7 Months

No pic to go with this post, but Anthony is 7 months today and I wanted to do a post to commemorate. He has been and continues to be an absolute joy. I moved him into his brothers' bedroom a couple of weeks ago, which is going pretty well. Sometimes when he wakes at night one or both of the boys will bring him to me. Even with the going back and forth to nurse him and lay him back down, I know we are both getting better sleep apart. It's also high time I have my bedroom back to myself, which is a great feeling. With the co-sleeper disassembled it feels so spacious in there.

I believe Anthony is beginning to teethe, as he has been a little discontent these past couple of days. My babies don't typically go through a long teething spell and often times I won't even notice they're cutting teeth until I look in their mouth and see them. Anthony happens to be a little more of a sensitive guy though and my hunch is that he might be having a bit of a harder time.

He doesn't really sit up for very long on his own, though he could; for the most part he's pretty content to lay around and be loved. He rolls, but doesn't make much of an effort to get around. With all these kids in the house he's pretty entertained as it is and doesn't have much need for toys or outside stimulus.

He loves to give open-mouth kisses and we call him our "little licker." He will stick his tongue out at anything that comes near his face.

He and Rachel are beginning to interact and get silly with each other, and he is no longer as intimidated by her. Speaking of which, she is very gentle with him and aware of him. I think they're going to grow to be good buddies.

As for me, I am feeling about 80% of normal and better every day; very happy in one regard to have the postpartum period behind me once and for all. I have been running regularly, 3 times a week, and tentatively plan on competing in my first half-marathon in April. I look forward to the training experience with anticipation and awe. Right now I am averaging 3-4 mile runs and have brought my mile time down to an 8:30. I can only keep that pace for about two miles right now, so we'll see how it goes when I start running longer distances. My main thing now is getting my nutrition back where it needs to be, and weaning off the sugar and carbs I've been craving since I had Anthony. I am hoping that once I get on board with better eating habits and longer, more intense runs my body will go into burn mode.

We have many good things on the horizon and I look forward to all that 2012 has to offer.