I went on vacation to Nantucket. Yeah, that's how we roll. By the time we got back it was already halfway to month number seven so I made the executive decision to combine the last two months.

I can't believe that Shayna is seven months old.  It's insane that's she's more than halfway to being one! It feels like just the other day we were coming home from the hospital with her (I know I'll be saying this the rest of my life). So many firsts happened during the last two months. Let me list them:

1.  Shayna started on food...and she LOVED it. So far she's eaten sweet potato, carrot, parsnip, summer squash, zucchini, apple, pear, green beans, chicken, fish, pork, kale, broccoli, mango, grapes, bananas, strawberries, melon...and basically any other fruit or vegetable we have in the house. The kid's an August -- she likes to eat.

2. Shayna went on a swing for the first time....and LOVED it. As you'll see in the video montage, she goes on swings all the time now. We literally took about 800 pictures of her swinging. Almost every day after school I take her to the park and watch as she lights up as soon as she sees the swing set.

3. Shayna had her first plane ride...and she LOVED it. Okay, I don't know if she loved it but she didn't cry at all. My friend Taylor had given us a tip to breastfeed Shayna during take-off and landing. It worked. I should also mention we were on a tiny plane and sitting right by the engine. Despite the noise, Shayna was all smiles the whole time. We even got a nice compliment from a fellow passenger for how behaved she was.

4. Shayna went to the beach...and LOVED it. When we arrived at the beach it was pretty windy and I was a little nervous Shayna wasn't gonna be happy. This feeling doubled when she took one of her biggest poops ever as soon as we set up camp. However, a few minutes later she was all smiles as she dipped her feet into the water. She also loved digging her feet into the sand. As you'll see in the video, Shayna spent a lot of time at the beach and really enjoyed it.

5. Shayna took her first boat ride...and LOVED it. Okay, technically it was her third boat ride since Huyen and I took a boat to Block Island while Huyen was pregnant. Also, technically Shayna slept on the boat about 90% of the time. Still I'm chalking it up as a victory since she didn't cry the whole time.

6. Shayna had two days of constipation...which she DID NOT LOVE.

7. Shayna started teething...which she definitely DOES NOT LOVE. 

8. Huyen got bronchitis...which Shayna DOES NOT LOVE. Because of Huyen's medication, she can't breastfeed for ten days. Shayna has adjusted to this better than Huyen who definitely misses breastfeeding her. That said, Shayna's eyes go wide whenever Huyen holds her to her chest. Yeah, mommy's a tease.  I can't tell you how proud I am of Huyen though for not only breastfeeding but pumping like a champ. She pumps at work and comes home every week with a huge bag of frozen milk. Our freezer is literally filled to the brim with milk...which is a good thing since Shayna's now chugging her way through it during this ten day breastfeeding break.

9. Shayna can hold her own bottle...sort of. Shayna loves to take her bottle while feeding her. She usually holds it to her mouth for about five seconds and then pushes the nipple into her forehead.

10. Shayna sits in a high chair during dinner. Our dinners are starting to feel like a family event. My brother Zev and sister-in-law Kathy hooked us up with their high-chair which we've now been feeding Shayna in. While Huyen and I eat dinner Shayna sits between us sucking on frozen fruit in her teething net. It's really nice sitting at the table together.

The only real negative from the last two months (outside of someone always being sick) was that going on vacation destroyed the already loose schedule we keep. The biggest issue was that Shayna stopped sleeping through the night. After two months of ten-plus hours straight sleeping, Shayna began to wake up around three times every night. We've been spoiled by her sleep habits so we were due for a few tough nights. Thankfully, as of typing this, Shayna has slept through the night for three straight nights.

I promise to be better the rest of the year! No more missed months.

Hope everyone is having a great summer.