Month 7 was a busy time for our little guy. About a week after the last blog post, Nathan learned the benefits of crawling.

He was slow and steady at first but is now zooming around the house leaving scuff marks on his knees and toes. He is now mastering pulling up on furniture and “walking” while holding on to something. Even with all this physical activity, he is still maintaining his voluptuous figure, although I do see signs of his baby fat shrinking. I hope he keeps it around for a little longer. I can’t bear to part with his little rolls and fluff.

He has learned how to say “Mama” and will sometimes say “Bubba” and an occasional “Dada” along with other baby gibberish. He loves making faces at anyone looking his way and often befriends strangers with his charm and humor. Peek-a-boo is a favorite game as well as imitating funny noises. He has also learned how to clap and willingly does it on command.

Water is still his favorite medium for play. I will often find him crawling to the bathroom just to gaze into the bath tub. His fascination of water has led him to learn how to drink from a sippy cup and straw. Now I can’t take a drink without him grunting and grabbing for my cup. I wish he was as exuberant about food too, but he is slowly becoming my picky eater. He’s not really big into baby food anymore, but he will gobble down a bowl of chili. I’m starting to realize that this child hates bananas too. Too bad for him.

Nathan was a part of his first Easter Sunday a few days ago. He actually wore his brother’s second Easter outfit he wore when he was 16 months old. This just proves how big Nathan is.

The boys each got a home made stuffed bunny that you can see in the picture above. Caleb named his Mozy and Nathan’s Gozy. The new companions have already been thoroughly cuddled, loved, slobbered and affectionately chewed on.

I leave this post with two images that stir up much sentiment for me. The first one is from Nathan’s newborn shoot. He was 5 days old and just shy of nine pounds. Although still a big boy,  I could easily fit his little body comfortably in my arms. And that’s where he stayed for a good part of his first month. The second image is from yesterday. His body noticeably larger, longer, and chubbier. His limbs now too long and wiggly to fit into my arms. His muscles, strong from crawling and standing. His face alert and smiling; so different from the snuggly sleepy newborn so oblivious to the world around him. I intentionally cherished every one of those early days, yet I still feel like they all too quickly slipped through my fingers. I know, one day when my boys are grown so much that I have to reach up to hug them, I will look back at the days of their childhood and wonder where they went. So I’m putting these two pictures side by side as a reminder to show just how much life can happen in seven months.