8 Months

Watching your baby grow encompasses so many emotions. Excitement, pride and happiness as you watch them do new things, get bigger, stronger and more mobile. Laugh, crawl, stand, eat for the first time and on and on. Yet at the same time sadness as they leave behind (forever) this stage. Knowing she will never have her little newborn cry, her sporadic bird movements, her first "ma ma", nor will I ever hold her tiny little swaddled self sometimes makes me sad. She is changing so fast that I feel like I can't even keep up. I feel like I am constantly saying, "Hey! I wanted to savor that moment - where did it go?" While these sad emotions are there, they are rarely on the forefront - they are usually overshadowed by the excitement of change in our sweet little lady. God, in His infinite wisdom, made each new stage as exciting as the last, filled with anticipation and joy. He made each new stage so filled with awe and wonder that while I look back fondly on the former stage I don't mourn it. Instead I fully enjoy the moment we are in. Besides, who wouldn't enjoy every moment with this sweet little girl who is filled with curiosity, happiness and adorable giggles??

I love how she is looking out the side of her eyes. She is always looking EVERYWHERE. She hears a sounds she whips her head over there, then quickly the other way because there is yet another sound to investigate. It is cute except when she tries to do this while I am feeding her! Yesterday Isaac was on the top bunk calling her and she was crawling around looking for him. She was looking in every spot she could think and finally realized he was UP THERE. Instead of looking straight up she moved herself so she was pointing away from him then looked up at the ceiling and then kept looking further back until she could see him! It was really funny.

She has only gained a couple ounces from last month and now weighs 14 lbs. 12 ounces. She has been very healthy this month so that is exciting. Also, the last few days she has been happily eating carrots and rice cereal. She opens her mouth wide and even fusses when it takes too long. I will see how she likes soft boiled egg yolks, avocados and coconut oil since that is such good brain food and maybe this will add some chub to her skinny little self! :-)

She still doesn't crawl exclusively but army crawls SO FAST. She pulls herself up onto anything (whether she has much to hang onto or not). She is very confident while standing - either holding on with one hand or just leaning with her body. She also will hold onto something with one hand and grab onto something else with the other then take a few steps to grab it with both hands. I am sure walking will come before we know it.

She continually lounges on her side with her top leg holding her steady. It looks so grown up and cute!

She still has no teeth - which is surprising but completely fine with me :-)

She laughs alot, investigates everything around her, sees the tiniest specks and grabs it, puts everything in her mouth, wakes up at least 3 times a night to eat, still doesn't tolerate dairy very well, copies everything people do (especially the kids) from sounds to movements (even waving back to grandma yesterday), goes to people (even strangers) with no problem, makes loud noises - usually growling - when we are in "quiet" settings, gets very distracted while eating but always expects to be able to get back to it when she wants and always makes us all laugh!