8 months

How can it be that this little miss hit her 2/3 mark for her first year!  I can't believe it's already been 8 months - each day is such a treasure with this girl and she continues to leave us all more in love with her each day.

Life with Emilia at 8 months if full of:
*MOVEMENT!  She reaches for everything & is really active, although is still content to sit in one place to play.  She loves to pull on hair, necklaces, earrings and anything that looks remotely interesting to her :)

*EATING:  She has discovered the joy of little food puffs and can pick them up with her little fingers, but is still mastering getting them into her mouth!  She loves her cereal mixed with pureed food (and I'm finding out how fun & easy it is to make homemade baby food - why I didn't always do it this way I don't know!).  Her favorites foods are - bananas, peaches, mangoes (although she isn't nearly as spoiled as she was having them every day while we were in Hawaii!), carrots which I can sometimes mix in some peas with, and a homemade applesauce I made.  Yummy!  You are still eating sitting up in your Bumbo, which makes some mealtimes comical as you are lunging over the side to try and get anything in your reach.  You have figured out how to push your leg/foot into the table and scoot around a bit, so we definitely have to keep a sharp eye on you!

*SLEEP:  You love when you get to sleep in your crib & it makes a huge difference to have you sleep there!  You sleep more soundly and longer, so it's hard when we're on the go because you just get so tired and try to stay up and be social - because you LOVE people - however, there is a point where you just cranky and want to go to sleep in your own bed!  You are still taking about 3 naps (on good days) - where you go down about every 1.5-2 hours after you wake up and usually the morning nap is about 1-1.5 hours with the afternoon nap about 2 hours.  Then you take a quick nap in the evening for about an hour and then after eating, playing and getting on your pajamas you are so ready to go to sleep!  You have yet to sleep through the night - you get up once or twice, and some nights it's more than that due to your teething and that our schedule has been so sporadic with getting back from Hawaii and then with so many family functions that have been taking place.  I can't wait for September once the kiddos are in school and we are back from all vacations to really establish the best sleep schedule for you - because you are always happy, but you are so incredibly happy when you get the right and best amount of sleep (I mean really - who isn't happy when they get good sleep?!).

ALL SMILES:  You love to see your family - your face lights up when you see Madeleine, Bryson or Jacob - and they can get you to laugh so easily!  They absolutely adore you, and are thrilled to watch you whenever I need a moment away.  You wave both arms when you get excited, and break out into a huge grin and then sometimes giggle when you are happy & you've learned how to whistle.  That's right - whistling!  You can purse your lips and a little whistle escapes and it's just so fun to hear - we're pretty sure that you don't know exactly what you are doing, but we all clap like crazy when you do whistle, so hopefully it will reinforce it in your mind and you'll be able to whistle on demand!

BRIGHT EYES:  Your eyes are getting darker and your eyelashes are still dark, full and gorgeous.  You routinely have people stop to tell me how beautiful you are - all babies are cute, but you are beautiful...you already have a very striking look.

Other fun memories from this month:
*clapping!  You figured out that bringing your hands together is the body response for when we call out "Yeah!"  A lot of times your hands just flap together (a little bit like a seal), however you do get your hands to connect, and it's so fun to watch you clap for when you enjoy watching something or when we're cheering you on!
* kisses - I've been working with you to give me kisses, and you are starting to understand!  How I love your slobbery kisses!
*playing - you are really engaged with your toys - studying them, turning them around and around to see how they work.  I love to set you down on your play mat/blanket and I can set your little basket of toys next to you and you reach in and just pull out each toy to look at and discover.  You are so inquisitive!
*two huge blow-outs!  You really did not have any major blowout up until this point.  It seems that eating "solids" (your pureed food is about as solid as it gets for you right now) - that your system is just trying to sort things out.  After these pictures were taken, we drove home to get everyone ready for bed...everyone was super cranky!  When I started to unbuckle your car seat, I smelled a terrible smell and realized you had one incredibly messy diaper.  Yuck!  The different food has also caused some diaper rash - which of course is super painful, but thankfully we have the Redmond Clay & your rashes are cleared up quickly.
*bath time - you love having your baths, and I have found an easy way to keep you safe.  I put you in a laundry basket in the tub, and fill up the tub with enough water to just cover your legs and then you get to play in your mini-tub in the big tub.  Perfect solution to keeping all your toys within arms reach, you get to hold onto the side of the basket for comfort & safety, and it's not another contraption that we needed to buy.  I forgot how expensive you wee little babes can be!

Another fun and wonderful month with you!  You light up our lives and we are so blessed to have your sweet spirit in our family & home.  It's not an exaggeration that your siblings constantly seek you out to hold and dote over - you are absolutely adored and cherished!