7 month birthday

We hit the 7 month mark yesterday! We don't have another pediatrician appointment until 9 months, so I don't have any official stats on height, weight, etc. but there is plenty more to talk about!

Food: All kinds of purees, fruits, veggies, rice and oatmeal cereals. It's hard to feed him because he gets so distracted but we aim for two solid meals a day, one in the morning for breakfast (fruits, oatmeal, sometimes a piece of fruit in the chum bag. I sliced grapes in half the other day and put them in, boy did he go crazy for that!). And one mid afternoon (lunch/dinner) with veggies.
Teeth: None. But drooling like Niagara Falls.
Sitting up: Yes, but is still a bit wobbly and after awhile will tip over.

When I tell him to drop and give me 10, he listens! 

ha ha! More like he is just starting to push himself up when I lay him on his tummy on the floor :)

Toys: Anything within reach is fair game. I am trying to teach him to use a sippy cup but he doesn't quite get it yet. I think I mentioned a few posts ago about how utterly fascinated he is by everything. It's so cute.

Diapers: Size 3

Favorite Clothing Designer: Hatley

Sleeping: Still up once or twice a night. He gave me the same present that he gave me for his 6 month birthday, which is sleeping from about 6 pm - 4:30 am, being fed and then sleeping in until 8 am. This is amazing folks. Today we were up at 6:30 am, which is more of the norm.

Hmmm what else. Favorite song is Itsy Bitsy Spider (hand motions and sounds included) and his friendship with Tate is progressing slightly. Tate still looks like a deer in headlights when Ashton gets anywhere near him, but is starting to learn that if he is patient he will get treats after Ashton pets him.
So the big question is: what did Ashton DO on his 7 month birthday? He had quite a day. First, because I didn't have to report to work at Allegria until 11:45 am, I got to go with the boys to Shrimps. There are about 10 babies in this little swim class and it is positively the cutest thing I have ever seen. The parents do exercises with them, float with them, etc. and they are all in miniature bathing suits and it's just adorable. I took no less than 3,000 photographs. Here are the best ones :)

The boys

Ready to swim!

Floating!

And the most heartmelting one of all. If you enlarge the picture by clicking on it, you can see all the waterdrops in Ashton's eyelashes.

Action packed footage:

After Shimps, we came home, Ashton went to sleep, I went to work, and everything was okay. I should mention, when he woke up yesterday morning we noticed his breathing sounded a little raspy/hoarse and he had a cough that sounded like a barking seal cub. Yes, that specific.  By the time I was home around 4:30 pm, he had gotten worse and woken up from his second nap struggling to breathe. Called the pediatrician on call (these things always happen on nights and weekends!) and long story short, ended up in the Emergency Room at Newton Wellesley Hospital. He has croup, which is a virus common in young babies/children that causes respiratory trouble. (Don't you hate how all the doctors and websites use the word "common"? Is that supposed to make me feel better that he has it? It's still scary!!) Anyway, he is doing better today. They gave him a liquid shot of a steroid to reduce the inflammation in his lungs and while he is still raspy, no more seal barks. He is pretty cranky as I type this and hasn't napped well, but hopefully in the next day or so he will be back to his happy self :)