Seven Months

I feel like I start each post about Canaan's month birthdays the same- How is my baby this old already!? Seven months, 211 (ish) days old and 27 weeks, where did the time go? He doesn't look like a baby to me anymore, and that makes my heart a little heavy. How did this tiny little human go from being a 8 lbs 14 oz bald wee babe to a 20 ish pound little man? Time just goes to quickly.

We're kind of at an awkward in between stage. He's not a baby, but he's not a toddler. It's kind of like that awkward pre-teen stage where your not quite a teen but you don't want to be labeled as a kid anymore. His personality is starting to develop, his character is shining through with every giggle, and he's slowly becoming less dependent on me. Although he's getting older and it makes me sad, i'm so thankful for a growing, healthy little boy. This stage is so much fun!

He's getting into trouble already. He moves so fast, even though he's only rolling. Who knew rolling was such an efficient way to get around? Between unplugging lamps, finding the TV cords, the books on the book shelf and taking the box of toys out from under the TV, he keeps us on our toes. And, it's only the beginning. He loves his jolly jumper, his toys. mirrors, blankets, bath time, music and people.

In these past seven months our little baby has grown, developed and learned so much. But, we've learned a lot too, we've grown and developed in our parenting and we've learned to be a family. Some of the best advice that someone gave me in regards to parenting is: All your baby does at the beginning is sleep, eat and poop. And all those needs are all your capable of doing at the beginning too.  As your child grows, you grow in your ability to be a parent. You learn together, you learn as a family. And this is SO true. As our little boy has grown, we've grown.

Something's i've learned these past 7 months:

- I'm not a very patient person. I sort of always knew that, but being a mom adds a new dimension to that. God and I are working on it.
- Being a mom brings a whole new perspective to the word love. Especially this past month, i've been overwhelmed with a love that I can't even begin to explain. It's just incredible.
- That being a mom is a huge responsibility. Although a terrifying thought, it's also incredibly humbling.
- Schedules, although are a good idea, don't really work for us.
- The list of don'ts that I didn't want to do as a mom were unhealthy expectations that I put on myself. If you've never done it before, you just don't know what it's like and putting those expectations on yourself will only make it harder.
- Prayer is so crucial. I should do it more.
- I don't have all the answers. Not even some of the answers. And sometimes that's hard, but we learn and we grow and we figure this thing out.
- We all parent differently, and things that work for us a family might not work for someone else.
- I can't do this alone.
- I'm thankful for grace. Grace from my husband, grace from my child, grace from friends and family and most importantly grace from my Savior. I would be a mess without it.

It's been an adventure, and it's only begun.