seven months and some fun stuff

Owen is nearly 7.5 months old.

He has changed so much in the past month.
He loves to have fun with mommy and daddy.

It's hard to believe he is now closer to a year old than birth.

He has been eating a lot of 

green beans, 

brocolli, 

cantelope, 

blueberries, 

prunes, 

sweet potatoes, 

he loves to chew on slices of bell peppers.

I gave him greek yogurt the other day and he wasn't thrilled.

I think I'll try some plain yogurt soon.

He has also almost gotten the hang of a sippy cup.

The biggest change this month is his sleeping.

We sort of went to drastic measures to intervene on his

pretty terrible night sleeping habits.

Cry it out.

(I know everyone has an opinion on this but we had pretty much exhausted all other methods)

I was so scared to try it.

But honestly I think I have shed more tears than Owen.

The first night (about two weeks ago) was the worst, 

and it was nowhere near as bad as we thought it was going to be.

He has just realized, night time is for sleeping.
Yes it's hard to hear your baby cry but ultimately, it is for his good.
He needs to sleep. And he is learning sleep is good!

Since then, Jonny and I have been sleeping on the couches.
No, not ideal-but hey,

it's dramatically changed the amount of sleep I've been able to get.

And it's incredible.

Before, a really GREAT night of sleep for me would have been 4-5 broken hours.

Jonny and I are trying to go to bed by 10, 

Owen lays down at 7PM
 is waking for one feeding (around 2-3AM)

and sleeping until around 7AM.

I 

AM

A 

NEW

WOMAN.

A woman who is about to turn 25.

What the heck?

I can remember thinking

how incredibly old I will be when I turn 25.

Like, old.

Yet, here I am. 

Maybe I am old?

But I don't feel I have the wisdom that comes with "old" age.

Though, I did get carded the other night on our date and the waitress said I looked 17.

I took it as a compliment.

Anyways...

Owen has been flashing his toothy grin all the time lately.

It's adorable.

(I know, I'm biased being his mom and all but seriously, I get like heart flutters when I see it)

A couple weeks ago we took some family pictures with a friend of ours.

Here are some,

Check out our post and all of her photography
over here.
We love all the pictures,
mostly Owen's fun faces
but my favorites I've saved for our Christmas cards
so be looking for that in your mailbox next month!
Yes, I've already ordered them.

Yes, Jonny and I just started reading this book,
The Saint Who Would be Santa Clause:
The True Life and Trials of Nicholas of Myra

Yes, we're contemplating putting the tree up next weekend.

Yes, Christmas music is playing as I type.

Oh, well.

I remembered that this weekend, last year, 

Jonny and I took a little trip.

(via)

We had just found out we were having a boy.
Read about that here.
And took a relaxing weekend in the Great Smokey Mountains
to celebrate the news (and my 24th birthday).
there's a post about it here.
It was so much fun to go exploring with Jonny.
Both on the way there and on the way back we
thought about what to name our son.
We could at least agree on some boy names we liked,
not so for girl names
Finally, nearing the end of our journey home we settled on
Owen Alan Atkinson.

And now I'm watching that baby boy try to crawl.
It is crazy the changes a year brings.
We are very very fond of the changes.