Meal preparation has never been my forte, mainly because I lack creativity and I like plain food that can be ready in 20 minutes or less. So when Justin started on solid food, everything I fed him came out of a store-bought jar. But today I finally got him to eat some regular table food: chicken and mashed potatoes. I’m so proud!

On an unrelated note…the company says I can’t come back part time. Why is beyond me, given their financial woes, but that’s the official word. So now I have a few months to ponder my next move.

I had two wisdom teeth taken out this morning, so I’ve been high on drugs all day and things have been a little weird. Chris took the day off to stay home and look after me and Justin, which was great. I’m supposed to be on a liquid diet, but that’s not especially filling, so I swallowed my pride and ate some of Justin’s strained chicken and sweet potatoes. Hey, don’t knock it til you try it.

We’re just starting Justin on some finger foods and it’s cool to see him learning how to pick up bits of bread and put them in his mouth. So far he’s handled bread and oranges. I keep feeling inadequate as a mom because everything I feed him is out of a jar, but I guess he’ll eat Mom’s cooking soon enough.

Justin seems to like swimming. He’s certainly not afraid of the water, but then, he really isn’t afraid of much. I’m not sure how we’ll ever teach him about danger, since he doesn’t seem to grasp the concept. What a trusting soul.

We neglected to adapt his routine for the recent time change, so he was up and at ‘em at 5:00 this morning. Maybe we can get him to take a long morning nap. He now has three naps a day rather than four, but that’s generally not too bad.

The little guy shows no signs of teeth yet, but his mother is going through some teething pain. I’ve got a wisdom tooth coming in. I’m getting it removed in a couple weeks, but until then I just have to suffer.

Seven months wouldn’t normally seem like a long time, but when it comes to babies, it’s an eternity. Justin can sit up on his own now, and he babbles constantly (sounds like he’s saying “da da,” much to my chagrin…too bad “ma ma” is harder to say), and he’s on the verge of crawling (right now he just rolls around). His Kingwell grandparents were here for 10 days and I’m fairly sure they enjoyed every minute they spent with him.

My return date for work is creeping ever closer, and I’m still conflicted about what I want to do. I’ve asked the company to allow me to come back part time (three days a week) rather than full time, so they’re pondering that right now. I don’t like the idea of my son spending more time with a stranger than with his parents, but I’m also pretty sure I don’t want to be a full-time stay-at-home mom. I dunno. If the company says no to part time, I’ll have a big decision to make.

Out of curiosity, I had Justin weighed this week, and he was just shy of 20 pounds. I figured as much, cause he’s busting out of his car seat. We’re installing the new one tomorrow and I’m really not looking forward to losing the convenience of the infant carrier. I never imagined he’d grow out of it at six and a half months. Sigh.

The little guy babbles all the time now and it’s just so cute, even if it is extremely loud. I thought he would’ve changed his sleeping pattern by now, but he still has four naps a day, plus he’s sleeping 10 or 11 straight hours at night, so life is good.

Grandma and Grandpa Kingwell arrive tomorrow for an extended visit, which means I have free child care and can get out and do anything I want next week. So far, that consists of a meeting with my boss and a trip to the dentist. Oh, the life I lead.

Justin’s beginning to sleep an extra half hour or an hour overnight, which is awesome, and he’s even given up his mid-morning feed, which means I have more time to get out and about without worrying about giving him a bottle. Nice.

I keep wondering if he’ll start making strange with people, but we haven’t seen any signs of it yet. His uncle Greg babysat him Friday night so Chris and I could do dinner and a movie, and I think all was well (anybody who will feed him is OK by Justin). It’ll be hard to leave him with complete strangers when he starts day care, but that’s a ways off yet.

We weren’t having much luck getting Justin to eat rice cereal, but then we moved on to sweet potatoes, which he loves. He also seems to like oat cereal, so things are looking up. I guess rice cereal just wasn’t his thing. When you think about it, it’s hard to believe that rice cereal could be anybody’s thing.

I’m back in strollercise again. This time around I’m not so much in it for the fitness aspect as the social aspect — I need to make some mommy friends. We’re all going out for coffee after tomorrow’s class, so that should be good. I also signed up for curling, which starts next month. Imagine: a social outing where I don’t have to bring the baby along. I can’t wait.

Why is it that Justin loves to put everything in his mouth except the food we want him to eat? We’re still struggling to get him to take more cereal (maybe he’s holding out for something better) and it’s pretty frustrating, particularly since he’s usually such a good eater.

He’s obviously not starving, though. Weight-wise, he’s off the chart, and he’s in the 90th percentile for height (that means 90 per cent of six-month-old boys out there are shorter than my son — how weird is that?) Everyone keeps reassuring me that he’ll slim down once he starts walking, but I never even thought of that as an issue until I started getting all these reassurances. He seems fine to me.

I do wonder how he got so tall. He’s over 27 inches. I’m only 60 inches. Maybe he’ll be able to carry me around before long.

Who would’ve thought Chris and I could come up with the genes to produce a big baby? Justin got weighed and measured yesterday: 18.5 pounds and 27.25 inches, which is pretty large for a guy who’s only five and a half months old. The family tree is full of short people, so we’re not sure where Justin gets his size. Chris’s theory is that I stood too close to the microwave while I was pregnant. It looks like it’ll only be a few weeks before we have to get a new car seat. Wow.

We started the little chunker on solids this morning. I don’t know if he actually swallowed any cereal, but he didn’t complain about it, so I guess that’s a good start. So many changes ahead…