Happy seven month birthday, Emily.

Month seven: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Never have Emily’s smiles been brighter nor her screams louder and more painful. So, where in the world is Emily this month?

• She’s spending time with family. After spending an entire week with Jan’s parents at our place in Barcelona, Emily is currently in the middle of a two week tour around Florida, meeting many members of the wackier side of her family for the first time.
• To arrive in the Land Of The Free, Emily had to take her very first trans-Atlantic flight. 18 hours from door to door (including a 10 hour flight from Milan to Miami) was a real test for our little girl – and for us! Having firmly woken up on the wrong side of the bed at 4am to start the trip, sleep deprived frustration allowed for more than a few crying spells on that fateful Alitalia flight. But I can also safely say that, thanks to her winning smile and animal magnetism, Emily definitely made more friends on that flight than enemies. We’re not looking forward to the flight back.
• Emily is now sporting two teeth in the lower half of that gummy smile of hers. But it was only after the second tooth came through that the teething nightmare began. At first we weren’t sure if she was just practicing her impression of a 90 year old man, but her lip smacking, massive drooling, coughing fits, crankiness, and runny nose were actually hardcore signs of the imminent dental bombardment. The worst of it started once we had arrived in the U.S. – just in time to introduce our lovely new daughter to the rest of the family. Emily spent no less than three whole days doing nothing but screaming her head off in agony. She yelled so much that she actually lost her voice! Luckily the worst of it seems to have passed (for now) and we are left with what sounds like a seven month old Kathleen Turner.
• The doctors suggested we introduce new foods to Emily one at a time to be able to diagnose any possible food allergies. We have successfully introduced apples, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes, bananas, avocados, and rice cereal into Emily’s regular diet. We unsuccessfully attempted to introduce some other type of cereal. Luckily we were eventually able to diagnose what was not agreeing with her and triumphantly put a halt to the four full days of crying and discomfort Emily was suffering. If you’re keeping score at home, between the two isolated fits of teething and negative food reactions alone, Emily spent one quarter of this entire month wailing like a banshee.
• Along with the introduction of solid foods comes the appearance of solid poo. That was a surprise.
• Thanks in no small part to the wonderful inner tube that Jan’s parents brought for Emily, our little girl is finally becoming a minute-sitter. Before this month, Emily was not able to sit for more than one minute at a time without taking a nosedive thanks to some inadvertent body jerk or the slow-but-eventual triumph of gravity. The force of gravity still comes out on top every once and a while, but now not only can she sit for extended periods of time unaided, but she is also making every effort to sit up on her own from a lying down position. Brow furrowed, eyes wide open, jaw locked slightly ajar, and hands held in fists, she’s probably about another month away from actually sitting up on her own. It’s only a matter of time before she’s doing abdominal crunches.
• You know how, when they want to be picked up, babies lift up their heads, open their arms really wide, and thrust their bodies forward? Well Emily isn’t doing that yet. But almost! She has mastered the “reach for things that you want to hold” movement, and she has started gesturing towards people when she wants them to pick her up, but hasn’t quite worked out how to effectively communicate this. Look for an update next month.