Bigger World

One of the things I am noticing is that baby girl is noticing her world getting bigger.  She is starting to realize that when she drops something it goes somewhere and she turns to look for it.  Or, when she is in her cradle (yes she is still in it), she will turn and arch her back and look to the left, right....up, down..... and grab way out of her reach.  And when she is on the floor she is starting to twist and turn to see as much of a full circle around her.  Also today, when the cat came in the room she is noticing him and watching him walk around.  Her world is now bigger than what's in front of her face.

She is also becoming extremely tactile....she wants to touch and run her fingers on everything. She runs them across her blankets, the floor, tries to scratch at the sofa/chairs.  Her newest thing is people's hair. She loves it. She will bring her hands up to hair and run her fingers through it. Sometimes she gets excited and starts to pull and I stop her and say "Nice....nice....." and slowly run her hand over hair so she starts to learn not to pull it.  She is starting to get the concept because she pulled the other day and I said NICE.....and she immediately softened her grip and was....nice!

She is also becoming more verbal.....she is starting to do this screeching (not in an irritating way) and just yelling.  She is much more noisy than she used to be....when she is awake, I definitely hear her. She's also trying to imitate mouth movements...it is so cute. She looks to intensely at whoever is talking or making faces...her eyes zero in and her mouth moves so slightly...sometimes her eyebrows move. It is the cutest.

We actually had a good several days...my sister came in town last Wednesday and stayed through until this morning.  I'm just going to say that vacation w/ a  7 month old is not quite the same as it used to be. 
I....am.....exhausted. Probably more than before vacation.

We did a lot when my sister was here....went to the mall, stores, restaurants, etc..  My sister is great w/ the baby in terms of interacting w/ her...loving on her. Which I am so happy to see.  Where she isn't the best is actually doing the things that would be helpful for me like changing diapers, feeding her, clothing her, giving her a bath, etc...basically she got to do the fun stuff w/ her and I still did all the rest.  Maybe I should communicate more and say that's what I need. She was here to help, and is helpful when asked (usually), but for some reason I just kept doing it and found myself utterly exhausted come this morning.

I was actually looking forward to work today so I could get a break. And wouldn't you know, my nanny called in today because her daughter sick.  We still had a decent day as baby did pretty good w/ naps, etc.. Nanny did show up late this afternoon for a few hours and I just took a nap in my room. As soon as I was able to hand over the baby I just laid on my bed and went..

Aaaaahhhhhh........