7 Months Old

We plopped Little Beanie on our baby scale yesterday. Yes, we have a medical office grade baby scale- invaluable when your little one has heart failure and you're counting every ounce gained...  Now that she's post-surgery and thriving like crazy we don't really need to weight her that often, but curiosity often gets the better of us.  This week I noticed her little cheeks getting fuller and her double chin starting to get softer.  The rolls on her arms and legs seemed extra squishy and lifting her seemed to take just a little extra oomph.  So I told Nick that I thought she had gained quite a bit and we should put her on the scale.

Lo and behold... 14 ounces gained in 2 weeks!  In 2 weeks!  Who is this crazy weight gaining baby?!  We were told that she would most likely gain weight more slowly than typical babies.  Plotting her growth on the Down syndrome chart she started at 25% and has been in the 50th for the past few months.  And now she's up to about the 70th, working her way up to almost 10% on the typical growth charts.  7 months old and 14.5 pounds.  That may still seem small, but I know of several little sweeties with Ds who are the same weight and are about a year older than Cora.  And here I thought she was going to be a small baby.

Now I wonder if her growth will slow down or if she's gonna keep putting on the pounds.  Am I over-feeding this little girl?  We feed frequently during the day since she goes about 10 hours at night without food, so now I've been trying to stretch out her feeds a little bit at a time.  But she just won't wait sometimes.  Must be a growth spurt, so I'm not gonna let her fuss and starve. 

I've had some concerns about whether she will overeat in general and whether she will experience decreased sensation and thus decreased ability to know when she's actually full.  Although this can happen with Ds it doesn't seem that different from a lot of us typical folks (me included) who just love to eat.  This doesn't seem to be the case now, but I'm not sure how to tell.  Since this is my first baby I don't have much to compare her to.

For now she is healthy and happy, if a bit clingy.  She's decided she likes squash, is allergic (we think) to peas, and really doesn't like carrots, although she gave them a fair shot.  The jury's out on bananas.  She's forgotten how to use her straw cup after a couple weeks of behaving like an expert.  She's gaining trunk strength every day in her efforts to learn to sit, and still isn't very motivated to roll over, unless it's to get out of tummy time or to get onto her side to nurse lying down.  She's starting to try and push herself around with her legs when on her tummy, but isn't quite sure about it. She loves to hear her own voice, especially early in the morning when we want just a few more minutes of sleep.  Her favorite toys are mason jar lid rings and a cold beer bottle. Aren't we great parents?  In our defense, we don't let her actually drink the beer...

She is 100% adorable cuteness, getting bigger all the time.  Growing up.  Yikes.  7 months of pure love.