8 months: a letter

Oh my sweet girl, you are such a treasure.  You make my heart swell with joy and my cheeks ache from smiling so much.  I love every second we spend together (and we spend a lot together).  It is so fun seeing your little personality develop more and more every day.  When I’m holding you and you get excited about something you just kick your little legs and flap your arms and your whole body shows your exuberance.  It’s like you’re just dancing with glee right there in my arms.

Honey pie you can reach and get into things so quickly.  Sometimes when you’re sitting in your bumbo seat in the kitchen with me you can stretch your little arms and reach all the way across the counter top to grab things that I’d never imagine you could reach, like a whole banana right out of the fruit bowl!  Thankfully you don’t get too upset when I take things away from you.  I try to take them away gently and explain to you why they aren’t for you.  I also usually offer you one of your toys as a replacement and you are happy.

Growth:
-Oh my honey!  You are growing and growing.  I can feel your strong muscles in your legs and I know you will be walking in the blink of an eye.  You take steps right away if we hold your hands and let you ‘walk’ across the room.

-You are just starting to make some forward crawling motions.  You can ooch along on your belly, pulling yourself with your arms, and you are starting to make some attempts while you are up on your hands and knees.

-You surprise me all the time with fun new things you can do.  Just recently you started maneuvering from on your tummy to sitting up all by yourself!  I had no idea you could do that and you did it about three times in a row just yesterday.

-We haven’t been to the doctor recently to get you weighed and measured, but according to our scale here at home you are topping out at nineteen pounds.

-Size 3 disposable diapers still fit great for night time or when we are traveling.  We are still loving the BumGenius cloth diapers for regular use.  We are getting by with fourteen but I do have to launder them at least every other day.

-You are wearing nine to twelve month outfits right now.  I have been going through your closet recently putting away your cute little bitty outfits and replacing them with the larger sizes.  So sad for Momma, you are growing so fast!

-Grandma and I took you to a couple nice consignment stores and we bought some beautiful outfits.  I have to fight the urge to try on every single outfit the moment we get home.  I can’t wait to see you in them all but changing your clothes isn’t very high on your list of fun.

-Sweetie Peetie a third little tooth has peeked through your gums.  This time it’s on the top.  I’m surprised it isn’t one of your two front teeth on the top, I was expecting them to make their debut next but no, it’s the one just to the right of center.  You are so cute with your little teeth showing more and more when you give that gigantic smile of yours.

Eating:
-You are still nursing five or six times a day sweetheart.  I don’t know if you are just getting more efficient or if you are nursing less but it seem like it just takes about ten minutes now a days.  I remember when you were itty bitty and we would nurse forever.  I’m going to miss that sweet snuggly time when you get older.

-My precious girl, we had worked up to eating a half serving of baby food in the morning and a full serving at night, but your tummy was getting upset and not able to process all of that quite yet.  We have cut back to just one serving in the evening and eating a lot of prunes and fiber full foods and that has seemed to help.

-My goal is for you to still eat home made baby food, but we have had to resort to the store bought kind when your little plumbing was so stopped up and while we were traveling in Texas.  You sure do love the store bought kind.  I think the texture is just so creamy and smooth.  It is hard to get the home made kind so velvety.

-We let you try some pear juice and water in your sippy cup.  You are not super interested in that quite yet.  You like to chew on the little spout but aren’t very impressed when the liquid gets in your mouth.  I have given you several sips of water out of my cup and you like that better than your sippy cup so far.

-You are eating so great now sweet girl!  I don’t know if it is because you are enjoying the store bought baby food or you are just more used to eating, but I am so glad!  You have your mouth open, ready and waiting for the next bite most of the time.  We always finish off an entire tub of baby food in the evenings now.

Sleeping:
-Baby, oh baby… we are limping along in the sleep department.  It seems like we take two steps forward and one step back.  Just when I think things are going well you throw us for a loop and we are back to square one.

-We still try to get you settled down for the night about 7:00.  Daddy bounces you to sleep and lays you in your cozy crib. We eat dinner and you are usually awake within an hour to have your last nursing of the evening.  Most of the time you drift right off after you finish eating and I can just set you back in your crib.

-Ideally you would just sleep on for the rest of the night sweet girl but recently it is taking three or four tries to get you down for good at night.  We love you so much but Daddy and I are getting tired my baby.  I bought three highly rated sleep books off Amazon and have been feverishly reading them.  I just can’t bring myself to let you cry it out. I have high hopes for “The No Cry Sleep Solution”, I’m hoping it will offer some solutions that we can work with.

-You have been taking three naps a day (nine, noon and three) but you are starting to wean down to two. Usually around 9:30 and then again at 1:30.

-Lovebug, you are such a wonderful, easy, happy baby.  We love you with all of our hearts!  If sleep (or lack there of) is the one issue we have to deal with then I think we are very blessed.  I will still try my best to help you get all the sleep you need because I know it is important for your growth and development, but if it means I am missing sleep then I guess that is okay my sweetheart.

Play:
-Oh my goodness, how much funner can you possibly get!?!  You just light up my entire day with all the playful fun and exploration you do.

-Reading is still one of your absolute favorites my darling.  We are going to have to make a weekly trip to the library so we can pick out new books.  You have a pretty big library here at home but I nearly have them all memorized we read so much.  I’m glad baby doll, I hope you always love to read.

-You love exploring new things and especially hearing (and making) new sounds.  Whenever you get two items in your hands you make a point of clacking them together to find out what sort of a noise they will make.  It’s so cute to watch you and your little experiments.

-I just adore your precious curious faces.  When we visit a new place or meet new people they might think you are quite a serious baby because you study then new situation so closely.  I can just see you learning as you take it all in.

-You are so happy and exuberant  we love to dance and swing and jig around the room together.  This makes you grin from ear to ear and let out big laughs of joy.  You get especially giggly when I nibble on your neck.

-You are such a cutie in your little jump-a-roo, you can really get that thing bouncing when you want to.  We will have to move it up a notch higher in the next few days.

-You are really enjoying your little bottle of bubbles baby girl.  I usually pull them out in the late afternoon while I’m trying to get dinner started and tidy up the kitchen and we are waiting on Daddy to get home from work.  You sit in your little bumbo seat on the kitchen counter right by me and I blow bubbles, bubbles, bubbles!  You reach both your little arms up and stretch to pop the bright little bubbles.  I always try to catch one on the bubble wand and bring it in close for you to see and you reach out one sweet finger and ‘pop’ away it disappears to your surprise and glee.

-You have figured out a forward crawl of sorts and can definitely move yourself around any place you want to go.  It isn’t exactly “crawling” yet but ooching forward on your belly, pulling yourself with your arms.  You are such a little doll.

-You said Da da my little smartie!  In fact, you are getting quite the vocabulary.  You can say Da da, Bubba, Ma muh, la la, it is so exciting to see you manipulate your little mouth around and form new words. You make all kinds of fun sounds with your lips and tongue, smacking and clicking away. You make me smile my sweet girl.

Events:
-You stayed with Grandma and Grandpa for THREE hours while I went to a meeting at work. They told me you did such a great job, you were happy and fun and took your nap like a big girl. I was so proud of you!

-We got the new wood floors installed in the formal living room and expanded your play space, practically doubling it pretty girl.  It is nice to have a new area and more space to spread out.

-We visited the Oklahoma History Museum and saw so many interesting exhibits.  You were wide eyed and just taking everything in from your perch in the Baby Bjorn on Daddy’s chest.  It is so fun to take you new places.  You LOVE experiencing new things and I love showing you off to all the people we encounter.  You sure are something special little girl.

-During a routine visit to Wal Mart a kind little old man in a fancy three piece suit walked over to us, I could tell from his accent he was Italian.  He reached out to pet your cheek and said “oh, shes-a little angel”.  I love the way you can brighten up peoples days, especially older people.  I feel like it is such a ministry opportunity to get to bring that little bit of love to other people.  Did you know God is using you already my sweetheart.

My little darling, I can’t believe how dangerously close to being one whole year old you are getting.  I am so thankful I get to spend my days with you, it is truly one of the greatest blessings in my life.  You make me smile all the time and I am just so thankful that God brought you into our lives.  Your Daddy and I just can’t contain our love for you, we have to spill it out in big ol’ hugs and smooches on your sweet face.

I’ll love you forever,
Mommy