8 Months

It seems impossible, but alas, it is true.

Our little sweetie is 8 months old. It’s been a long 8 months and a blink of an eye, all at the same time. I’m pretty sure I say something like that every month, but it’s true. Some days I feel like I’m just not cut out for this gig, and other days I feel like I could do this with my hands tied behind my back. Of course, Dakota would never let me tie my hands behind my back because as far as she’s concerned they are only meant for holding her…

This past month has been full of growth. She seems so incredibly different now than just a short month ago. She’s still a baby in every respect, but I do see some changes in her that indicate what’s in store.

She has a huge personality. She’s loud. When she’s happy, she HAPPY. When she isn’t, watch out.

She’s this close to crawling and even this much closer to cutting her first tooth. I can see some swelling right where that little baby tooth is trying to push through, and touching that spot in her mouth elicits a funny face and a quick pursing of her lips. It’s going to be there any moment…and this single, tiny tooth gives me such a mix of emotions.

Her favorite things:

• lying in the warm water of her bath playing with the tub toys that poke through the holes in the bag. She also likes to sit in the tub and chase the toys that are just out of reach, and when she catches sight of the plug, she’s all about pulling it out and watching the water drain.
• standing up at her activity cube(s) and playing with the beads that push across the metal lines.
• her big brothers. While Harper continues to avoid her for the most part, there are precious moments that I find him seeking her out. She gives him her most winning smile and ever so slowly, he’s being won over. Landon adores her and treats her like you’d expect an older brother would.
• being held
• peek-a-boo
• holding her blanket across her face as she drinks her milk
• pat-a-cake and a song I sing while bouncing her up and down on my knees.

She’s so much better about eating, but still pretty finicky. She’d much rather eat what I’m having than any kind of baby food, so usually I’ll give her a bite of hers and a taste of mine and that seems to work.

At this point she’s still taking 2 naps a day, but some days are easier than other when it comes to that. She’s in the bath at 6:30pm and in bed asleep by 7pm. She knows that bath time equals bed time and she’s always eager.

In another few months I’ll be planning her first birthday party. It’s so hard to believe that it’s already so close.