8 Months

I love this girl. She's so sweet, and she really is a happy baby, despite what others "see" of her. She doesn't really smile a whole lot when we leave the house. Other people think she's not very happy. She really is.

First, this is the smile she gives Clint and I. So cute! So sweet.

And this is the smile she gives Jonas. He can get her to grin so big. I love it! It's so adorable! And she gets so excited when he interacts with her. She loves him so much, I can tell. He's also doing a lot better with not pestering her as much. I think it's because she is older and interacts with him better, and plays with him, etc.

 This cutie still loves to stand. In fact, she's started walking when I hold her hands. I don't think she's going to crawl. I think she'll just start walking within the next couple months. If she does crawl, I'll be very surprised. She also can stand on her own and stay balanced. The longest she has stood on her own is 12 seconds before she starts to fall. That's pretty good. She's very independent and wants to do everything on her own, including the walking part. Right when I put her on her feet, she starts trying to walk, whether I have a hold of her hands or not. She doesn't scoot or crawl or roll from place to place, but she will walk. Stinker. Jonas was the same way. Maybe it's something I do as a parent that makes my children want to walk and not crawl. I don't know. But Clint and I produce stubborn walkers. :) Because she can be stubborn at times. Yay, right? Ha ha.

She still hasn't rolled from her back to her tummy. Again, stubborn. Oh well. I quit trying. I've even tried showing her she could crawl and she hates the idea of having her tummy point to the ground. Love her. And I love her chubby face. Especially when she smiles like this with her nose all scrunched up and her lips together with those cheeks just begging to be kissed. 

She loves to eat. She eats everything we are having for dinner, basically. I think she doesn't care for pureed food very much, which is nice. She likes texture (opposite of Jonas). However, I still can't get her to eat my homemade fruit puree I make, and it has texture to it, too. So I ended up buying store bought baby  fruit and she'll eat it better. I think she doesn't like fruit very much. I have to either mix the fruit with oatmeal (quickoats, not baby oatmeal) or I put a gerber puff on the spoon with the fruit and she'll eat it. I've never met a baby that doesn't like fruit very much. But she'll eat every vegetable, pasta, rice, tortillas, etc. that I feed her. Silly girl. She just gums it to death, I guess.

I think she is officially teething. I was finally able to see inside her mouth. Every time I'd try to look, she would clamp her mouth shut and wouldn't let me look. Even when I put orajel on, she would be clamping her mouth shut or sticking out her tongue so I couldn't see inside. Finally, the other day I put orajel on and she was just cyring, open mouth, so I was able to see inside. I can see the teeth coming down. They haven't cut through yet, but I think all four are coming at the same time. Poor girl. It explains all the "not so good sleep" she has been having lately. She hasn't been crying at night like she was, but she wakes up a lot and needs to be soothed, or have her binky put back in. She likes it when I rub/tickle her face and hair. She just quiets down (while she lays in her crib) and stares at me while I sing to her and rub her face. This is why I thought teething was the worst part of parenting. It ruins the sleep. But its ok because I love soothing her and I know she loves me when I try to help her.

She had a fever last week for a couple days. She was not happy those days. I was able to get tylenol in her system during her fever, but now she's back to spitting the tylenol out - no matter how far I stick the syringe in her mouth. I never know what to expect with this girl. But I do love her!