Eight Months

This may be the first time I am actually writing an update on Brylee's actual "month" birthdate (usually I'm running late). We were at a good friends 2nd birthday party today, and on our way home, Bryan and I started talking about how before we know it we will be planning a 1st birthday party for this sweet girl! Part of me still feels like she was born just yesterday, and the other part of me can't remember life without her. Life is really good right now!

We don't have our next well-baby check-up until 9 months, but I weighed her on our home scale the other day and I'm guessing she weighs between 17-18 lbs. She's wearing both size 2 and 3 diapers (whichever I have out at the moment....luckily, we're still working our way through some of the diapers we were given as gifts from a diaper shower!) She still wears a few of her 6 month outfits, but now we're mostly in nine month clothes. And her hair is filling in enough that I can actually get a bow to clip and stay in her hair without a headband. So cute!
She has tried a few new foods and textures this month, including pureed chicken, pureed lintels and navy beans, and several new types of crackers. She had mastered cherrios, so we tried other little Gerber puffs, Club crackers, Saltines, and animal crackers. Needless to say, she likes them all. The sad thing about her diet is that she has basically weaned herself this month. We had mostly been nursing still at morning and night only, but the last week or so, she has really been fighting me, not wanting to nurse. And the morning of her turning eight months, she finally just refused to nurse all together. I think I will still try this next week or so (to make sure it's not just a fluke), but I think it's safe to say she is pretty much done with nursing. I wish she would have hung on for another 2 months or so, but at least we didn't have to work hard at weaning!

As you can see in some of these pictures, she is getting more and squirmy. She is not "mobile" yet, but frequently lunges from our arms or tries to reach very far for things she wants. She can pivot on her belly, but can't army crawl forward or backwards yet. But her fine motor skills are really developing, and she can manipulate most small items in her hands now.

I think she is going to have a strong-willed personality! There will be ocassions where she will scream...yes, scream very loudly...demanding my attention immediately. At this stage, it is hard to reason & give an infant choices of how it is appropriate to act, so we are doing our best of not acknowledging her demanding screams.

She wakes up around 7-7:30am, and goes to bed around 8:30pm. We are trying to transition from 3 naps to 2 naps, because the third nap was either really short or not happening at all. So now she takes a morning nap from about 9:30-11 and an afternoon nap from 2-3:30.

She "talks" a lot, but mostly in vowels and screams. She hasn't gotten any "baba's" or "dada's" or "mama's" yet, although I practice with her regularly! She loves Paisley, and Paisley has finally learned that being near Brylee has advantages, especially during meal times!

We couldn't be more in love with our sweet, eight month old girl!

Eight Months

July 23, 2011