8 Months

Dear Lily,



Yesterday, you turned 8 months old. You are still quite big for your age, wearing 12 month clothes, but you have slowed down a bit with the weight gain in the last month or so. That also correlates with the time you started crawling, so I think you are working through the calories faster than you used to.

You've had your first real cold for the past week. You have been coughing, having trouble sleeping, and not eating as well.

Even with the cold, you have been quite happy and silly, at times even downright giddy. Especially if you are really, really tired. You smile so much, I'm surprised your cheeks don't get tired. You have become a great crawler, following us from room to room. When you are in the livingroom with daddy and I am in the kitchen cooking, you always crawl in to me and pull yourself up on my legs so that you are standing there hugging them. You do this until I pick you up and cuddle you close. Speaking of that, you love being squeezed. You used to often squirm away when we'd hold you tight but you seem to want more closeness now. You want to be held a lot more recently, which is funny since now you have more independence with crawling.

You have graduated out of the co-sleeper since you can pull yourself up and possibly fall out of it during the night, so today we moved the crib into our room so you can still sleep next to mommy and daddy. Your favorite bedtime activity is when I lay your down. You start laughing and crawl as quickly as you can across your co-sleeper and pull yourself up. You then stand there and wait for me to tickle your armpits and grab you and lay you back down. This sends you into fits of giggles and you start the game all over again.

Things I want to remember about this age:

You are starting to give pretty good kisses.
You hug your stuffed animals.
You can crawl and pull yourself up on things with ease.
You have not quite figured out how to "cruise".
You want us to hold your hands and let you walk around the house constantly. To the point where our backs are aching. You love to walk to see every nook and cranny of the house. You especially like to check out the toilet.
You are getting really excited about the mural on your wall. You love to look at the pictures when mommy makes the animal noises.
You are terrified of the vacuum cleaner.

Every day we love you more than the last.

Love mommy