8 months old

Blakely -

Your mommy can hardly believe that you are already 8 months old! It has gone by WAY TOO FAST!! You are such a joy. Everyday you wake up around 7:30am with smiles...usually already in mommy and daddy's bed - but only for an hour or so in the early morning. We don't mind the cuddling! You are content to play for 10 or 15 minutes before you're ready for breakfast. It's usually rice cereal or oatmeal and you LOVE it!!! You are eating baby food for lunch and dinner too. Lunch is usually fruit or something new (so that if it hurts your tummy, it's not in the middle of the night!) and dinner is usually veggies by themselves or mixed with chicken. You love everything I've given you, so I look forward to you eating "real" food next month and seeing how you like that! You are also still nursing like a pro with every meal plus 2 other times...once in the late afternoon and again around 4 am. The sippy cup, however, is another story. Let's just say we're working on it. I think we've finally found one you like.

You are sleeping much better. You take a morning nap for about an hour around 10 am and an afternoon nap for about 2 or 2.5 hours around 2pm. I can finally just put you down drowsy and you fall right to sleep by yourself. You are still using your passy, and you love to cuddle up with your blanket. It melts my heart to see you reach for your blanket with that sweet pudgy hand and cuddle it up under your chin. I love knowing that you feel secure in your bed. You are still working on sleeping through the night. You have been waking up around 2am and needing some mommy time to go back to sleep...but it's only couple of minutes before you're fast asleep again.

You love for us to "get you." Whether it is me blowing raspberries on your tummy or kissing your neck until you're breathless with laughing, you love it all. Today your sissy had you giggling non-stop while she pretended to eat your toes while you sat in the Wal-Mart shopping cart. The sound of y'alls laughter was the best thing I've ever heard! I was so disappointed that I didn't have the camera to catch it!

Some milestones:

**You are FINALLY saying consonant sounds! I thought it would never happen, but about 2 weeks ago, you figured out how to say "ba ba ba" and haven't stopped! You also will randomly say the "g" and "m" sounds.

**You've got 4 teeth! The top two came in on the same day!

**You can clap! I've got to get it on video, but you'll do it when we say "Yeahhhhhh" or "Patty cake" And you are SO proud of yourself!!

**You are cruising along the furniture. It started last week pretty slowly, but you're really starting to get the hang of it now. I figure that you'll be about 10 months old and walking!

**However, you can crawl REALLY fast! Your big sister could too...which meant that she could've cared less about walking, so we'll see if my prediction is correct!

**Your favorite toys are your Baby Einstein Discovery Table, Leap Frog drum, and ANYTHING of Alyssa's that you can get your little hands on before she catches you!

**You love to be read to, and I love reading to you! Although I must admit that I don't do it everyday, and I feel like a bad mom b/c of that. Our favorite book right now is "I Love You Through and Through"

**We sing every night before bed, just like I do with sissy. "Jesus Loves Me" "You Are My Sunshine" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" The only difference is I call you "my baby sunshine" instead of "my little sunshine" I love how you just stare up at me with your big brown eyes while I sing to you.

**You love, love, love your daddy. And I love that! (So does he!) You make a beeline for him, happy all the way, as soon as he comes in the door. And if he even thinks about walking past you to do anything - even just put his stuff down so that he can pick you up - you let him know immediately that you aren't going to put up with it! Oh, what is he going to do when you and Alyssa are older...good thing he's got two arms!

**I love that you look like me. And that your sister looks like your daddy. I think it's one of God's best ideas!

Blakely, I love you so much! The last month has been so much fun watching as more and more of your personality comes out! Your sweet smile and contagious laugh always makes my day! I so look forward to watching you continue to grow and develop into the sweet little girl that God has designed you to be. And I thank Him everyday for you...even on the hard days.

I love you,
Mommy




Check out those feet! She loves to do this! And sometimes she gets a little too excited about eating and tries to kick the spoon out of our hands!


Her first ponytail!

I think we were ALL ready for bed! Especially me!