Hannah: 8 Months

Sweet Hannah,

Another month has gone by and you are 8 months old.  Hard to believe that you are closer to your 1 year birthday than to the day you were born.  You aren't listening to me when I whisper in your ear, "Slow down!"  Don't you know you are supposed to always listen to your mommy!  But these days you don't slow down for much.  You are all over the place!  Into everything!  You started crawling a few days after you turned 7 months old and haven't slowed down since.  You are starting to pull yourself up on things now too.  But you haven't quite mastered that yet, which I'm happy about.  I am in no rush for you to grow up.  If you decide that you want to stay my little peanut forever, I'm okay with that! 

Here's what you are up to these days (besides crawling):

• I haven't weighed you yet, but at your last doctor's appointment (October 20), you weighed 18 lb. 14 oz., which was less that what you were when I weighed you at home on October 11.  I am pretty sure you are at least 20 pounds by now though.
• You still have no teeth and no real signs of any coming in....I am loving that.  No teeth = no biting while nursing! ;-)
• You talk all the time - "dadadadada" is your favorite thing to say.  Everytime you say it I just assume you are asking for your daddy, so we then spend a few minutes talking about daddy.  I think you two will be best friends one day! :)  I think you said "hi" the other day too.  At storytime one of the other mom's said "hi" to you and you looked right at her and said, "HI"!!  It was probably just a coincidence, but it was cute either way.
• You adore our dog, Bubbles.  You can't get enough of her and would chase her around the kitchen all day if I let you.
• Your obsessed with cell phones and tv remotes...apparently a favorite of all babies.  I don't know what it is about these things, but the second you see one you stop everything to try to get it.  And shoes...you are obsessed with those too!  It's been really hard trying to teach you that those are "no" items.  We are going to have our hands full when it comes to discipline with you!
• You eat all kinds of foods these days - prunes, pears, plums, peaches, apricots, raspberries, carrots, green beans, sweet potato, squash, peas, chicken, oatmeal cereal, whole wheat cereal, rice cakes, puffs, wagon wheels, teething biscuits, and greek yogurt.  You are generally not picky about what you eat, except when I try to feed you homemade green beans or peas.  You HATE those!!  It's definitely a texture thing though because you love the jarred variety.  If I try to feed you the homemade ones you start crying and gagging....it's pathetic. 
• You are still nursing like a champ.  You nurse 4 times per day still (8am, 12pm, 4pm, and 7:30pm) and average about 4 minutes per side.  You also eat solids 3x's per day (8am, 12pm, 4pm).  You definitely aren't very interested in eating these days though.  You have better things to do with your time. ;-)
• I could watch you play all day.  You are so fascinated by the littlest things.  You love the tags on toys and the shadows the sun makes when it shines in the playroom window.  You love the writing on my Gator sweatshirt and the specks of dirt on the floor.  Who needs toys when you have those things! :) 
• This month was filled with firsts - first time at the park, first time in a bucket swing, first time at a pumpkin patch, and first time drinking from a straw.
• You are wearing 9 month (6-9) and 12 month (9-12) clothes and size 3 diapers, although you now wear a size 4 diaper at night.  You are also wearing size 2 shoes.
• You sleep with your pacifier for every nap and at night.  This was definitely a habit we didn't want you to have, but after exhausting every other measure, we decided it was okay.  You sleep much better with it and so do we! ;-)
• You love to turn off the light in the playroom.  Every time we walk out, I ask you to turn off the light and your little finger reaches out to the light switch and pushes it down.  Your face lights up with excitment.  Precious!
• The last 3 nights you have slept through the night again!  Amazing!  Just when I thought I was going to go insane from waking 1-2 times every night, you started sleeping 10-12 hours again....thank you!

We love you so much and cherish every day with you.  The Lord truly blessed us 8 months ago!