7 Month Update

Dear Tatum,

Today you are 7 months and 5 days old. You are becoming a rolling machine. Well at least from your back to your belly. You haven't quite mastered the roll from your belly to your back. Within a minute of laying you down, you will rollover to your belly. Then tonight you were able to push your chest off of the ground (which you weren't able to do yesterday so much). Daddy and I played on the floor with you tonight before you went to bed and you moved backwards about a foot and a half. You are working really hard and I can tell you are frustrated at times that you are not able to just take off. But you will get there.

The adorable monkey costume was a gift from Aunt Kelly-Mac. I played dress up with you over the weekend and discovered that it fit. Daddy was napping when I brought you downstairs to show him. When he opened his eyes you were looking down at your feet and I asked him to hold you so that I could take a picture. He said, "hold what?" When I said, "Tatum," he realized that it was you in a monkey suit. He began laughing and said, "I thought you were holding a backpack of some sort." You looked so darn cute as a little monkey girl.


You also surprised Mommy and sat on your own for the first time yesterday during a development screening. The Developmental Therapist wanted to see if you could sit on your own and you did it. Not for too long, but you did it. I asked if I could take a couple of pictures. It was so exciting. Yay Tatum! Your doctor recommended that we have you screened by the state to determine if you might require therapy to help you develop since you were born premature. Overall, the screening went well, however there are a couple of areas that they would like to evaluate further. One of which you have already conquered. On Tuesday you had not been able to push yourself up while laying on your belly and today you did it. Yes! The other area they would like to develop is your speech. You haven't consistently spoke any of your consonants and they would like to determine if you might require some speech therapy to help you do so. You have repeated "a-goo" for me maybe once, but nothing consistent. It is common for preemies to develop their speech a little later. Daddy and I feel that you are developing beautifully. You are extremely smart and have a personality very much like Mommy had when she was a little girl.

Here is a picture of you and Michael. The two of you were so cute together on Tuesday. You would both smile at each other and touch each others hands. I am so happy that the two of you will have each other to play with. I can only imagine the trouble the two of you will cause someday.

You are beginning to look more and more like Mommy. I am excited to go to Grandpa Larry's soon so that we can go through my baby albums and compare some of my pics. It is so exciting for both Mommy and Daddy to see ourselves in our baby girl. At birth you were identical to Daddy. You looked like his little clone. These days people are stunned at the likeness to Mommy. We are stopped by strangers all of the time so people can meet you. We get the usual comments: "she looks just like you," "she has so much hair," "I love her big eyes." In fact, grocery shopping was slightly difficult today due to the fact that we were stopped in every other aisle. I am not kidding. I was actually answering the phone call from grandma Vicki when a lady came over and began talking to you. You instantly began laughing and reached to feel her face. You have become the friendliest little baby. It makes me laugh, however, I really would rather not you try to touch strangers. So I apologize and pull your hand away.

On Sunday, we went "The Wells Street Art Festival" with Aunt Jamie, Uncle Mike and Michael. Again, you were trying to touch and grab people as we passed them. You were so well behaved and almost stayed awake then entire time. The ride home was a different story. We hit some traffic and you decided you wanted to eat... NOW. Mommy jumped in the backseat and Daddy pulled of the highway so that Mommy could feed you. We were back on the road in 20 minutes or so. We will chalk it up as the first of many to come as we we have plans for the three of us to go to Indianapolis this weekend for the US Grand Prix. We are prepared to make stops as needed. I'm sure you will let us know.

You are beginning to enjoy playing with toys. Until recently you didn't have too much interest in them and would toss them aside. You have enjoyed playing with peoples faces more than anything. I am excited that you are becoming very social. While at the store today we ran into an old co-worker of Mommy's that you had never met. Didn't matter... you were thrilled to see her. You were so funny and made us laugh at your excitement. Some friends of Mommy's were over last night and laughed when I told them how many people we meet when we are out. They said that I am officially a stay at home mom because I met people while in the post office and held a 30 minute conversation. I say why not? There was a line, they were nice and it made the wait a lot easier. You definitely attract a lot of attention. I find it fun and have found people to be much more friendly than ever.

This coming Sunday is Father's Day and I am so excited to give Daddy his first Father's Day gift. I have asked Daddy if he would like a chance to express his feelings and write to you on Father's Day. I thought it would be nice to have a letter from Daddy on a day that will now have a significantly different meaning to him. I am looking forward to what he will say since he loves you so much. I know you will always treasure his words.

I love you.

Love,
Mommy