8 Months

We're back, and our baby girl is 8 months old!  Now would someone please tell me how that happened?

Eliza, you have been up to many things this month... now let's see if mama can remember everything (HA!).

• You have SIX teeth already!  Four on top and two on the bottom.  You love using them to bite into your food (cherry tomatoes from the garden are a recent favorite), and you also like to scrape them together, which drives your mama bananas. 

• You are waving!  You know to wave when someone leaves (we say "wave bye-bye!" and you do!), and you often wave at people spontaneously.  You also waved at the waves of Lake Superior... I think mama was confusing you when she said "look at the waves!".

• Talking: you say "dada" a lot now, and we think you actually use this "word" to refer to both me and your daddy.  It's pretty sweet.  You also have a word/sound you use/make when you see your kitties.  It's the same word/sound every time, so we've decided that you've invented your own language and that you are the most brilliant baby on the planet.

• Food: just like your parents, you seem to enjoy it.  You eat everything that we offer you - you haven't refused one single food (yet?).  You now eat almost everything we do (except for the honey that mama puts on her toast!), and you are eating lots of nummy and in-season summertime foods like watermelon, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes... the list goes on!  We've also introduced you to the famed "puffs" that everyone talks about - and you do enjoy those as well, though I think they provide more entertainment for you than nutrition.

• Sleep: At around 7.5 months, mama finally felt ready to have you start sleeping in your crib.  It took me a while, but I could feel that it was time to start the transition.  I wouldn't take back one single night that you spent cuddled up next to me, though, and I am so glad that we made the decision to co-sleep for this long.  You're still not sleeping all night long in your crib, but you do sleep there for most of the night now, and I think you actually like it because you have so much more space.  I am actually surprised how well you sleep there.  You usually still wake up once or twice every night, so I bring you into bed for your second feeding and you finish out the night there.  I still need some baby cuddles (and daddy likes it too!), I'm not quite ready to let them go altogether!  :)
• You are also a good napper; you take two naps a day that are about 90-120 minutes each!

• You are working so hard at crawling.  I think you are quite frustrated by the fact that you can't crawl yet.  You do the "army crawl" quite well, and you are able to move yourself around that way, but you get frustrated with that quickly and resort to your "bug pose" (or "mission impossible" pose):

• You are looking more and more like a little girl every day, and less like a baby.  I have really noticed a change in you over the last 2 months - shifting from squishy, round baby to a more defined, unique and (I didn't know this was even possible) more beautiful girl.  You are well on your way to becoming a toddler!

• We don't actually know exactly how much you currently weigh, but I think your weight gain has slowed down a bit.  You were 20 lbs 13 ozs at your 6 month check up, and I bet you have only gained a little more since then... but we won't find out until your 9 month appointment next month.  You are still wearing size Medium cloth diapers and when we had you in 'sposies last week on vacation, you were in size 3 (although mama can tell they are starting to get a little snug!!).

I know there is more, but someone has just woken up from her morning nap, so I better go!  I still have to write a post about our fantastic vacation last week, which I will hopefully be able to do before the end of the week.