7 month Amelia, now with a shinier coat and fewer hairballs

When Fiona was a baby, even after she learned to crawl and walk, she preferred to be carried everywhere. I practically lived with her stuffed into the backpack, even just working around the house. She wanted to be right next to me, if not the center of attention, then at least close enough to touch me. She preferred nursing to all other activities and would have been happy to just lay in my lap all day having me snuggle her.

Amelia is the total opposite. She doesn't snuggle into my shoulder and cuddle up, she twists away to look at what's going on around her. She tries to launch herself out of my arms so she can crawl around and eat things off the floor. As I was fixing lunch for Fiona today, she was trying so hard to get down that I almost dropped her. My kitchen floor isn't exactly sparkling, but I had vacuumed up the larger chunks and I put her down to roam the kitchen. Straight for the catbowl, and the girl is fast. She managed to get a handful of catfood into her mouth before I could get back across the room to her and from the expression on her face, thought it was quite delicious. Nothing like a little added taurine for an aging cat's kidney health to make a baby happy. I'm glad she got the hairball formula because I caught her trying to eat cat hair earlier today. Straight from the cat.

One of the preschool moms just had a baby and it surprises me every day just how much bigger Amelia already is. How on earth did she get to be seven months old? She's closer to her first birthday than she is to her birth. We just finished switching the guest room over to be her nursery and got the crib set up. As much as I like the idea of her sleeping all night in her crib and as nice as it will be to have my side of the bed back, I'm going miss sleeping with her at night. That's the only time I really get any snuggles. She still tries to get as close to me as she can when she's sleeping, her legs curled up against my stomach and her face next to mine. If she were more an all day cuddler like Fiona, I think I'd be more anxious to move her out.

She's standing all the time now, usually with a favorite toy in hand, gnawing on it as she balances. She tried to take one step yesterday and promptly face planted directly into the coffee table. She has her two bottom teeth and has used them quite effectively and often while nursing. I hope that even though she's had a taste of human blood she doesn't grow up to be a cannibal or a vampire.

She's also learning to play games. Her favorite is "crawl as fast as I can and try to make it out the door and up the stairs before mom catches me" and she giggles when I capture her. She also likes to climb all over Fiona and pull her hair. Fiona doesn't enjoy that game nearly as much as Amelia does.

Oh, and she's armed and totally dangerous: