Lucky Number 7 (months)

Carter turned 7 months old this past month, and I figured I'd better document the milestone before 8 months! For the first time he didn't really do anything all that new and spectacular on the day of his monthly birthday other than this:



Armpit noises are next I'm sure.

No teeth yet, but he was doing so well gumming his teething biscuits, we went ahead and tried puffs. He got the first one in on the first try! Of course, I was standing by with every ounce of Heimlich knowledge I had at my disposal certain a choking incident was inevitable, but he gummed it very well!

He's pulling up on everything now, so I figured it was time to elevate his favorite toy to see how he'd fare, and he absolutely loved getting to play standing up.



In fact, he's decided he wants to play with most all of his toys standing up now, so to keep him occupied I put his toys on our ottomans to play and presto, a whole new set of toys!

BTW, our ottomans were the BEST purchase I made last year for child-proofing our home. We replaced our glass-topped, sharp-corned coffee table with 2 of these a few months back:

I love love love these leather wonders. They are fantastic and very high quality and serve as foot rests, coffee tables, chew toys, and now play-surfaces. Their padded tops and soft corners are perfect for our little man, and they were very affordable through homedecorators.com.

My favorite feature is the built-in storage so I can keep his small toys out of sight when they are not in use. I'll be the first to admit, it's a practice in futility when I attempt to keep the house from looking like a play ground, but I do try. And as an added safety feature, the hinges have some sort of mechanism that keep the top from slamming down on any little fingers that might be in the way.

Despite the ottomans, I've decided it's almost impossible to make an entire room (that you actually live in) completely baby-proof, and I swear the kid has a radar for stuff that is a 'no-no'. As a result, he spends a lot more time in baby-jail these days (aka the pack-n-play). I'm dying to find some activities/games we can do together to fill up the day, so if any of you have any suggestions, please let me know!