Martha: 6 month and 7 month update (plus A LOT of photos!)

Well, if you read this blog even a bit regularly, you know I am way behind on posting for both girls and their milestones recently. Poor Martha, who I have been trying to do monthly updates on, hasn’t had a 6 or 7 month update. Yesterday she was 7 months old, so here are two posts in one, with a lot of photos.
One of my favorite things about this girl is that she SMILES HARD (meaning, it seems like she uses every fiber of her being when she’s smiling). I love that. She is so quick to smile, giggle, or full out belly laugh and the Lord has used that so much to bring me joy, even in tough moments. What a blessing she and her sweet personality are to our family.
Here she is with cousin Brennan, both sucking on Grandma’s silver bracelets, teethers for all of her grandchildren and great grandchildren so far
Martha has her two bottom teeth, her top left middle and top right outer-middle (that’s what you call it, right? teeth in. I am pretty sure her other middle tooth is days away from breaking through. She has had a bit of a cough and runnny nose, as well as having trouble sleeping, so I think that may be the problem.Our trip to America last month was great for Martha to finish meeting her aunts and uncles on my side of the family. Here she is her first day with Uncle Joel, but not her last. We has such a great time introducing our sweet girl to our extended family.smiling with Nana:Martha is so close to crawling… at least I think so. Even though she can’t yet, she can pretty much get to anything she sets her mind to. Through a series of rolls, stretches, and “army crawling” she can really move. She may not be swift but she’s determined!She can sit up pretty well on her own, though her head still seems so heavy and hard for her to hold up. She is pretty good at entertaining herself on the floor or in her exersaucer, though she will gladly take company. Here she is loving a little chat with Uncle Micah. She always has so much to say!
See what I mean about smiling hard?? I love this picture.Martha has definitely started to notice who her mom and dad are and is particular about having us close. She totally notices when I leave the room and gets sad. While it complicates life in some ways, it is so special to be known to her as her mama and to know that we have that strong emotional bond.Speaking of strong bonds, the sweet relationship that has been growing between her and Noa continues to amaze and encourage me. Martha ADORES her big sister. Noa is so good at making her laugh, and I mean really laugh, and I can send her to cheer her up at most fussy times. The great thing is that Noa gets just as much of a kick out of entertaining and getting Martha to laugh as Martha does, so they are both so blessed through the other.One of the best things about their sweet relationship has been having them in the same room for sleeping. Martha has not stopped getting up very early (like 5-6 a.m. most mornings!) since our first trip to America earlier this summer. After being a great (and late!) sleeper earlier in her life, this has been a little frustrating to Eric and I and we still don’t really know what to do or how to help her sleep later. One thing that has been great, though, is leaving her in there after she wakes up and letting Noa get up and play with her. We have had mornings where we have heard the two of them in their cribs talking back and forth for over an hour! Hearing their little voices and giggles is truly warming to my heart and the best noises to start my day. We don’t do it all mornings, since Noa can usually sleep later, but every once in a while, it is a nice way to get my morning started without a baby underfoot, and to let Noa “take care” of her little sister. On the note of sleeping, Martha is usually taking 2 2-3 hour naps a day, but some days needs a little catnap in the late afternoon. She has been sleeping about 10-11 hours and night and we are hoping will stretch that out to 12 very soon. Any ideas on how to get a non-hungry baby back to sleep for one more hour would be greatly appreciated Here’s a photo of her and her fluffy, cloth-diapered bum: a big change in her (and all of our) life. I will have to post more about cd later… it is going great, though.Martha’s big thing since getting back to Japan has been starting cereal. I held her off as long as I felt ok about it, but the poor girl was so interested in table food that I just had to go for it. Last week it was hard and she didn’t seem to like it or care, but just a few days ago, she really started to seem to enjoy it and look forward to each bite. She is up to eating it twice a day now. I think her favorite part is being up in the high chair with such a good view of the rest of the world Here are photos from our first attempts:

She is still nursing 4 times a day, roughly every 4-ish hours from 7am to 7pm. Except for the teething part, it is going really well and I plan on nursing her through her first birthday. I am so thankful for such a sweet time to sit with my baby and just be still. Life can get so busy and she is so content most of the time that it would be easy to not take time to hold and cuddle her. Nursing her is good accountability for me to just sit and be with her. I am so thankful for those sweet times.
Here’s our little explorer out in the great wild the other day, loving getting down and dirty and trying some new foods, like grass.And my most favorite recent photo: Our little Daddy’s girlWith both girls, as they moved up and past the 6 month mark, Eric really seems to enjoy them more as they interact with him more. I love seeing these sweet relationships form and am so thankful that my girls are blessed with such an amazing father. He sets a high standard, for sure, but thankfully (hopefully) he’ll be the only man in their lives for a LOOOOOOOONG time
If you’re still with us, thanks for reading up about our little Gem! God has been so good these 7 months and we praise Him for her life.

Tags: Martha, milestone