James, 7 Months

James is now seven months old and his development over the last month culminated in one of the most challenging weekends of my life as a mom. 6 month shots coupled with teething and being curious but also incredibly lazy resulted in long nights for me and very little satisfaction for James.

At almost 20 lbs and 27 inches it is starting to become impossible for me to carry James in my arms and bounce him up and down when he is fussy. It is also increasingly more difficult because he grabs at everything within his reach - picture frame, sure; lit candle, don't mind if I do; full glass of ice water, who am I to say no. When I tell people to be careful, that he will grab whatever object is in front of them, they are cautious but don't really understand what I am talking about until minutes later when James is proudly chewing on a chunk of about 100 pieces of hair pulled straight from someone's head.

After hectic and incredibly active days I always looked forward to James' evening baths. The routine was always so calm and relaxing for both of us, until now. I have decided that I might as well wear a swimming suit to bathe him and that it would not be a bad idea if I came up with some system of tethers and pulleys to secure him in place in a harness and dangle him over the tub in order to make bath time more manageable. James spends most of his bath trying to eat the rag, drink the water, splash, climb out of the tub, pull me into the tub and then, somehow, pull himself to the faucet to do god only knows what. That said, if I let him splash and drink the water and eat the soap and generally cause a huge commotion, he is all smiles and usually that makes it okay.

Maybe this is what everyone said about baby boys, about how it is such an incredible mix of physical exhaustion and pure love. No doubt there is an amazing amount of both.

Like most things this weekend, capturing the 7 month picture was a challenge. I had to call in reinforcements and never could get quite what I had in mind. The pictures speak for themselves and, I suppose, probably give you a sense of how I feel at the end of the day: